Reflection

Reflection
Part One: Thinking and Writing
I was prompted to write the poem "A Letter to You" by a situation that was consuming my thought; I was extremely angry at a close friend, and it helped me express what I was feeling. While writing this poem, I was learning how to express myself through words, and hopefully, imagery. I was prompted to write the poem "Speak" because of my own inability to express outloud what I'm really feeling. While I was writing this poem, I was learning about the pantoum form of poems, and how it makes the poem more powerful through repitition. I was prompted to write the poem "Tribute" as a snapshot of what I was seeing in my dance class one Tuesday night. We're dancing to a song that's a "tribute" to 9-11, and it's extremely powerful. While writing, I learned how to capture images with words and put them in the form of poetry. I was prompted to write the poem, "Chapstick" because I thought it would be really fun to give something so simple like chapstick, a more complex 'personality'. While writing "Chapstick", I learned how to give objects personalities and what questions to ask myself in order to do so. I was prompted to write my memoir, "Untitled", by remembering a really fun and adventurous memory that I thought I would have fun writing about it. While writing my memoir, I learned a lot about different brushstrokes that can be used, imagery, and how I use passive voice WAY too much.

Part Two: Process of Revision
I didn't go through a lot of revision with my poems, except on "A Letter to You." I used a really cliche line and didn't realize it until Mrs. Turner pointed it out to me. I changed it to make it more original. I revised my other poems a lot while I was writing them, getting advice from my group. I wore out a couple of erasers... let me tell ya. I revised my memoir many times. I had to get rid of a lot of passive voice, and had to change the "weekend drunk" line to make it more clear. I also got advice from a few of my friends, and changed the ending to show a different perspective. I also changed a few sentences at the beginning of my memoir that didn't make sense. I just hope that they make sense now.

Part Three: Learning from Your Classmates
After looking, at the BLOGS of my classmates, I have learned to be more open minded; it's what makes writing good. I think I saw a lot of openmindedness in other's writings and realized that's something I need to work on. An example of where I found this was in Haley's color poem... it somehow reminded me of being open minded. Another thing that stood out to me, was the imagery and details of other's writings. I think it's important to have a lot of details and imagery because you are trying to express what you see in your mind and you want other people to see it as well as you can. I saw this in Katie Beck's "Masquerade" and in Jordan Morris's "Hole Puncher." Another thing I learned from other's writings was that diction can make or break poetry... but in all of the writings I viewed, it definitely made it. I think this is important for me to remember because I often have trouble with word choice. I saw examples of good diction in a lot of Katie Beck's poetry, especially "Wilting Rose."