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Names: Priscilla Camacho, Tamara Almanza, Brenda Segovia 

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Names: Priscilla Camacho, Tamara Almanza, Brenda Segovia 

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Arthur L Woods is a young poet, artist, songwriter, and actor residing, in Winchester, UK. After studying drama at the University of Winchester he decided to focus on writing poetry. He now uploads recordings of the classics alongside original work to YouTube and maintains a presence across social media platforms. When writing his poems he aims to breathe life into our rich literary heritage and also to add to the tradition through his own writing.

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Edidi Nkanga, Cassie Olvera, Lydia Rushing

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Hailey, Liberty, Derrick

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Udochukwu, Victoria, Jalene

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Xiomara, Alena, Callie

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Sikia, Celine, Mara

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Jan Epton Seale was born in Pilot Point, Texas and received a Bachelors from University of Louisville and a Masters from North Texas State University. She worked as the South Texas Book editor at Texas Books in Review for 16 years. She taught English and creative writing at The University of Texas-Pan American and North Texas State University as well as teaching other workshops in creative and memoir writing at local and national conference centers. She received a National Empowerment for the Arts award in 1982 as well as having 7 of her short stories be featured in the P.E.N Syndicated Fiction award series. In addition she has received the Poetry Society of Texas, and the Bill Burke Award and Dolly Sprunk Memorial Award from the New York Poetry Forum awards.

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He was born on June 21st, 1941, and died on February 23, 2021.  He was born to Reverend Earl and Mrs. Helen Hoggard in Wichita Falls, Texas. He retired in 2013 as a Distinguished Professor of English after teaching at Midwestern State University since 1966. Also, in honor of his contribution to MSU Texas, the James Hoggard Reading Series was instituted to bring award-winning poets from across the nation to the campus.

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Larry D. Thomas worked in social service and adult criminal justice for thirty-one years. He has published seven collections of poems and has won a couple of prizes and awards. These awards were Violet Crown Award, Western Heritage Award, two Texas Review Poetry Prizes, Poet Prize nominations, The Ron Stone Foundation and author of the month at Barnes and Nobles in 2002. And in 2008 he was named Poet Laureate of Texas.

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David Mercier Parsons was born on April 16, 1943, in Villa Rica, Georgia, and is an American author, poet, and educator. He was raised in Austin, Texas and attended Texas State University, and studied poetry and literature at the University of Houston's Creative Writing Program. He is the former Poet Laureate of Texas. He is a professor at Lone Star College-Montgomery where he teaches English and Creative Writing.

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Karla K Morton is a professional speaker, author, photographer, songwriter, the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate, and a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. Within this wide range of occupations she has won multiple awards for her work. She is often described as “one of the most adventurous voices in American poetry.”

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The Poem "Harvest Moon" is about the author's daughter Deema as she shares an adoring moment with her father (the author) looking at the moon and its starry night. Larry's message is to focus on the present, experience, and cherish special moments with the people you care for.

Figurative Language:
"October sky is so big and bright" - Visual Imagery
"Pulled their cars over to the shoulder of the road" - Personification
"Clung to my chest like a monkey"- Simile
" Sliding off her tongue like a warm, sweet disk of butterscotch candy the word moon"- Simile
" Big and Bright"- Alliteration

Literacy Elements
Setting- Late October in a rural country
Tone- Adoring
Mood- Joyful

What stood out was how Larry Thomas (author) describes his daughter and her actions. Through words such as "Clung to my chest like a monkey" and "Sliding off her tongue like a warm, sweet dish of butterscotch candy the word moon". You can visualize not only her emotions but her actions aswell.

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The theme of this poem is that of frustration from being unnoticed. More specifically the author's feelings about writing so many poems and people not reading/listening to them. The author expresses this by the use of hyperbole, for example, in the line "I've died many times" and "I've written ten thousand Miraculous rhymes" which is an exaggeration, but this really allows us to understand the extent of how he feels. Another way the author does this is by using imagery of a calm and happy scene, followed by him saying" But I am so weary and angry, frustrated", this contrast really gives us more insight into the meaning of the poem and the poet's feelings. The use of repetition of "What more can I do?" creates a sense of defeat and even more frustration from the author because he is asking a question to the audience asking what more can he do to get people to read his poems. I find this poem really interesting because it's not every day a writer will openly and clearly complain about not getting the recognition they want.

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1) We believe there could be a lot of meaning hidden within this writing. Firstly, we think that the male character in the poem is a grandfather and the female character is the granddaughter. There is also a possibility that the grandmother has passed away because the "nurse-like" and nurturing nature of the female character was stated to be reminiscent of the grandmother. We also believe that the grandfather had passed away at the end of the poem, "sleep the night gone" could have a double meaning of the grandfather not just sleeping the night away, but passing away in his sleep. The cause of his death could be the main female character poisoning him. Lastly, We think that there could be a theme of compromise behind this poem because the main female character is tending to the needs of the main male character despite the horrible earache she's enduring.

2) One thing we liked about the poem was the amount of imagery it had. While reading we were able to paint a picture in our heads and truly see the author's vision. There was a lot of detail in regards to how the characters treated each other and in their actions which is very admirable for such a short poem.

3) The poem is very short, but it carries a lot of emotional weight for the reader to hold. The diction is extremely complicated but interesting and leaves me wondering what her artistic intentions were behind such a unique arrangement of words. There wasn't a lot of rhyming, which we enjoyed because it goes against the grain of what people consider a typical poem to obtain while also providing a lot of room for the author to properly convey her message. In regards to the mood of the poem, it didn't feel too serious or dark, but more soft and loving due to the main female character and the way she treated the main male character.

4) Something that stood out to us was the way the author utilized vocabulary that was rather advanced. Jan managed to throw bigger words together without the phrases sounding too clunky or not thought out. In fact, it must have taken more thought to put them together and still have the sentence make sense.

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The poem tells the story of a man walking through a grocery store and reminiscing on a night he had spent with a woman. The poem uses imagery as he describes how soft the avocados are, the sounds the wheels make on the floor, and the frost on orange juice cans. It is obvious that he is kind of miserable and does not want to be in the grocery store. He ends the poem by saying that he should have just bought the avocados and left instead of spending his time walking around remembering that wonderful night he had in this store. What stood out to me was how the poem was organized and structured. The poem is split into 2 sections on opposite sides of the pages, one describing him walking through the grocery store and the other describing stargazing in the rain with this woman. I thought this was very interesting and a good way of splitting up his surroundings and his thoughts.

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The poem "They" is about a man named Harry with Alzheimer's disease. As a person with Alzheimer's, Harry is used to a particular routine which is why he is given his bent spade and tea as a part of his daily routine. It's easier for the narrator to make Harry's decisions because it keeps his routine consistent. The message of the poem is to enjoy life and its memories before it's too late. The mood of the poem is confused and sad because Alzheimer's is a horrible disease and causes people to lose their memories. What stood out the most was that Harry is aware that he isn't able to come back from where he's stuck due to Alzheimer's.
Figurative Language-
- Hyperbole in line 27:
the small dark stall with its endless
roll of blank white sheets of paper.

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The theme in “Picking Up The Accent” is that our own voice derives from every experience we’ve taken in throughout our lives. This poem uses personification to explain that all of the heartbreaks and sunsets we’ve experienced “seeps” into our bones and “curves the hand around the pen.” The diction in this poem is also very casual to create a more personal connection with readers. There are a lot of metaphors used at the end of the poem to compare places the author has been to a vibe that has been mixed into her accent. For example, her mix includes the “Florida sunshine and citrus” and the “Carolina society and sugar,” comparing Florida to a very bright and sunny place and Carolina to a more close-knit and sweet place. What stood out to me was the interesting interpretation of why everyone has different voices. Everyone goes through different experiences and I liked how the author connected those experiences to our accents.

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The main theme of this poem is the haunting presence of a ghostly lighthouse keeper. The man has an image revolving around his role in guiding weary seamen to safety who are lost at sea. The poet uses vivid imagery and metaphors to convey the lighthouse keeper's isolation and commitment to guiding others through darkness. He describes the lighthouse as a "beacon of hope," which symbolizes guidance and illumination in the midst of darkness.
The waves crashing against the rocks represent the challenges and obstacles the lighthouse keeper faces in solitude.
The poem also uses metaphors like "lonely sentinel" and "prisoner of the sea" to convey the lighthouse keeper's isolation and his deep connection to the ocean. These vivid images and metaphors enhance the emotional impact of the poem.

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The main idea of the poem is the contrast between artificiality and authenticity. The subject is a cluster of fruit that appears to look perfect and appetizing but in reality the fruit is fake.
The word choice in the poem is simple and straightforward, with no complex or unusal vocabulary. The poet uses descriptive language to paint a vivid picture of the apricots, such as "scrumptious cluster" and "browning leaves curling in the act of dying."
The poem includes several literacy devices. One example is personification, as the poet describes the apricots as having a "hollow desire" and "longing." There is also imagery when it comes to describing the apricots and its surroundings, such as the "late afternoon, winter sunlight" and the "clank of the knife."

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The poem is written in a more lyrical way and is about someone wondering if they can count on a specific person when they are down. They want to know if that person will console them and will give them the love to heal when they are down. The questions in the poem really show that wonder. The poem has some repetition in the first and last stanza and figurative language at the end of stanza 2. The tone of the poem is gloomy because he is talking about feeling down.

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Poem #2: At a Women’s Retreat in the Cascades (Page 29)

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Poem #2: At a Women’s Retreat in the Cascades (Page 29)

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The poem describes the women’s bodies as different aspects of nature. Using metaphors to describe different things such as laughter or their skin comparing it to floods and river banks. Imagery is used similarly in the way their bonds are compared to vines, because a person can imagine what vines look like which helps describe their bonds with each other. The author doesn’t use rhyming to help the poem flow but instead uses a list format to help the poem flow. It has a very steady beat which allows the poem to flow without needing the words to rhyme. It feels as though the reader is experiencing the retreat with the women and feeling everything as they do. What stood out to me the most was the imagery used and how the poem flows in just the right way that it makes sense without rhyming anything.

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This poem is about a dad reading his daughter a story. The poem uses imagery as he describes picking her up and the little girl getting poop from her soiled diaper on him. The poem also uses a metaphor that compares her silence to the lost toy sailboats from their stories. I think the message of the poem probably has to do with enjoying the sweet moments even if things like baby poop try to ruin them. Despite having baby poop on him and the daughter, he happily cleaned them both off and finished his story, and put her to bed instead of being grossed out and ruining the moment. He finishes the poem off by saying "now she's bunched asleep in clean diaper and gown. a curl of silent angels mischief," which I think further proves the message of the poem.

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The theme of this poem is that yellow is traditionally a happy color, but is now represented as a mourning color. The poem includes many examples of imagery such as "swimming on deep dark water under another bloody sun" and "the sweet lemon dress". This kind of descriptive language allows the reader to visualize small details in the poem. The poem repeats the word "yellow" because it reiterates that it should be a happy color but instead, it now represents sadness and grief over the loss of a loved one. What stood out the most was that the yellow dress that was once given as a joyful gift is now a reminder of a sad ending.

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“Charm Bracelet” is about the need to hold on to those precious memories in life before it’s too late. In stanza 4 imagery is used where the author writes “moments i can recount to the grandchildren in my lap as we finger through each silver glory of my life”, giving us a sense of how important these charms, which are used as a metaphor for her memories, are to her. In the 6th stanza the author is using another metaphor to compare a cup to who we can assume is a past lover by saying “a tiny silver cup… to remember how he curled his hand around the back of my neck, and gently raised me up to his lips…” The sense of nostalgia is shown throughout the poem while the author is reminiscing about her past, giving it a sort of bittersweet feeling. This poem shows the importance of cherishing your memories and I thought that was an important message to portray.

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Poem Out of place, Far from rain (page 45)

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Poem Out of place, Far from rain (page 45)

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The poem relies heavily on imagery, describing a different time in the author's time, a happier, light-hearted time spent with the people they care about. The author tries to paint a picture in the reader's mind to give the reader a better idea of why the author's upset. The general theme of the author's poem is geared toward nostalgia, showing the audience how much the author misses his past life. The title itself infers that he feels alienated from his peers, an outcast in his new environment. So, the author tries to calm himself by thinking about his old life to make himself feel more at peace. In the line "I wish it would rain," the author uses that to express his desire to go back to his old life. I feel that when the author was writing this, they were writing it from the point of view of a teenager. Every teenager experiences this in some way during their teen years, moving away, leaving their old life behind, and starting a new one. Fitting in at a young age in a new place.

What stood out to me the most was when the author wrote ' and I would still be debating buying a machete," because I feel like it adds some humor and personality to an already personal struggle in the author's life. I also enjoyed when the author wrote "I wish it would rain. I wish a lightning storm would blow..." because that reminds me of whenever I would reminiscence of all the fun times and experiences I've had in the past and wish that I could go back to that part of my life. I believe at some point, I think all teenagers feel out of place.

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The theme of this poem is that nothing stays the same forever. As much as you want something to be the same it will never be because time changes so that means everything else does too. He repeats the lines "all things come and go" to emphasize the ideas in each stanza. He portrays the ideas of loneliness and sadness. He also explains how things change from one thing to another.

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Poem #3: Time May Hurry Backwards (page 28)

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Poem #3: Time May Hurry Backwards (page 28)

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The poem uses imagery to describe the scene of the kids playing a person watching them then wanting to interact but doesn’t because a sign says to simply observe making the reader question why. The way the poem describes the children makes them seem harmless and the way the author describes feeling similar to their grandchild using an interesting choice of words in line 7 to display this. The author uses a lot of rhyming in the beginning but then as the story goes on and more is revealed less rhyming is used. The mood starts off happy but as more is revealed it starts to give an eerie almost unsettling feeling. What stood out to me was how the poem starts off so innocent but as you start to read more it feels as though you have only scratched the surface and there is something beneath the surface that has yet to be uncovered.

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The theme of this poem is how life changes as people get older and as time goes by. Examples of imagery are "of sun and moon, gifting us with time", "invisible missiles, piercing our airways", and "now cold aiming needles". The mood is sad because the poem describes how depressing life can become. What stood out most to us is that the poem is truthful and realistic whereas other poems aren't as honest.

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"Becoming Superman," presents the concept of personal growth through the transformative power of a secret place. The secret place is used as somewhere a person can shed their burdens and emerge with confidence and strength. This poem revolves around someone who is fascinated with a person who is changed by a secret place, exploring the idea of self-discovery. The word choice in the poem is pretty simple and straightforward; however, the poem does use several literary devices, such as metaphor and imagery. The mention of the person's cape and the color that brings out their eyes creates vivid visual imagery. Also the secret place is metaphorically described as a phone booth, representing a hidden space of personal reflection. This poem shows that having your own personal secret place to self-reflect and think about how you want to grow in life can really help you a lot.

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The poem is talking about the love between the author and the other person and how strong it is. It portrays the contrast between all the problems happening around them and how strong their love is. There's repetition of the phrase "are nothing while" it goes to show that nothing compares to the immensity of their love. The tone also shows the contrast in the poem. All the problems and things going on are dark and negative while when talking about their love the tone is charming and happy. Overall, this poem shows how love can conquer even the worst in life.

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The theme of the poem seems to be a mother and son relationship type of article
The part of the poem where it says "meaning comes more slowly than she did last night before the car's beams." is important to the poem to describe how the mother must have gotten scared and an upset because she or her son caused a opossum mom to die leaving her children without a mom. An interpretation to this poem could be a mom kills a opossum on the road and is talking to her son when she sees the babies of the opossum. She feels a sadness because she was the cause of the death of their mother. She has a child of her own who is out on the world and she wouldn't what him to get hurt in this world. I believe the tone an overall message of them poem is a type of sad reflection over how life works and it conveys its tone by the writing.

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The message is to embrace the happiness of life. Examples of figurative language are "dark blue mood of an angry God", swirling back caped cerulean composition", and "inland sea's gusty birthing breath". The tone is confusing because the poet asks many questions and creates a questioning tone. What stood out the most is how he expresses life through nature.

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"Still Wild," shows how a person can feel so unloved and unneeded when their significant other is self-reliant. This poem portrays a person that has not adapted to being with a woman who is so use to being independent and have trouble depending on someone else.To show the woman's habit of being independent, the poem states, "used to fending for herself; used to finding her own shelter in the storms." Also it ties in personification by stating, "claws and attitude defending her heart," showing that the woman has the capability of becoming like an animal through her attitude to protect herself without needing anyone. Typically in a relationship the person that feels more dominant protects the other person; however, the woman struggles with allowing her significant other to protect her. Through imagery, the significant other's emotions of hurt and not feeling needed is expressed by the lines, "doesn't want to need me- need my hands on her neck; my words in her ear:" This poem could represent many of today's women who struggle with being overly self-reliance due to the fear of not being able to have enough trust in someone to depend on them.

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The poem is about grief. The grief of the author losing their dog to death. The author's feelings of melancholy and loneliness the death of the dog left. How all that was left was bad and the author doesn't want to continue life without their dog. The metaphor "heart of stones" shows more of what the death caused in the author's feelings, how much he changed, going from feeling alive and happy to being cold-hearted. The repetition of the phrase "my dog" shows the degree as to how much the author wants their dog back. The use of exclamation points adds to the emotion. Overall i feel that all who have lost anything or anyone they really cared about can relate to the feelings of the poem.

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"Office At Night" at first glimpse seemed like an interesting poem to me, but it might have a more uncomfortable meaning. The man the poet is describing is someone that he used to be, someone that I have a sense he feels ashamed of possibly; he describes himself as an invented image and a man who had lost himself in an invoice.

I suppose the setting he's reminiscing is one where he's at an office with a woman his past self thought that her glance was suggestive, but in the present, he realizes that she was merely uncomfortable with what she was wearing or maybe uncomfortable with him. There's a line that says "The shade swells at the woman's glance," which I believe means that he had approached her, taking her mere glance as suggestive (in the present he even admits that she was not ogling him).

I guess he assumed in the past that she knew what she was doing by wearing what she was or glancing at him the way she did in his eyes. "No, she's the one who knows the power of flesh cannot be contained by file or desk or chain."

(I just learned that the Office at Night poem is based on a painting Edward Hopper made)

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The theme of the poem is how conflict occurs during life in a war. The mood is intense because it describes details about what goes on during a war. An example of a simile is "at times as bodies strewn like casualties of some insidious sun bomb". The tone is serious because the poem is describing a war zone. What stood out most to us was how the poem is describing struggles during a war and the life behind is as well.

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“The Closer” introduces suicidal thoughts as a character that will continuously come to tempt you, giving you an opportunity to leave the world. This poem uses personification to create The Closer, a woman that symbolizes suicidal thoughts. A child had seen The Closer and witnessed the woman talk to the child’s mom before she ended her life. A lot of imagery is brought into this poem as it describes The Closer’s actions and process of leading one to take their own life. Examples such as “lift that dark, dank room, full of weeping and doom…” and “knowing her soul had become the same color as the wind.” illustrated an eerie and somber mood to the poem. The idea of creating suicidal thoughts into a character that would break into people’s homes and send them off really stood out to me. It was very interesting to have The Closer “send families away” as their loved one leaves this world because that is what normally happens in real life. This poem had a really dark and deep meaning to it, but that was what made it very unique.

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The main idea of this poem is about the transformation power of small, seemingly insignificant actions. The poem describes two people interacting with five hummingbirds that are made of glass, and how they touch them without paying attention to what they are doing or what is happening near them.
Figurative Language
He used vivid imagery to create mental pictures, especially when describing the hummingbirds and how they were covered in glitter. And the way he told the stars and galaxies.
The poem has repetition but it doesn´t follow a rhyme scheme. But the lack of punctuation makes the poem have a continuous nature and flow.
I mean it´s a good poem you just have to read in between the lines a lot. But I really did like the descriptions and vivid imagery he used.

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The main idea and theme of the poem "Vultures" is to exemplify what a vulture is without saying the words. They're described, in the essence of darkness, death, and a pack of solitude. Larry Thomas tries to give a visual image of the dark side of nature viewed as either beautiful or unattractive.

Figurative Language
"The thick black fabric of shadows and tore it into sheds"- Imagery
"God took the thick black fabric of shadows"- Simile
"Cloth of their beaks"- Simile
"They buff the bones of the dead to a fine white shine"- Irony
"Buff the bones of the dead to a fine white shine" - Allegory

Literacy Elements
Plot- How a Vulture is created when they eat their prey.
Narrative- Third person
Mood- Somber
Theme- Life of Creation

What stood out was how Larry Thomas describes how vultures are born using similes to connect clothing material to the bird's features. For instance, "the thick black fabric of shadows" and "cloth of their beaks" gives an excellent visual image with an different perspective.

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Josy, Pilar, Raymond

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Arthur L. Wood is a poet from Winchester, Hampshire, who after studying drama at the University of Winchester he decided to focus on writing poetry. He has a youtube channel where he uploads readings of his own poems and other poetry.

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The poem I chose was number 57 from "Poems for Susan" The message/theme of this poem is about love and how in a relationship people might experience falling in love and then falling out of love and then again feeling that love. This poem includes a lot of similies to describe love. For example, "love goes away like the sparkling light, like the heat of the day surrenders to night" this is to describe how quickly love can go away. It also uses personification on words like love and passion. For example "Love is Hostile" they used this to describe how love can be violent and aggressive. It is also used in the line where is says "passion will scurry" where it describes how passion can quickly fade away. At the end of the poem he describes with a little spark that love is again

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Though it doesn't have a name, this is poem #19 from "Poems For Susan".  The theme and message in the poem is how someone accidentally hurt the person they love though they didn’t know, but yet they still feel regretful that he hurt who he loves.

There is a line in the poem that mentions “For my Love was an angel I hurt” and from that we can interpret  that he had hurt someone he cherishes dearly and therefor h because of the guilt he “goes to the forest to weep” and “to the meadow to cry”

Throughout the poem we can see that there is an abab rhyme scheme with the words weep/sleep and cry/die.

What stood out to me the most is the way he felt. Even today there are many people who might hurt the people they love without really knowing why. And then feel very remorseful about it.

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The theme of this poem is that true love itself is more valuable than material objects, looks, and words.

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The theme of this poem is that when you are in love your partner is the most beautiful thing in the world no matter what time of the day. He uses imagery to describe his environment. For example, "The moss was growing on the tree" he describes little details to set a tone within the reader.  He also uses personification such as "the sky birthing the early star" he gave a human characteristic to the sky to describe how the stars were starting to appear. He also uses it on the 2nd stanza where he puts "The fields juicing up their dew". He uses it to have a setting for his poem. At the end he calls his girlfriend beautiful just as she had called him beautiful in the first stanza. They both say the same thing but he used imagery and personification to let the reader know the time the things were said.

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This is poem 13 , unlike some of the other poems  in the book, this poem really leans more towards love and happiness.

During the first stanza he mentions several times things like “Tomorrow can never be altered” , “The pen on the page isn’t free”, and “We can not know now the chosen way into futurity”. I believe this means that the future is not certain and they don’t know what can happen but what they do know is that they love each other. No matter what happens he will continue to love her. If they ever “lose their paths” even if “he is a lost man” he will find her .

He promises her that he will always make her happy and make sure that he is king and gentle towards her.

The rhyme structure is abcb, though the last line of each stanza is not as much of an obvious rhyme.

The mood of the poem is very loving and light. It is more happy compared to all the other sad poems that are found in the book.

Personally, this might be one of my favorite poems here. I think it's very warm and cute. He is promising to love her and cherish her, to always make sure he will be there for her and I just find that so sweet.

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Abraham, kevin, Diego , David

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Paul Ruffin was born in Millport, Alabama in 1941. He entered the U.S. Army for a brief tour of duty. After completing his tour, Ruffin enrolled at Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi. Paul Ruffin was the Founding Editor of The Texas Review and served as Editor-in-Chief for several years. He was also a member of the Texas A & M University Press Consortium. Overall he was known as Texas State Poet Laureate, Texas State University System Regents’ Professor, and SHSU Distinguished Professor of English. He did pass away in 2009 at 74.

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The theme of ¨frozen over¨ is of a women skating across the ice on a frozen lake. The poet uses a metaphor in the line ¨how the cold came down like a lid of iron¨  to show that it came down strongly. The imagery is used to paint the picture of a lake frozen over by a bridge as cars are passing by. In the line ¨ I moved like a bird coming to terms with glass¨ the poet uses a metaphor to convey that while the ice may be dangerous she keeps going.

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The poem root pruning is a poem that contains literal and figurative themes to it. For example the author makes it seem like he is talking to the tree and in a way using words that are able to describe his emotion to the tree and him feeling bad that he has to cut the roots but saying it for the better. If you think about it in the figurative sense he is talking about how humans may have to painfully cut things or people in your life but this is what is needed to make changes, improve and become better. This can be the sword he is talking about cutting the roots that are connected to the tree. He also includes some rhyming words like lids and this or need and seed, this combined with a sense of a rhythms gives the poem a bit more of a flow and makes it easy to read.

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I chose ¨Redfish¨ as my poem and I think the authors talking about the kids at the school who are being compared to redfish. The authors using imagery in the poem, for example, in the first stanza, it says ¨like a ghost along the gullies, a shapeless red blob." The reader can picture that in their head because the author is describing the appearance of the kids at the school. There is also a simile being used in the first stanza where it says ¨inching like a ghost along the gullies.¨ In this part, the author is comparing the kids to ghosts using the word ¨like.¨

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The message this poem is trying to share is whether you think someone has it better than you or not, it is better to just embrace it because everyone is different in their own unique way. This poem is using personification giving the leopard personal thoughts that a human would have. The first stanza is more negative talking about how different the leopard is from other animals. The second stanza gives reassurance that it really isn't a bad thing at all, which overall spreads a positive vibe/mood. Many people let the thoughts of others control how they live, if you let someone dictate how you live in the slightest degree it will cause you to be unhappy and scared. People need to have more self confidence because at the end of the day it doesn't matter how others feel it matters how you feel.

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Diver off Florida coast sexually assaulted by 300 pound turtle (79)

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Diver off Florida coast sexually assaulted by 300 pound turtle (79)

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The author talks about a disturbing and traject seen. He is able to make it less upfront and uses figurative language. For example he uses metaphors like ¨ thinking how like a giant turtle's back looks, thinking how lying beneath a giant turtle feels. This describes the huge man that is simply overpowering her and she can do nothing about it. We also see the addition of repetition in the same line. This adds a sense of tension and suspense showing how hard of a movement this can be. The author also uses a lot of imagery adn word that can really put a imagine in the readers head of what is happening.