Throughout my entire school career, I have been reading and analyzing poetry.  Although I have read, literally, hundreds of poems in my life I cannot recall any of them.  If somebody asked me about a significant moment in my life that involved poetry, I would not have a response.  Other than music, poetry has had extremely little influence in my life up until the most recent class of Seminar.

There were two parts of the class that I took a liking to, the first of which was Andrew’s poem.  I am going to be honest and say that I was not expecting much when Andrew said he wanted to share his own poem.  I figured it would be a few clever rhymes but my assumption was clearly wrong.  The first line of the poem was by far the best, it is a perfect hook, “Lights pass by me hundreds at a time, but none can illuminate my night.”  I can easily relate this line to my life; I drive by hundreds of lamp posts on a daily basis but it never gives me that sweet embrace of hope I get when I wake up to a sunny day.

The second part I really enjoyed was a line in Christian’s poem.  I cannot perfectly recall the line but it was the segment about the web and the hardy cab driver.  I did not have any deep relations to this poem but I just adored the analogy of light hitting a spider’s web, symbolizing the cabby’s defense mechanism.

When the time arises in which I may need to discuss poetry, I will have these two poems in my arsenal.

Today in seminar class, we continued our poetry presentations. We started off class with Jaclyn’s poem, which was a difficult poem for me to understand because of its hidden meanings. After Professor Kahan explained to us the beginning of the poem, I thought it was interesting because I can relate to it. Time and time again, I have had a dream that involved the alarm sound on my iPod trying to wake me up.

During Andrew’s performance, we had some fun after he finished reading his second poem. I think its safe to say that everyone enjoyed saying BangClash enthusiastically. We even got a good laugh when I came to my turn to read it. I was extremely impressed with Andrew’s poem that he wrote. It was a beautiful poem and he put a lot into his performance. You could tell that he was very passionate about what he was reciting. I give him a lot of credit for presenting his own work to the class. I think it would be a lot harder for me to say a poem that I wrote, rather read a famous poem.

Christian’s poem was my favorite out of the poems read today. I liked the fact that the poet just wrote a poem about a “snap shot” of a few moments in his life. It was a very nice poem that reminds us that there is more to a person than their appearance or occupation.

I was also impressed by Naomi’s performances today. I think that she did a very good job of performing Dorothy Parker’s poems. She showed a lot of emotion in her poem like Amber did in the previous class and was able to show everybody her great talent of performing.

Today’s seminar class was part two of our poetry readings and despite the snowstorm everyone attended. Unfortunately, I still didn’t present my two poems yet, but by observing my classmates’ performances, I feel a little uneasy and wary. Public speaking is an art, that if not mastered can be nerve-racking and worrying. Most of my friends today, remained composed, and spoke with confidence. However, there still were some who let it get the best of them, and lacked emotions or feelings.

When I do present, my history of the two poets will be very concise because little information was present on the computer, due to their age and other such factors. However, I admire Michael Cirelli because he combined hip-hop culture and poetry. At first, when I researched him and found about this duality within his poetry, I was a little skeptical and unsure how it would turn out. But, after I read Birthplace, my whole viewpoint was altered greatly. Not only did I respect him, but began to wonder how creative as well as difficult it must be to combine the hip-hop and poetry world together.

Pertaining to today’s class, I specially enjoyed Naomi’s performance and Andrew’s presentation of the poem he wrote. Both were spoke with such emotion and enthusiasm I truly understood the meanings behind each of the poems. I was taken back when I heard Andrew’s poem, because I never knew he was capable or even into that type of writing. It was marvelous how he just sat down one day and wrote this heartfelt and ingenious poem. If he hadn’t had told us that he wrote it, I would definitely have thought some famous author wrote it back in the early 1900s. Also, Naomi’s presentation was empowering and vivid in nature. She used a lot of feeling and passion, making it enjoyable and pleasant to witness. I felt as if, I was in the poem acting out what was being said.

All and all, I learned different techniques to public speaking as to what works and what doesn’t work. Everyone has their own way of doing things, and as an individual, I must find what works best for me. I am looking forward to finally presenting my poems on Monday, and I hope I can be half as good as some of the performances earlier today.

Today’s seminar class was another day of poetry recitations.  I’m finding that I am really enjoying these days.  I like watching my classmates and hearing them put their own emotions and thoughts, and their own personal touches to each poem.  It was particularly enjoyable to hear one of my fellow classmates’ own personal poems…I’ve never been able to skillfully write a poem, although I have tried, so I really admired his talent and everything he put into the poem — the words, the meaning, and his presentation.  The presentation of his poem led to a discussion revolving around the art of presentation and performance.  You never truly realize how difficult it is to give a performance in front of an audience, whether you know the people in the audience or not, until it is your turn to get up on stage or in the front of the classroom and present your own work.  Not only is it nerve-wracking, there is much to take into consideration.  When giving a performance, you have to decide how you want to depict a certain character or how you want to present a poem or piece of writing.  You have to try and get into the mindset of the author who wrote piece you are presenting and read it with emotion, adding your own personality and flair to give an enjoying and captivating performance.  I personally have always admired people such as Broadway stars, actors and actresses, anybody who can confidently go on stage in front of a large audience, and dramatically portray a character and really give a performance.  When I sit and watch performers, I think about how much time must have gone into preparing for the show and I really appreciate their work and dedication.

The conversation in today’s class that was most enjoyable was that of the art of people-watching.  I have always enjoyed people-watching, whether I am at the mall, in the city, on public transportation, in the car, anywhere.  Whether it’s to pass the time or just to have fun, at some point in my life, people-watching turned into a game.  Because of this, the poems The Cab Driver’s Smile and Public Transportation really appealed to me.  I could definitely relate to the authors who were drawing a sketch of life around them, a sketch of the people who they saw on the streets of New York City.  As we discussed in class, you never really know what kind of life the people around you are leading.  There is a plethora of possibilities for why people look and act the way they do when you see them, wherever you see them.  It all comes full circle, in a way, to the teaching that you can’t judge people. Maybe the guy on the bus next to you really is a parish priest, even though he looks like a mugger.  What do we know?  I find this concept fascinating.  The fact that you can look at any one person and devise this whole life for them inside your head, which could be the complete opposite of who they really are…it’s just entertaining to think about.

I also want to say I really enjoyed the poems by Dorothy Parker.  Observation was my favorite, because it shows that she didn’t care what other people thought about her, as long as she was pleased with herself and how she was living her life.  I think that’s the best way to live.  From the background of her life that we heard from Dr. Kahan, about having a deadpan, no-nonsense personality, it seems to me that she lived her life the way she described living in the poem Observation.

I am definitely enjoying the class discussions that come about as a result of the poetry readings and I look forward to hearing the remaining poems on Monday.