Caroline+AbdulBaki

**“Ode to Sweatpants “ (Ode)**
Many Different colors, they match with everything you need them to. Clothing made from heaven even the toughest men wear them, Light like a feather on an up drift, heavy like lugging a boulder around.

Picking them up and seeing how extremely big they look When you try them on your mom wants them to be your exact size, but your thinking to yourself I want them big so that they could fit ten guys. But I would always want them to myself.

I wear them all the time they are used for everything, Sleeping,exercise and everything in between. Washing them doesn’t make them shrink And when I’m hot they roll up to my knees.

I love my sweatpants they are the most comfortable things No matter when they get out of style they always fit my needs.

**“ Alligator”(Praise Poem)**
It pops in my head every time I think of a great friend I had A water park is where we were at “Dutch Wonderland” Getting into the boat ride, all us kids laughing with excitement.

Once in the boat we would float gently on the water Listening to the water slowly running by, or coming from the animal’s mouth or nose. People are waiting for our turn to be over so they could take a ride, didn’t think they were looking towards our way at that point I didn’t want them to.

I saw it at the end standing there watching ,waiting, its mouth gently opening and closing taking in all that water from the pond we were in, it was looking at me. I saw it and started screaming, crying yelling to my dad “ Its going to get us!” Trying to calm me down by saying its not real but I am not listening.

Now I hear laughter from all directions and listening to them created a tear to roll down from my eyes and to my cheeks. The ride was over and that toy at the end the alligator who caused me to embarrass my self, stood there watching, waiting its mouth gently opening and closing taking in all that water from the pond that we were in.

**" I wish I had magic powers" (Sonnet)**
I wish I had magic powers, I wish I was able to not do chores. To use my magic every hour, And with a swish of my hand to open the door.

My magic would be good, I would use it to help others. I would want a cape with a hood, That camouflages when I go under cover.

Wands would be there to protect us, Family and friends would have powers too. We would fly on broom sticks instead of taking a bus With our powers all the things we could do

I wish I could have magic powers the things I can do, But this one dream of mine would never come true.

“What I want to say to you” (Riff Poem)
//To think this fills my throat// My heart and my soul. Everything I want to say to you Everything I hope will do some good. I wish I would tell you how I feel To let you know my feelings are real, And not some words said that will end up hurting you. To ask you if all you really want to be is friends If so I’ll keep our friendship until the end. There is so much more I can and want to say But I am afraid that this will not happen today, tomorrow, or the next. This will be something that will always stay inside me. //To think this fills my throat// My heart and my soul.

My poetry
When it comes to writing poetry I am not very good at it. It takes me a while to come up with a poem that will have a good meaning, or allow people to go deeper into it. Working on this poetry portfolio helped me become a little bit more familiar with poetry. When doing this portfolio I realized that I can write poetry even though it is not the greatest poetry it still can pass for something. I still don’t know what kind of poetry I am better at writing, in my opinion each of my poems have a strong point and a weak point. If I continue to write poetry my ability to write poems will become stronger.

**"Otherwise**"
I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood. All morning I did the work I love.

At noon I lay down with my mate. It might have been otherwise. We ate dinner together at a table with silver candlesticks. It might have been otherwise. I slept in a bed in a room with paintings on the walls, and planned another day just like this day. But one day, I know, it will be otherwise.

**"Happiness"**

 * by Jane Kenyon**

There’s just no accounting for happiness, or the way it turns up like a prodigal who comes back to the dust at your feet having squandered a fortune far away.

And how can you not forgive? You make a feast in honor of what was lost, and take from its place the finest garment, which you saved for an occasion you could not imagine, and you weep night and day to know that you were not abandoned, that happiness saved its most extreme form for you alone.

No, happiness is the uncle you never knew about, who flies a single-engine plane onto the grassy landing strip, hitchhikes into town, and inquires at every door until he finds you asleep midafternoon as you so often are during the unmerciful hours of your despair.

It comes to the monk in his cell. It comes to the woman sweeping the street with a birch broom, to the child whose mother has passed out from drink. It comes to the lover, to the dog chewing a sock, to the pusher, to the basketmaker, and to the clerk stacking cans of carrots in the night. It even comes to the boulder in the perpetual shade of pine barrens, to rain falling on the open sea, to the wineglass, weary of holding wine

"The Shirt"
The shirt touches his neck and smooths over his back. It slides down his sides. It even goes down below his belt— down into his pants. Lucky shirt.
 * by Jane Kenyon**

Analysis
The poem "Otherwise" by Jane Kenyon talks about how she has this ”daily routine” in her life and even though it is she seems to appreciate it because everyday she knows that something could happen that will cause her days to be different. When I read the words “ It might have been otherwise” to me this felt like this is where she really wanted to show us the meaning of the poem, to sort of just think about how your day might’ve gone especially if it was sort of a normal day or a great day. The words “ But one day I know it will be otherwise” and the end of her last stanza (lines 25-26) to me also felt like this is another place where she really wanted to tell us the meaning of the poem. To me this line gave me the feeling of death, as if one day she won’t wake up or walk her dog or have dinner with her mate, she cant do anything because she wouldn’t be there anymore. This is another way of showing us to enjoy what we have because we never know what could happen something such as death to ruin our day. In her poem "Happiness" Jane Kenyon is talking about how people judge happiness to easily, even though at the same time there is no way of describing what it is. She is saying that happiness comes to everything and everyone even if we don’t know it. Jane is somehow giving the cup, boulder, and rain personification by saying that they can receive happiness similar to how people can receive it. Jane is also saying that happiness comes in many forms for many different people “That happiness saved its most extreme form for you alone.”in her second stanza (lines11-12) This is a line from her second stanza this is the stanza that lets us know that happiness come in different forms. The poem "The Shirt" by Jane Kenyon, has a funny, cute side to it differing from the other two poems above. When I read this poem one thing came to mind and that was teenagers. I pictured a bunch of teenage girls talking about a boy giggling when he walks by and looking at him and capturing every detail of him. I feel that even though this poem sort of hits us with one meaning it can still be interpreted as many different things. The person who reads this can get something more or less out of this simple little poem.