Robert+Tokar

**Quote** "Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe." - Adrienne Rich

When writing poetry, I like to be creative. I either speak about what I know or what is affecting me the most at the moment. I use Pathos a lot in my writing and I think it helps the reader understand why I said what I said and how it can relate to perhaps their own struggles. Imagination also plays a huge role in my writing style. 100% of the time, I am always adding new adjectives, personification, and intriguing detail to my poems. It lets me do my best job while also understanding that a bit of sparkle and fun can also be used when writing. Humor is also a good aspect to use. In fact, I take advantage of it almost all the time. I love anything funny, and so I constantly remind myself to add comical components to my poetry. My praise poem, entitled Fancy Shmancy, is an example of a fun, easy-going poem that describes my first time in a fancy restaurant and the sophistication I felt in doing so. All in all, I am content with my writing performance, though I remain open to both criticism and new ideas!
 * Statement**

__Because That's What Love Is__ Because That's What Love Is A struggle, a strain Happy but sad Right but wrong True but false
 * Ode**

In the café, I sat Working on Geo When my heart started beating Rapidly, fast... so fast What was wrong? Something was tugging, pulling, straining to come out Instantaneously, she came into my vicinity Ah, now I know! It was her Her scent, her demeanor, her voice It lingered on my skin, reverberated my concious Zeus, himself, struck me with the thunderbolt of her entirety And I was entirely... speechless, breathless, thoughtless  I see you every day You're so close, I can almost grab you In Copper, you reside Going about your daily classes If only you knew how much you meant to mev I hate that I love you And you love to hate me See, we might be close like gum to a table But really, we're two worlds a part If only //you //were able To choose me, want me, love me

So many chances passed by Where I was finally able to tell you how I felt But something stood in my way For some reason, I just couldn’t do it Whenever I’m around you My brain shuts down My tongue twists and turns My heart melts I’m unable to open my book And show you the story of my love

I cried over you Spoke about you like you were Aphrodite, herself Time after time I look at you Seeing your face, body, mind, and soul

I want all of it I want to be greedy with you Spend time with you Build memories with you

Cupid, he tortured me Not only striking me with the bow of love But tearing a piece of my soul out, in the process Like Adam, giving his rib to form Eve And like that, I am incomplete without you

I want you, I need you Your scent, touch, sight, sound, and taste Am I crazy? Yeah, for you… I guess because That’s what love is

__Fancy Shmancy __ Seven years into my timeline Yeah, that’s when snails changed my life Snails, you say? Yep, the sluggish little creatures did in fact make a huge impact on how I saw life, and here’s how; The mother says we’re going out, just me and her Cool beans, I responded I got dressed. White shirt, black overcoat, dress shoes Pshh, wasn’t I a fly little adolescent We walked in Damnnnnnnn Beautiful scenary, intricate wallpaper, waiters in suits, old people laughing and drinking some red stuff from a big bottle Probably cranberry juice, I shrugged Yes, I know, my seven years of existence had so much knowledge on vintage wines But back to me and my escargot Escargot, you ask? Yep! It’s like edable snails. Yummmm With a crab bisque, no doubt Finishing off with a chocolate suicide Thought my tummy was gonna join chocolate in the next lifetime; Full as can be That’s all I could remember Oh, and feeling really sophisticated as well Check me out in my little suit and French cuisine Oh my lentas, forgot to mention the mother’s sentiments Well yea, she liked her food, big whoop, back to me! Though, I must add, she felt somewhat naucious when a paper was placed on our table She looked weird Somewhat ill Paler than Evan in a tic-tac factory Holy macaroni, how much could it possibly cost?! An arm and a leg, and a few snail antennas Yea something like that But hey, I had a blast, so who cared! What’s more important than my happiness?! Oh ok… So spoiled Sooooo…. Fancy shmancy
 * Praise**

//My Button - Amanda Burthen// __03.05.09__ as my head churns with the scenes from today i thought about how i survived DID i survive? AM i okay? HAVE i just told my 2-year crush that I'm in love with her?! Welllllllllll Let's press the rewind button for just a second, come back to earlier this morning
 * Riff**

In class, I sat thinking non-stop about her for SOOOOOOOOOOOO long i planned this day when i'd tell Her... when i'd tell Her..... when i'd tell Her......... oh god, i feel sick to my stomach

class ended i flew out the door there she was, in the hallway, opening her locker just me and her occupied the hallway Hallelujah!! i ran up to her and as she closed the locker, i SLAMMED her into it, kissed her, and looked straight at her, finally saying the three words i knew someday i'd regret I LOVE YOU she just continued to stare at me as did i

so i spent the next eight or so minutes telling her how i felt a liberating breath of fresh air consumed me as i finally got those heartache sentiments off my chest

afterwards, i walked away tingling, so nervous, so paralyzed with fear and ambiguity

as i turned the corner, i caught a glimpse of her she still stood there frozen...stupified

I simply kept walking, praying that March 6th would bring a new day... __Life__ I just cannot stand life any longer Why do people say that it is so short? Perhaps they believe that there is no point Destiny is oh so complicated
 * Sonnet**

Why is there only one purpose for all? You see, our scars are evidence enough They say, mistakes will help you learn in life So then why am I never just happy?

People and places and things make this world I guess I'm part of it all, just one guy It's like following a certain order Needless to say, I'm getting sick of it

Oh well, so much for being different Just a little thing I like to call life

(I decided to write a poem as my form of artwork to accompany my sonnet.)
 * Artwork**

__Life Part 2__ Life is but an open road Everyone has somewhere to go We all are alike, yet different as well We all have tears, some have more to shed Yet what makes us all the same Is this board game called life so many pieces and charms and coaxes and people and places it's funny how people run this world yet it is the physical, temporary things that others saught out to get and why fret? when we have each other, when we have peace, when we have equality isn't that enough? sublime no time so far so big so wrong so right it's MY part 2... of life.


 * Poems from Sonia Sanchez **

__Under A Soprano Sky__

1.

once i lived on pillars in a green house boarded by lilacs that rocked voices into weeds. i bled an owl's blood shredding the grass until i rocked in a choir of worms. obscene with hands, i wooed the world with thumbs while yo-yos hummed. was it an unborn lacquer i peeled? the woods, tall as waves, sang in mixed tongues that loosened the scalp and my bones wrapped in white dust returned to echo in my thighs.

i hear a pulse wandering somewhere on vague embankments. O are my hands breathing? I cannot smell the nerves. i saw the sun ripening green stones for fields. O have my eyes run down? i cannot taste my birth.

2.

now as i move, mouth quivering with silks my skin runs soft with eyes. descending into my legs, i follow obscure birds purchasing orthopedic wings. the air is late this summer.

i peel the spine and flood the earth with adolescence. O who will pump these breasts? I cannot waltz my tongue.

under a soprano sky, a woman sings, lovely as chandeliers.

__Haiku__

we are sudden stars

you and i exploding in

our blue black skins

__Ballad__

forgive me if i laugh you are so sure of love you are so young and i too old to learn of love.

the rain exploding in the air is love the grass excreting her green wax is love and stones remembering past steps is love, but you. you are too young for love and i too old.

once. what does it matter when or who, i knew of love. i fixed my body under his and went to sleep in love all trace of me was wiped away

forgive me if i smile young heiress of a naked dream you are so young and i too old to learn of love.

Sonia Sanchez was born in Birmingham, Alabama on September 9, 1934. She grew up in Harlem and later became both a creative writing and African American literature teahcer. She taught in many different universities in the United States and had traveled internationally to read her poems to different people, organizations, and colleges. "No other American figure blends the roles of mother, teacher, poet, and political activist more sincerely and energetically than Sanchez." - [] In "Under A Soprano Sky," I interpreted Ms. Sanchez working as a slave in a big house, working the fields. She describes her pain and the amount of suffering she is undergoing while working, never ceasing to rest or do anything else but work, and work, and work. It's sort of like she wakes up to work, to survive, to wake up and start working again. It's such a vicious cycle. Verse 2, Line 8; "O who will pump these breasts? I cannot waltz my tongue." This line especialy helps me to connect to her struggles, understand her pain, and feel somewhat sorry for her as well. In her Haiku, Ms. Sanchez seems to describe both herself and her love as distant stars, ignorant to one another's existence, living their seperate lives. Once the clashing of these two stars occur, they "explode in blue black skins." To me, Ms. Sanchez's ballad tells the story of her reflection on love, how she has become too old to both experience and comprehend it, and that someone younger, maybe her daughter, is very frivalous and open to it. I think Sonia has a problem with this younger person falling in love, since she constantly reminds the reader, saying "You are too young." Maybe it is SHE who is actually fearful and contemptous towards love and its mystical affects, and felt that portraying herself as a younger, more innocent being would rid her from the pain and heartache of love. All in all, I gained a lot of wisdom and appreciation for Ms. Sanchez's poems. They are deep, intriguing, and easy to relate to. I hope to read more of her work in the future!
 * Analysis**