Taylor+Thomas

//-William Stanley Merwin//
Statement: My poetry mostly comes from the heart and I usually talk about how things that are emotional. I think of poetry as a way to get a point across with out being blunt about things. You can hid so many theories in a poem. I like poetry because anyone can take a poem and have it relate to them in some way.

//Sonnet:// //I am a pirate with two wooden legs.// //My wooden legs are old and rotton now,// //Because these kids, they hit me with some eggs.// //I am just glad I'm not fat as a cow.// //My legs would break and that would be so bad.// //I would not, could not, ever run my ship.// //My crew would leave then I would be so sad.// //My tears would run down my face, off my lip.// //I hope we get to land so very soon.// //I'll shower and get and then get changed.// //then we can eat and drink at the saloon.// //We'll laugh a lot and words would be exchanged.// //I'm not fat as a cow and that is that.// //I do stil smell like eggs and that is fact.//

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Ode to Child:// <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//He looks so precious.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//His shiny bald head, with his smooth bottom.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//His rosie cheeks are red as a cherry on top of ice cream.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//They are so cute that I could eat them up.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//New born, so ambitious.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//The sparkle in his eyes shines as bright as a star.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Ode to child.//  <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Cloned by Taylor Thomas: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> She looks in the mirror She sees her face Her arms Her legs Her body But doesn’t see herself She sees a clone A fake An imposter A shadow Someone who isn’t happy Depressed Confused Tortured She looks at the wrists She sees cuts Burns Scratches Scars She looks into the eyes She sees a brick wall. She doesn’t want this She wants to find peace Serenity Love Help No one understands Mom Dad Counselor One helps Her friend She is the reason The reason she is still here On earth In school Alive. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> Raised By Poem: I was raised by the summer barbeques, two foot baby pool for the young kids, amusement park passes every year, sit on the dock and watch the boats go by kind of dad. I was raised by the plane rides instead of car rides because it’s faster and we have miles, work from home, macaroni and cheese for dinner, everything has to be done on time, keep your room clean and your grades up kind of mom. I was raised by the cheese steaks and tasty cakes, 2 o’clock from 7 o’clock rush hour, volt energy drink, sleepovers every weekend, don’t talk to homeless people, septa transportation kind of city. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Kim Addonizio:// code <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What do Women Want? I want a red dress. I want it flimsy and cheap, I want it too tight, I want to wear it until someone tears it off me. I want it sleeveless and backless, this dress, so no one has to guess what's underneath. I want to walk down the street past Thrifty's and the hardware store with all those keys glittering in the window, past Mr. and Mrs. Wong selling day-old donuts in their café, past the Guerra brothers slinging pigs from the truck and onto the dolly, hoisting the slick snouts over their shoulders. I want to walk like I'm the only woman on earth and I can have my pick. I want that red dress bad. I want it to confirm your worst fears about me, to show you how little I care about you or anything except what I want. When I find it, I'll pull that garment from its hanger like I'm choosing a body to carry me into this world, through the birth-cries and the love-cries too, and I'll wear it like bones, like skin, it'll be the goddamned dress they bury me in.

Analysis. code This poem uses a feminist’s voice. This poem is broken into three parts. In the first part, Kim describes the dress as flimsy, cheap, too tight, sleeveless and backless. She emphasizes the sexuality of the dress to show that women can do what they want, when they want. The second part of the poem describes the woman in the red dress, walking down the street past low paying jobs. The women lowers her standards to make herself think that she can have any man that she wants. The third part of the poem describes someone that she may have had a previous relationship with, afraid of her wearing that dress. It continues to say due to the way she feels in that dress, she will never take it off. She would feel so amazing in the dress because she would get so much attention from males, but it is only sexually. The dress represents lust, not love. The woman would have her choice with her sexual preferences, not her partner. code <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Mermaid Song. //for Aya at fifteen//Damp-haired from the bath, you drape yourself upside down across the sofa, reading, one hand idly sunk into a bowl of crackers, goldfish with smiles stamped on. I think they are growing gills, swimming up the sweet air to reach you. Small girl, my slim miracle, they multiply. In the black hours when I lie sleepless, near drowning, dread-heavy, your face is the bright lure I look for, love's hook piercing me, hauling me cleanly up.

code This poem talks about two different people. Herself, Kim, and another person, you. She references goldfish and a young girl. She misses childhood. The length of the lines, are cut off at weird places, showing the resemblance of a child's writing. The first part of the poem shows someone getting out of the bath, and laying upside down on the couch. The second part of the poem shows Kim laying in her bed, sleepless, and drowning. I think the meaning of this poem is that she wants a child but cannot have one for some reason. code <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: verdana,arial,'lucida sans',helvetica,geneva,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My Heart. That Mississippi chicken shack. That initial-scarred tabletop, that tiny little dance floor to the left of the band. That kiosk at the mall selling caramels and kitsch. That tollbooth with its white-plastic-gloved worker handing you your change. That phone booth with the receiver ripped out. That dressing room in the fetish boutique, those curtains and mirrors. That funhouse, that horror, that soundtrack of screams. That putti-filled heaven raining gilt from the ceiling. That haven for truckers, that bottomless cup. That biome. That wilderness preserve. That landing strip with no runway lights where you are aiming your plane, imagining a voice in the tower, imagining a tower.

This poem starts almost every line with the word that which is referencing something that she remembers. She is recalling happy memories. The line breaks after naming something that she remembers specifically from sometime. The line that says "That landing strip with no runway lights" has no punctuation after the line. This resembles the run way not having lights. Also there is a line "that tiny little dance floor to the left of the band." She didn't capitalize "that" because it is a little dance floor. code