1. Sports are often described as "poetry in motion." Do you agree with this comparison? Why or why not? Then write a poem depicting a specific, detailed sports moment that represents "poetry in motion."
2. The obvious difference between poetry and music is the inclusion of instrumental backgrounds. Add instrumentals to poetry, take them away from music. Which sounds more natural?
3. Write a poem that can be read both top to bottom and bottom to top. Then write a poem that can be read both right to left and left to right.
Thursday, May 5, 2016
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Visual Explication of Pablo Neruda
One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII
BY PABLO NERUDA
TRANSLATED BY MARK EISNER
I don’t love you as if you were a rose of salt, topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagate fire:
I love you as one loves certain obscure things,
secretly, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that doesn’t bloom but carries
the light of those flowers, hidden, within itself,
and thanks to your love the tight aroma that arose
from the earth lives dimly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,
except in this form in which I am not nor are you,
so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
I wanted to paint something surreal and very saturated with color, so I chose a love poem (of one of my mom's fav poets Pablo Neruda rocks), because how much more surreal and colorful can it get, right? I tried to capture the ways in which the speaker both loves and does not love. Tell me what you think! What images come to your mind when you read this poem?
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Road Trip
Once upon a time, Math and Poetry worked together in an office. Math worked in accounting, while Poetry worked in customer service, so their paths rarely crossed.
One day, their boss announced that he had chosen the two of them as the company representatives to attend the annual company conference.
In the car, they rode in silence for a while, but Poetry, who had a very talkative personality, soon tried to make conversation. They made small talk about the conference for a while, but a few minutes into the discussion, Math, who was somewhat lacking in social graces, made the comment:
"Well, it's no wonder I was invited to the conference, as accounting is clearly the most important part of the office."
This comment offended Poetry, as it took great pride in its work to help people in customer service.
And thus began their epic argument: Math said that without anyone managing the numbers and money and such, the company would be in ruins. Poetry countered this by saying that without customers, who the customer service employees have to keep happy, the company wouldn't even exist.
On and on they went, with Math talking about how numbers are needed to keep things organized and accounted for and to make things work. Poetry would fire back that it is just as important to be able to relate to people and understand and share their emotions.
To make it even worse, Poetry began criticizing Math's music choices in the car, which actually wasn't music, it was a Portable Professor lecture on economics.
Finally, Math, who was driving, had had enough, so it kicked Poetry out of the car. Math sped off, leaving Poetry on the side of the road.
Math drove off, feeling very satisfied with itself. But soon, there was trouble. A police car was chasing after it, trying to pull it over. The policeman told Math that it had been speeding. Math responded that it was going 65 mph, which is only 5 mph over the speed limit, and that it took about x amount of time to pass the car in the next lane which means the other car was only going 4 mph slower, which really isn't much of a difference, as 65 mph is only about 6% more than 61...
The policeman, who did not appreciate being argued with or having math problems thrown at him, gave Math a speeding ticket with an extra fine. Needless to say, Math's spirits were crushed. Math was even starting to feel a little lonely. As it drove further, it thought, "I bet Poetry would have known how to handle that situation. Poetry can talk to anyone and handles itself well when people are angry."
Meanwhile, Poetry was walking along the side of the road, trying to hitchhike. "Who needs Math, anyway," it thought, "I can find so many more friendly people to give me a ride who I can keep a better conversation with."
A car finally picked up Poetry, and the driver was very friendly. When he asked where Poetry was going, how long it would take to get there, or how far away it was, Poetry realized that it didn't know. Though the driver was very nice at first, he started to get frustrated because Poetry couldn't figure out directions. Eventually, Poetry felt bad, and told the driver to just let it out at the next rest stop, and it would call Math, apologize, and see if it would come back to get Poetry.
Little did Poetry know, Math was already speeding back to pick it up, realizing that it needed Poetry around because Math was lonely and knew that it would need Poetry to handle any social situations that they would find themselves in, especially at the conference.
The rest of their trip went pretty smoothly: they each apologized and acknowledged the importance of one another, and they realized that if they worked together, they could take on any situation.
One day, their boss announced that he had chosen the two of them as the company representatives to attend the annual company conference.
In the car, they rode in silence for a while, but Poetry, who had a very talkative personality, soon tried to make conversation. They made small talk about the conference for a while, but a few minutes into the discussion, Math, who was somewhat lacking in social graces, made the comment:
"Well, it's no wonder I was invited to the conference, as accounting is clearly the most important part of the office."
This comment offended Poetry, as it took great pride in its work to help people in customer service.
And thus began their epic argument: Math said that without anyone managing the numbers and money and such, the company would be in ruins. Poetry countered this by saying that without customers, who the customer service employees have to keep happy, the company wouldn't even exist.
On and on they went, with Math talking about how numbers are needed to keep things organized and accounted for and to make things work. Poetry would fire back that it is just as important to be able to relate to people and understand and share their emotions.
To make it even worse, Poetry began criticizing Math's music choices in the car, which actually wasn't music, it was a Portable Professor lecture on economics.
Finally, Math, who was driving, had had enough, so it kicked Poetry out of the car. Math sped off, leaving Poetry on the side of the road.
Math drove off, feeling very satisfied with itself. But soon, there was trouble. A police car was chasing after it, trying to pull it over. The policeman told Math that it had been speeding. Math responded that it was going 65 mph, which is only 5 mph over the speed limit, and that it took about x amount of time to pass the car in the next lane which means the other car was only going 4 mph slower, which really isn't much of a difference, as 65 mph is only about 6% more than 61...
The policeman, who did not appreciate being argued with or having math problems thrown at him, gave Math a speeding ticket with an extra fine. Needless to say, Math's spirits were crushed. Math was even starting to feel a little lonely. As it drove further, it thought, "I bet Poetry would have known how to handle that situation. Poetry can talk to anyone and handles itself well when people are angry."
Meanwhile, Poetry was walking along the side of the road, trying to hitchhike. "Who needs Math, anyway," it thought, "I can find so many more friendly people to give me a ride who I can keep a better conversation with."
A car finally picked up Poetry, and the driver was very friendly. When he asked where Poetry was going, how long it would take to get there, or how far away it was, Poetry realized that it didn't know. Though the driver was very nice at first, he started to get frustrated because Poetry couldn't figure out directions. Eventually, Poetry felt bad, and told the driver to just let it out at the next rest stop, and it would call Math, apologize, and see if it would come back to get Poetry.
Little did Poetry know, Math was already speeding back to pick it up, realizing that it needed Poetry around because Math was lonely and knew that it would need Poetry to handle any social situations that they would find themselves in, especially at the conference.
The rest of their trip went pretty smoothly: they each apologized and acknowledged the importance of one another, and they realized that if they worked together, they could take on any situation.
Monday, February 29, 2016
Banned: E and S
Write a poem of at least 12 lines without using the letter "e." Then write a brief commentary on the process of writing the pom (without using the letter "s").
Of our crucial vocabulary
What would the country do
But fall into chaos?
How would humans
Allay our burning curiosity?
Display our consuming passions?
To write and to talk
Functions as conduits for our minds
Taking away just two
Of our significant marks
Would draw harsh scars
Across our spiritual souls
Writing a poem for the problem turned out to be extremely difficult. I had anticipated that it would be annoying but not nearly to that degree. I approached it in an uncomplicated manner. I wrote what came to mind and either reworded or went in a different direction whenever the letter "e" came up. I tried to keep everything within one theme rather than it all be unrelated. All in all, the challenge was pretty fun to tackle.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Poetry for Better Code
(Note on format: originally was going to do full movie using screenshots until halfway through when I realized how tedious it was. Product: about 13 seconds of Coltrane and a reference to Kanye vs. Khalifa - at least one of those two will be relevant in the future so I don't feel too bad about it.)
~
Poetry, by itself, will not help you to write high quality code.
<it takes devotion! discipline!> </>You can look at the work of Sylvia Plath or Lucille Clifton or James Wright but their work is not the same as creating php that runs donations to the local domestic violence shelter or presidential candidate or shady Etsy apothecary.
body (
color: "something emotional";
)
<p style: red>
The same things are there! They exist! Line breaks! <b> </b>
The feeling in the grocery store of wanting to have everything and nothing at once: you'll have to explain what you mean when you say <a href:_> and talk in foreign tongues.
The feeling when you're asked on your second eHarmony date if this career is just ephemeral or nah?
Changes: in tone, in maturity, in deftness.
<style style="text/css">
.marquee {
height: 50px; overflow: hidden;
position: relative;
background: yellow;
color: orange;
border: 1px solid orange;
}
.marquee p {
position: absolute;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
margin: 0;
line-height: 50px;
text-align: center;
/* Starting position */
-moz-transform:translateX(100%);
-webkit-transform:translateX(100%); transform:translateX(100%);
/* Apply animation to this element */ -moz-animation: scroll-left 5s linear infinite;
-webkit-animation: scroll-left 5s linear infinite;
animation: scroll-left 5s linear infinite;
}
/* Move it (define the animation) */
@-moz-keyframes scroll-left {
0% { -moz-transform: translateX(100%); }
100% { -moz-transform: translateX(-100%); }
}
@-webkit-keyframes scroll-left {
0% { -webkit-transform: translateX(100%); }
100% { -webkit-transform: translateX(-100%); }
}
@keyframes scroll-left {
0% {
-moz-transform: translateX(100%); /* Browser bug fix */
-webkit-transform: translateX(100%); /* Browser bug fix */
transform: translateX(100%); }
[secret code: everything will be beautiful, nothing will hurt.]
100% {Things do and don't fit into boxes, given.
-moz-transform: translateX(-100%); /* Browser bug fix */
-webkit-transform: translateX(-100%); /* Browser bug fix */
transform: translateX(-100%);
}
}
</style>
<div class="marquee">
<p>postmodernism... </p>
</div>
Poems unlock and also lock (most make a metal-on-metal sound click;
warning, I suppose, not to beat them with hoses).
Just do what feels right.
-Jessica
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Solution to Problem 1
My poetry problem was "I can't fit this poem into this box. What do I do?". My approach was to interpret poems as sentient creatures, like a pet or a friend with unique and specific needs. I thought that this problem could be perceived a lot like how a cat or dog wont go into its pet carrier. Jessica and I made a video a lot like online tutorials for cats and dogs that addresses and potentially solves some issues you may encounter when trying to get your poem into it's box.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqMr0dcmvuE&feature=youtu.be
A couple of comments:
I chose The Words the Happy Say by Emily Dickinson to represent my fuzzy abstract manifestation of a poem (or vice versa) because of its generally positive, but short and simple nature, which is sort of like the small simple puff ball of a poem we were using.
You may notice that the box the poem chooses is a Lime Crime box. I do not support Lime Crime. I'm not trying to advertise. I bought one of their lipsticks one time and it was terrible. Then I found out about how shady the company is. It is very shady. The box was just on hand and pretty so I used it.
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