Jonathan+Spencer

"Words written in verse may speak volumes when those spoken do not." ~Caressia Combs


 * __Personal Poetry__**

Is this a joke? An Ode to Sarcasm? No I'm joking? This is an Ode to Marxism! What does the title say? Can't you read This is an Ode to those who commit clever deeds. Some say its wrong, But I disagree Sarcasm is great Especially when used correctly. No I wasn't joking This Ode is not a troll I just felt like writing about something I use everyday I think that sarcasm is gold.
 * Ode to Sacarcasm**

I cannot stand the format of sonnets, It makes me feel so very limited. Sonnets are the worse poems of you could get, Sonnets make me feel as though I've been had. Sonnets give me a very large headache, Iambic pentameters are so bad. Pahomov told us one we had to make. Iambic pentameters make me made. When we talk we sound so very stupid, I hate counting on my fingers in class. Did you know that stupid rhymes with cupid, I really cannot do this very fast.
 * Sonnet about my hate of Sonnets**

I cannot stand the format of sonnets, Sonnets are the worse poems of you could get.

I was raised by curry chicken, fried fish and ackee, which taught me all about my parents past.
 * I Was Raised By......**

I was raised by a "if you hurt your self I'm not gona take you to the hospital" kind of mom, which taught me to take care of myself, throughout my adventures.

I was raised by a "do it yourself," "make your own path" kind of Dad, which taught me that there is no such thing as a right way to live.

I was raised by a family that "protects its own kind," and "wants a 'Black House'" which taught me to care for and respect everyone.

I was raised by "you have to think what we tell you to think" kind of teachers, Which taught me to do the exact opposite.

I was raised by "swag and girls was all that mattered" kind of friends, which taught me to work hard as I could in school so that could happen.

I was raised by The City of Philly which taught me that even though we have one of the highest crime rates in the USA, that there are still people out there who care.

I was raised by the life I live, which taught me that, shit happens, things go wrong, people change and so does the weather, but that doesn't have to control you.

This is some poem, about the things I like, I know that some of them maybe wrong, But a lot of them are right. I love to laugh, I hate to cry, I love to be active, And I hate when people die.
 * Some Poem**

I love my life, I love my friends, I love my family, I hate the things on which I can't depend.

What makes me like the things I do? I don't know, and I probably never will too.

I love Dubstep, A beat so sweet, Reggae as well, both are a treat. A treat to my ears, Music is great, But I don't love it all. Country music sucks, I don't like it at all.

I like to rhyme, I realize that I do it a lot, And even though I try, I feel as though I can't stop.

I hate people, who ast like things that they are not, I hate liars, And I also hate that can be bought.

I'm coming to the end, I have pretty much made my sum, I named some things that I like and hate, This is the end of some poem.

__**Summary of My Work**__ I think that for the most part, I try to hard to rhyme. Every piece above has a rhyme sceme except for the "Raised by" poem. I think that this is because I like the flow of poems that rhyme more than anything. It also makes me very creative in the wording I use. Every single one of these poems have a lighter and happier tone than that of what I usually write. A lot of my other writings for this class, have had a more serious and a sometimes dark tone to them. All of this stuff is happy, funny, and a little serious.

__**Poems by Philip Appleman**__

by Philip Appleman
 * Arts & Sciences**

"Everyone carries around in the back of his mind the wreck of a thing he calls his education." —Stephen Leacock

SOLID GEOMETRY Here's a nice thought we can save: The luckiest thing about sex Is: you happen to be so concave In the very same place I'm convex. BOTANY Your thighs always blossomed like orchids, You had rose hips when we danced, But the question that always baffled me was: How can I get into those plants? ECONOMICS Diversification's a virtue, And as one of its multiple facets, when we're merging, it really won't hurt you To share your disposable assets. GEOGRAPHY Russian you would be deplorable, But your Lapland is simply Andorrable So my Hungary fantasy understands Why I can't keep my hands off your Netherlands. LIT. SURVEY Alexander composed like the Pope, Swift was of course never tardy, And my Longfellow's Wildest hope Is to find you right next to my Hardy. PHYSICS If E is how eager I am for you, And m is your marvelous body, And c means the caring I plan for you, Then E = Magna Cum Laude. MUSIC APPRECIATION You're my favorite tune, my symphony, So please do me this favor: Don't ever change, not even a hemi- Demi-semiquaver. ART APPRECIATION King Arthur, betrayed by Sir Lancelot, Blamed the poets who'd praised him, and spake: "That knight's nights are in the Queen's pantsalot, So from now on your art's for Art's sake." ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM I couldn’t do Goyas or Grecos, And my Rembrandts had zero panache, But after I junked all my brushes, My canvases made quite a splash. PHILOSOPHY 1. Blaise Pascal Pascal, reflecting tearfully On our wars for the Holy Pigeon, Said, "Alas, we do evil most cheerfully When we do it for religion." 2. René Descartes The unruly dactyls and anapests Were thumping their wild dithyrambic When Descartes with a scowl very sternly stressed: "I think, therefore iambic!" 3. Thomas Hobbes Better at thinking than loving, He deserved his wife's retort: On their wedding night, she told him, "Tom, That was nasty, brutish – and short!"

In the poem Arts & Sciences by Philip Appleman, he uses simply everyday terms that are found in math and science and applied them to sex. The poem is all about how those terms compare to things that have nothing to do with what they actually mean. The poem is one big paragraph and has the term in all caps, and then gives a strange definition of them by using a real world thing that usually you wouldn't compare to what he compares them to. The focus of the poem is not specifically sex but love and intimacy. However in the first part where he says, "SOLID GEOMETRY……… The luckiest thing about sex is: you happen to be so concave in the very same place I'm being convex." shows a serious appeal to sex and not at all to love. The tone of this poem is lustful and yet cynical, it draws out what is very seldom used side of people. This poem shows how math and science can become possible sex illustrations. It is also designed to make you laugh.
 * Deeper Understanding**

by Philip Appleman
 * Five Easy Prayers for Pagans**

1. O Karma, Dharma, pudding & pie, gimme a break before I die: grant me wisdom, will, & wit, purity, probity, pluck, & grit. Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, kind, gimme great abs and a steel-trap mind. And forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice - these little blessings would suffice to beget an earthly paradise: make the bad people good and the good people nice, and before our world goes over the brink, teach the believers how to think.

2. O Venus, Cupid, Aphrodite, teach us Thy horsepower lingam, Thy firecracker yoni. Show us Thy hundreds of sacred & tingling positions, each orifice panting for every groping tumescence. O lead us into the back rooms of silky temptation and deliver us over to midnights of trembling desire. But before all the nectar & honey leak out of this planet, give us our passion in marble, commitment in granite.

3. O Shiva, relentless Spirit of Outrage: in this vale of tearful True Believers, teach us to repeat again and again: No, your Reverences, we will not serve your Gross National Voodoo, your Church Militant – we will not flatter the double faces of those who pray in the Temple of Incendiary Salvation. Gentle Preserver, preserve the pure irreverence of our stubborn minds. Target the priests, Implacable Destroyer – and hire a lawyer.

4. O Mammon, Thou who art daily dissed by everyone, yet boast more true disciples than all other gods together, Thou whose eerie sheen gleameth from Corporate Headquarters and Vatican Treasury alike, Thou whose glittering eye impales us in the X-ray vision of plastic surgeons, the golden leer of televangelists, the star-spangled gloat of politicos – O Mammon, come down to us in the form of Treasuries, Annuities, & High-Grade Bonds, yield unto us those Benedict Arnold Funds, those Quicksand Convertible Securities, even the wet Judas Kiss of Futures Contracts – for unto the least of these Thy supplicants art Thou welcome in all Thy many forms. But when Thou comest to say we’re finally in the gentry – use the service entry.

5. O flaky Goddess of Fortune, we beseech Thee: in the random thrust of Thy fluky favor, vector the luminous lasers of Thy shifty eyes down upon these, Thy needy & oh-so-deserving petitioners. Bend down to us the sexy curve of Thine indifferent ear, and hear our passionate invocation: let Thy lovely, lying lips murmur to us the news of all our true-false guesses A-OK, our firm & final offers come up rainbows, our hangnails & hang-ups & hangovers suddenly zapped, and then, O Goddess, give us your slippery word that the faithless Lady Luck will hang around in our faithful love, friendships less fickle than youth, and a steady view of our world in its barefoot truth.

In this poem, called "Five Easy Prayers for Pagan," I think that Phillip Appleman is mocking some religions. When I read this poem for the first time, I got a more joking tone out of it. As though the whole poem is something sarcastic. I also think that the tone of this poem is partially offensive because if anyone believes in these things, then they could get very mad when they read this.It is broken into 5 different sections that go with the title, and each one is focused towards a different god or group of gods. I also noticed that this poem flows in a AABBCC... form for the most part and that, he used a lot of clever words, that aren't normally said. I also think that in a way these prayers point out flaws in religions, and gives them a solution, for example in the 3rd stanza it says, "Target the priests, Implacable Destroyer – and hire a lawyer." It is advise for deity's.
 * Deeper Understanding**

by Philip Appleman
 * Leaving Things Unfinished**

As the black wings close in on you, their circling shadows blighting the sand, and your limp legs buckle, far from that shimmering oasis on the horizon,

as you face the implacable, hoping for one more lucky reprieve which you feel in your quivering heart will arrive a moment too late,

still, even after the first white pill, you will not surrender, for back there somewhere, safe from the hovering vultures, is that sketchy grand design, that revolution on the drawing board—no,

all these years you've resisted that sleek seducer, Completion—and now, as the mask snugs over your face, you feel your legs go young again, heading out for the shimmering palm trees they will never reach, and you suck in great welcome gulps of the endlessly possible.


 * Deeper Understanding**

In this poem called, "Leaving Things Unfinished" by Phillip Appleman, describes a "could be" situation. The imagery used in the beginning makes it seem dark, even though the black wings don't represent evil. The poem is telling a story of events that are happening in your life. The imagery used in this poem is so good that it almost makes it seem as though you are there, and that you can follow along with Appleman as you read. In a way, the whole poem is one continuing thought, even though it is broken into four stanzas. The poem is written in the second person. Another strange thing about this poem is that they begin the stanzas with one word lines and they aren't capitalized. In fact, no word is capitalized except for the first word of the poem and "Completion" in the last stanza.