Sailing

Well class,

I was sick with food poisoning today so in case you wanted to hear my brilliant remarks on Billy Collins's poems I have posted them here:

Consolation (47-48)

            Traveling is an activity that almost every person places in high regard. In college, people tell me that if I don’t travel abroad, I will regret it for the rest of my life. While I agree that it is important to see other cultures at some point, I agree with Collins premise that getting to truly know your home can be even more important. I was pleased with the idea of “grasping the meaning of every road sign and billboard” (47). Fort Worth may not have “crumbling frescoes or famous domes,” but it is my home, and in many ways, that is enough for me.

Piano Lessons  (76-77)

            When I was younger, I was obsessed with the piano. For years I wanted to take lessons, but my family couldn’t afford the piano itself. Finally, our church gave me a piano and I began taking lessons. Piano Lessons shows how beautiful the piano is through its words. I loved the imager of each key being a different room that the player, a blind man, must learn to walk through. When Collins describes his fingers as climbing down the ladder of notes and coming back down without turning around, I remembered the days when I practiced my scales as well. It all made me very nostalgic. Collins also made a very clever point about the left hand and how difficult it can be. “I have to drag him into the music like a difficult and neglected child. This is the revenge of the one who never gets to hold the pen or wave good-bye, and now, who never gets to play the melody. He is drawing my attention to something so obvious, but that I’ve never really thought about before.

Another Reason Why I Don’t Keep a Gun in the House (3)

            I immediately started laughing at this poem because recently there has been a bird that has made its perch underneath my window. Everyday he begins chirping between 7am and 8am. Most days, I’m not too annoyed because I’m waking up around that time regardless, but on Saturdays and Sundays, I feel like shooting him. Many times I have thrown rocks at him and I have even requested my mother bring me a BB gun so that I might shoot him. I currently have the black BB gun sitting by my bedside, waiting for the morning when his incessant chirping gives me enough courage to do what I am currently too much of a pansy to do.

Forgetfulness (29)

            I might be too young to be complaining about forgetfulness but I will anyways. The first stanza immediately caught my attention because Collins was speaking about forgetting about a book you’ve read. One of my biggest frustrations in life is not remembering the amazing books I read. I remember I loved A Tale of Two Cities. It was easily my favorite book, but now, I have a hard time recalling it completely, which is upsetting. I read The Bell Jar several years ago and can now hardly remember the plot. I used to know the quadratic equation and the order of the planets, but not anymore. It was all very relatable. I especially loved how he wrote, “whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall.” That is such a common problem: knowing the first letter of something you are trying to remember but not being able to grasp the full word or thought.

Nostalgia (42-43)

            As I move on to a new phase in my life, I can’t help but be nostalgic for the old one. I could see myself editing Collin’s stanzas to fit my life. It almost made me sad, remembering. However, the end woke me up a little, because he hardly mentions the present, and when he does, it seems negative. It helped remind me that sometimes too much time is spend longing for the past and dreaming of the future and not enough time it spent enjoying the present moments.

Budapest (69)

            I LOVE the imagery in this poem. Looking at a pen as the snout of an animal, rooting around, just makes me smile. What I imagined was adorable; like an ant eater for a pen.