Simply Sincere Sentiments

Dear Ms. Kay, My name is Brenna and I am a 17-year-old high school senior. Please forgive me for my formality because although I feel like I know you from your poetry, (that is already a testament to how talented of a writer and poet you are) and thus simply call you “Sarah” in my head, I know that we are not on a first name basis. I am also a writer and a poet, in fact I am a newly published poet and soon-to-be published again poet, so maybe one day we will cross paths and become on a first name basis. Until then, Ms. Kay, I wanted to share with you how much I appreciate and admire you.           You are essentially the reason that I am a poet today. You probably hear that a lot from all your fans, but for me, that is no exaggeration. I was in eighth grade when I discovered you. My eighth grade English teacher used a YouTube video of one of your performances as the introduction to our poetry unit that year. It was a video of you performing your poem “Hands.” Fr...

We all know by now that I am a HUGE word nerd. Therefore, I love when Mrs. Liamini teaches us things like hyperbation : the inversion of the normal order of words as customary to their language for the sake of emphasis.  Some of my other favorite words about words are palindromes and portmanteaus . Here is my attempt at “hyperbating” a poem I wrote. Here is the original poem: Reconvening for Dinner Reconvening for dinner That ordinary time is special for us All other time that is ordinary is isolating for us That is the definition of dysfunctional to me But the others don’t see any difference From the people glowing in the windows across the lawn (instance of imagery) We seem ordinary to them Isolation doesn’t like light Isolation doesn’t let people glow (pinch of personification) They only see fraudulence All our truths are behind shut doors Closed blinds Tight curtains Isolation is the cave of darkness we all prefer to sit in (masterpiece of a metaphor) Here is the poem when I...

My favorite poetry strategy we've learned so far is title analysis. The title sets up the poem and is crucial for readers to interpret it as the poet originally intended. As a writer and a poet myself, I love leaving things open for interpretation (but maybe I'll save that for a future post) and I love creating misleading titles. I hate when other writers leave things open for interpretation, because ambiguity as a reader is annoying and frustrating, but as a writer it is so much fun to do! With misleading titles however, I love creating them and I love the ones created by other writers. I love titles of works that make you think they are about one thing, but then are about something completely different. I have intentionally and deliberately titled two of my own poems in such a way that they are misleading as to what the audience will think their subject matter is. Counting When he looks me in the eye I cry tears of sorrow Because instead ...