Rebecca+Rainis

"Poetry is the most direct and simple means of expressing oneself in word." -Northrup Frye


 * Ode to Pillows**

All different shapes, colors, and sizes. Green, pink , brown , tan , blue , purple , orange , white, black. The way you all cuddle in the corner for the sake of my well-being makes my heart melt. I have never found a bigger supporter of what is most essential to my life. Each and every one of you are individual. Your numerical order has grown with the years, and how you have grown on me throughout the years baffles me. You started as a collection, but transformed into my buddies. I see you every day, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Thank you pillows, for giving me the best sleep of my life, faithfully, night after night.


 * Sonnet of Iambic Pentameter: The Girl and the Boy**

The girl likes to play in the grassy lawn, And look at all the birds that flutter by. She runs around and sings a jolly song. Her brother comes outside and starts to cry. She quickly asks her brother what is wrong. He says he accidentally broke his toy. Time goes by; he's been crying way too long. His sister's mentally drains of her joy. She goes inside to fix his toy all up, And after wards it works very greatly. But now the boy says that he wants a pup. The small girl gives up immediately. The boy is quite complicated to please. So, the girl goes outside to feel the breeze.


 * Raised By**

I was raised by A dress wearing High heel using "Does this look alright on me?" Type of mom.

A chili-cooking expert Meat sauce making Seafood eating "Come here, taste this." Type of mom.

A vacuum sweeping Windex cleaning Dish washing "Would you clean the bathroom for me?" Type of mom.

Clothes buying Thinking she's a teen Leggings fan "When I don't want these anymore, you can have them." Type of mom.

A teen show watching Hard partying Crazy dancing "No, I'm not drunk!" Type of mom.

School caring Money sharing Her baby forever "I love you, Boo." Type of mom.

I was raised by my MOTHER.


 * The Wackies**

She met him on a summer's day, And everything was going her way. They departed when the day came to an end, but they would soon meet again.

Their friendship started with sparkles in eyes, And words and compliments took them by surprise. Everybody knew they both had a crush, but when the subject came up, they did nothing but blush.

"Ask her out!" someone declared. "I will, I will," but he wouldn't dare. Time went on; she wanted to commit, So she started to get fed up with it.

He started going crazy, she couldn't take it. She started to question if their friendship would make it. His moods would swing, he acted schizophrenic. Her tears would pour, they were authentic.

He screwed with her head, day and night, And never asked if she was alright. She was very hurt, and simply depressed. She tried to give herself what was best.

She ignored him, but he followed her. She walked away from him, but he'd find a way to bother her. She tried so hard, but couldn't get away, and she went back to him, day after day.

Some days he was pleasant and would handle her well, Other days the things he said could put him in hell. "You're worthless to me!" he'd scream at her, And she'd cry all the time because of how he treated her.

Her friends would tell her she could do so much better; Someone to comfort her and write her love letters, But even after the devastation and pain, She went back to him, knowing he wouldn't change.

She tried to discuss with him why acted like this. "I loved her, and she broke my heart and threw it into an abyss." She discovered there was another, and she wasn't the one. She found the courage to end everything; she was finally done.


 * A Statement About My Own Poetry**

I believe that everybody has the capability to be a writer, because everyone writes poems and such in different ways, and every poem can be great. My personal poetry is different than many other people's. I find it most creative to write my poems in the way that the first two lines rhyme, then the second two also rhyme, and so on. This makes the rhyme scheme AABBCCDD, and if the poem is longer than 8 lines, the rhyme scheme can continue on. Most poems I read are free-styled, and they don't rhyme at all. Although these poems are great and in my opinion give a writer more room to speak truly about her feelings, using a rhyme scheme is just my cup of tea. In my opinion it's very difficult to write a poem and have it relay the message exactly how you'd generally say it. I myself struggle with writing poems. This is because I don't do a good job at writing about random things, so when I do write, it's about something special, important or meaningful to me, whether it be a good or bad thing. When writing a poem, I try to make the poem say exactly what I think, so that it paints an image in the reader's head, the same image I saw when the event that inspired me to write the poem happened. I find it stressing to use sensory imagery as well as a rhyme scheme though, because sometimes there are no words that rhyme with previous words used, but explain how you feel about what is happening in your poem. These are some of the struggles I come across when writing poetry. Although there are ups and downs to writing poetry, I find it a great thing to do. Poetry has a way of connecting with it's author to make him/her feel better about something that has happened. It also is a great way to release inner stress, or get your mind off of some things. Aside from bad things, it's an exciting thing to do when something good has occurred, and a spectacular way to express yourself. I personally enjoy writing poetry.


 * Poems by Kirsten Dierking**


 * //Half Asleep//**

Someone is walking with you in their arms the way you haven't been carried, swaying,

since you were a child. No whispers, not a wisp of where it is you might be going, it could be

your spouse stepping over the fairy-tale of your new marriage, it might be a fireman

lifting you out of your burning house. The bones of your neck arch beautifully

backward, throat open to anyone's judgement, as you wane into the warm shoulder

of this great undemanding light-weightedness, as if the way you really are could be easily

embraced and hardly a burden to anyone.


 * Half Asleep Close Reading Analysis**

In the poem Half Asleep, the poet uses imagery to create the idea of human perfection. This poem is about a person being carried by someone walking, and in the poem the author creates a few possibilities of why she could be getting carried. The imagery in this poem is that the woman is no burden to the man because he thinks she is perfect. The way the author writes this poem has a big impact on the reader. She uses enjambments in her poem, so there are pauses in the middle of each sentence. This causes the reader to read the poem a lot more slowly. The stanzas in the poem are short, only 2 lines long, however the last stanza of the poem is only 1 line long. I think the best part of this poem is the ability it gives a person to visualize in their heads what this poem looks like. For example, when the author writes "...it could be your new spouse stepping over the fairy-tale of your new marriage..." I see a woman being carried to the front steps of her new house in a huge, elegant dress by her husband. When she writes "...it might be a fireman lifting you out of your burning house." I imagine a woman cuddled up into a fireman's suit, with burnt skin patched all over her. Behind her and the fireman, I see a house crumbling from beneath itself due to the huge fire seeping out of the windows. I think part of what makes this poem so great is that it can show a person what is going on with it's words, giving the reader a deeper understanding of what it means.


 * //I Might Have Dreamed This//**

For a short time after the rape, I found I could

move things. Energy birds swarmed from my brain.

With a witch's sense of abandoned physics,

I sent the dolls rolling back and forth. Like a

breathing sound.

Using only my night-powered eyes, I pushed the lamp

to the dresser's edge. I buried the mirrors

in avalanches of freshly laundered underpants.

I never slept.

I did all these things lying down.


 * I Might Have Dreamed This Close Reading Analysis**

In the poem I Might Have Dreamed This, the poem uses imagery to channel her thoughts to her readers. She writes about the things she does using her mind and eyes, which gives you a mental image to look at while reading the poem. However, aside from the imagery used in this poem, I believe the poet does a great job of giving hidden clues about her feelings after she got raped. In the poem, the woman says, "I buried the mirrors in avalanches of freshly laundered underpants." I think that the woman wrote this because after she was raped, she didn't want to be seen. She probably felt hurt and uncomfortable with herself after going through a traumatic experience such as rape. Because of her feelings, she decides to cover her mirrors with underpants in order to keep herself from seeing herself. The author also uses enjambments in this poem, which I feel make the poem seem very deep, as well as sad and depressing. However, the poet does a great job of getting her feelings and emotions across to people, so they know what she is experiencing.

//**The Ordinary**//

It's summer, so the pink gingham shorts, the red mower, the neat rows of clean smelling grass unspooling behind the sweeping blades.

A dragonfly, black body big as a finger, will not leave the mower alone, loving the sparkle of scarlet metal, seeing in even a rusting paint the shade of a flower.

But I wave him off, conscious he is wasting his time, conscious I am filling my time with such small details, distracting colors,

like pink checks, like this, then that, like a dragonfly wing in the sun reflecting the color of opals, like all the hours we leave behind, so ordinary, but not unloved.


 * The Ordinary Close Reading Analysis**

In the poem The Ordinary, the author does a great job of using sensory imagery. She describes everything so well; so well that it has the effect of playing in your head like a scene in a movie. In the beginning of the poem, she describes what is around and what color things are so you have a thought of how everything starts out. She goes on to tell the story of a black dragonfly who is attracted to the sparks emerging from the lawn mower. She then describes how she handles the small situation, saying "But I wave him off, conscious he is wasting his time..." I also think that this poem is great because of the last stanza. From a reader's perspective, when you start reading the poem, you are confused as to where it will end up, because all of the things this author is mentioning seem so forgotten and unimportant, however that is the thesis of the poem. At the end of the poem, the author realizes that all the things she is focusing on, from the dragonfly to the lawn mower, are so ordinary. We don't bother to stop and see what is going on with things like this because we find that it is unimportant or a waste of time, when in the end, although it's ordinary colors and actions cause us humans to walk by like nothing is going on, this is a part of nature, and it doesn't go unloved.