Urban Phantom

For last week's assignment, we had to write a poem based on a news story. You can read about it here. Basically this black bear was spotted roaming around the greater Seattle area, and eluded his trackers for quite a while! (I heard tonight on the news they finally caught him... it's been at least a week!)
Some phrases in this poem were borrowed from the original story, but it's mostly in my own words. (Part of the "point" of this assignment was to create a "found poem" from an old article, taking certain elements from the original source.) Enjoy!

Urban Phantom

Urban Phantom

Rummages through garbage
Scavenges for snacks
Lumbers over flower pots

Not your typical intruder
Fuzzy black bear
Spotted by joggers

Magnolia to Ballard to Shoreline
Where's he headed?

Pursued by police, dogs, wildlife experts
Urban Phantom gives them all the slip.

Just a Dime

Sorry it's been sooooo long since I last posted! I hope I didn't lose all my readers by being absent for so long. I was out of town for a while (playing at Carnegie Hall! no joke!), and I haven't had much time to write poetry lately. But here's an assignment from this week's class! We had to use some object as the basis of the poem, some object which was a symbol of something in our own life. Like if a certain flower had a special significance to you because your first boyfriend gave it to you or whatever. (haha I just made that example up.) Anyway, so your poem had to be about this object.
Anyway, this poem is about a dime which I picked up off the floor at the Fiction Family concert in February, the first time I met Jon Foreman. *heart flutters* ;) It's pretty self-explanatory, so read on!

Just a Dime

It’s just a dime
Ten cents only
Can’t buy anything with it
alone
It’s the smallest of its counterparts
Ten small cents
Ten years old
Dull and dim
So why is it
still sitting
on my dresser?

It’s not there for the
ten cents
But for
The memories

I spotted it lying
On the floor
As I waited to meet
My hero, favorite singer, musician
Anxious, looking for something to
Occupy my shaking hands
I pick it up,
fiddle with it,
slip it in my pocket.

Later that night, I pull it out again
Grin
And set it apart from
every other dime

Every day when I see that
Insignificant
miniscule coin
The memories flood back
I smile and
remember.

I'm alive (mostly)

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a few days. I've been inundated with school this week- we're about halfway through the quarter, so all my teachers decided to give us midterms/tests/speeches due this or the next week. Actually, the only class that didn't assign something was poetry- our teacher thought we'd be a little busy this time of year. So that's why I don't have anything to post currently! :) I've also been feeling a little writers-block-ish lately. Hopefully once this week passes I can write a little something more.

On the bus

I don't know why, but riding on the bus often inspires me to write poetry. Haha. Anyway, here is a piece written on the bus, somewhat appropriately about the bus. I don't really have a name for it... why not just:

On the bus

The modern-day dragon
lurches forward with a roar
Hisses and spits as it halts
Weaves through lesser vehicles

Inside, we clutch its ribs
as a jolt tosses us to
and fro
here and
there
His tennis racket hitting her pink
backpack
while the elderly man
clings to his ticket and his seat
like simultaneous lifelines.

Ding!
I thank the driver
and stumble off.

~~~~
My thoughts: I'm not sure how this worked out. I tried to kind of capture the feeling of riding a bus in words, breaking up the lines in different places and all that, but I don't know if it works or not. Your comments, please? :)

At Sea

This poetry class assignment was to base our poem on a photograph, beginning it with the phrase, "In this photograph, (the subject) is..." It also had to follow a 'real' form. :) This was kind of weird for me, because I'm not big on form when writing poetry (I'm not that creative!). Anyway, I decided to use a ballade form for this- three 8-line stanzas, and a 4-line "envoy."

I really enjoyed writing this. One, it's past 11 PM, and anything can be fun late at night. Haha. Also, I'm listening to Jon Foreman, always an uplifting experience. (Currently- the Winter EP, "White As Snow.") Thirdly, I adore my little brother. He is soooo cute! (click on the picture above and take a peek at his gorgeous face.) :D Spoiled to death, sure, but he is ADORABLE. Anyway. I hope you enjoy this poem a bit. :)

At Sea

In this photograph, my brother steers the ship
Hand over hand, navigating through surf and spray
He stands resolute on the deck
Feet (smaller than my hand) firmly planted
Socks irregular heights from the heat of combat
Tousled hair as the wind gusts
Eyes focused on the ship's wheel
Hand over hand, the fearless captain

Overhead, the clouds turn ashen
Blue is slowly being devoured
The sun still beats
Through a window in the heavens
Enough to take the sting off the breeze (no, the gale!)
The spritz the captain feels is the lawn sprinkler
But don't tell him that
Hand over hand, the stout leader

Moments before, he was cheering on his men
He dashes up the stairs
To guide the ship past yet another disaster
In his ears, cannons are roaring
Seagulls caw, debris splashes
A bullet whizzes past his ear
Unperturbed, he knows his duty
Hand over hand, the unyielding commander

You may see protective plastic
But he knows where he really is
The deck of a pirate ship
Hand over hand, my brother, the little sailor.

For Drew

This was an assignment for my poetry class. We had to write a poem based on an existing one (we could choose from like 4), with the same style and number of lines and all that. So mine is based on a poem called For Elizabeth Taylor. It's about a guy I work with at Starbucks. :)

For Drew

One of my first days on the job
you were a box-cutter casualty.
Refusing to look at your doubtlessly gruesome injury
I was disgusted, amused, laughing.
From the first week
You were a favorite coworker
An opinion I haven't lost.
Quick to encourage anyone
"You got it, you got it!"
Singing all the time
The unofficial voice of the store.
Spinning caramel bottles like a bartender
never a boring day when you're working
You tell me I'm beautiful
Indirectly, yet still powerful
Even as I write this I start to smile.
You make me laugh every day.
Totally inappropriate, totally hilarious
I can't imagine the store without you.
Month in, month out
I'll never take you for granted.
Unappreciated talent as a barista
It's true, everyone loves you.
You've taught me so much
even if you don't realize it.
Don't forget me when I leave, because
where'd I be without you?

Self-Portrait

Another assignment here! Based on the poem Fast-Talking Woman, don't remember who it's by. Anyway. This was supposed to be a poem about one's self, with a bit of a faster pace. I kinda like describing myself. :D

Self-Portrait

What am I?

The hopeless romantic
that's me.
Mind in the clouds
(In spite of life
or perhaps because of it?)
I think about love
(but am not in it)
No, that's wrong
I am in love
with music.

The artist
That's me as well
My fingers walk along
A sidewalk of black and white;
My perfume of choice is
Rosin and wood varnish
(Life without music
Is a desert.)

What else?
A contradiction
Order reigns on the job
(bedroom blanketed with clutter)
Words are few
(smiles are plenty)
Switchfoot on my iPod
(as well as Saint-Saens)
Trip over my own Keds
(yet still love dancing)

Is this me?
I can't tell
Add some intangibility.
Perhaps:
Dreamer,
musician,
contradiction,
and something more.

Learning to Breathe

This is inspired by the song of the same name by Switchfoot. Check it out sometime. :)

Learning to Breathe

Take a step outside
Stop
Think
Breathe.

Abundant sky
Unreproducible blue
Eternal
Unchanging
Deep

In this sea
Above my head
I can lose everything
Worries
Doubts
Fears

Floating away
Sinking
Gone

Rising sun
A fresh beginning
Clean

Tada!

Well, here I am! Welcome to my humble e-abode. As I mentioned in the "about me" of my profile, I started this blog for a couple reasons:

1. I wanted a place dedicated to my fledgling attempts at poetry.
2. When writing this poetry, I didn't want to be hampered by my thoughts of, "what would my friends think when they read this poem?" So I 'neglected' to tell the people I see regularly about this blog. (Also, partially because I don't think they really care.) So you boardie friends, consider yourself among the privileged, because I told you about this blog! ;)
3. I like writing blogs.

So I'm not that great at poetry yet. I just started doing it seriously a few months ago, and ended up signing up for a class called Writing Poetry this quarter at school. I've learned a lot from that class, and maybe this way I can keep those skills I've learned in use. Anyway, don't expect this poetry to be very great. I like to sort of wing it when writing poetry, because I think whenever I try to use a real "form" like a sonnet or whatever, it sounds really weird or cartoony. :P So you'll see a lot- if not all- free form.

You may also see a lot of Switchfoot references. For those of you who may have discovered this blog who don't know me previously, Switchfoot is my favorite band. EVER. In fact, the title of this blog is taken from a Switchfoot song, and the web address is from a quote by lead singer Jon Foreman. So if you don't like SF, you better not tell me! ;) Another great musical influence of mine is Anberlin/Stephen Christian.

Well, that's about it. I just recently discovered I could watch the show Lost online for free, and since I've never seen it, I decided to start watching it a few days ago. I am officially addicted now. I'm about 2/3 of the way through season 1, pretty fun stuff.

Anyway. Peace and blessings, all! God bless.