Nikki Chapman ARHU 242

Every day, The house across the street stands, Its name engraved atop its gutters That are adorned with statues of black birds “The Raven House.” During childhood, I ask my parents who lives in that house They say its a group of old witches But I’ve never seen anyone walk in or out During winter, The plastic skeleton hangs in their yard Propped up against the snow-filled cauldron Wearing a santa hat During spring, The skeleton wears bunny ears The color of gaudy flamingoes To get into the Easter spirit During summer, I tell myself That the ghost I see peeking out of the attic is just a mannequin When I walk past the house on the way to the park During fall, The skeleton is at his prime His frontal bone perked up in eagerness Feeling the autumn air whistle through his ribs During October, I read in the newspaper about the witches across the street How visitors pay to sleep over for a séance But never st...

Blackout Waking up to darkness, Feeling the black silence Until the vents shutter to life Sunlight Open the blinds The light sears into the buildings Reflecting onto my adjusting eyes Storm A flash of blue And the night takes on a shroud of rain Drizzle The streetlights reflect Onto a dark grey sky

"The image is the poet's pigment. The image is not an idea. It is a radiant node or cluster, a vortex through which and into which ideas are constantly rushing. It is as true for painting and sculpture as it is for poetry." To be honest, at first when I am figuring out where to put line breaks in my poem, I do it by number. I like having stanzas that are all the same amount of lines, or at least have a similar amount. I think this is because I'm someone who likes symmetry and organization. So sometimes I will plan the amount of lines I want in each stanza, and then plan out what I want to happen in each stanza. To me, each stanza is a complete thought. It's almost like writing a paragraph, only with poetry you can take the idea that you would write a paragraph about and shorten it into a succinct thought. I also find that it's interesting to use line breaks to keep a reader in suspense. Instead of finishing the thought completely, the stanza ends with a ...

Sitting outside the waiting room The woman at the front desk seems a bit annoyed Understandable, everything must run smoothly The chairs are stiff and gray The walls are decorated brightly, orange and yellow With inspirational quotes In white text. I sit Bundled up in my coat A purple scarf my friend knitted me And a hat from a store. My aunt is antsy to get out She shows a picture of her dog She's been in this kind of place before And doesn't care to relive it But she hides behind a smile on her face. My grandmother appears Walking slowly, but firmly She tells me to follow her That I should see this for myself That it would be good for me. When I go back, My grandfather is in a chair, with tubes sticking out I think that he's happy to see me But he'd probably be happy to see anyone He smiles He gets up and hugs me When I was little he'd squeeze so tightly I'd laugh But today I'm the one squeezing His strength is faded I have ...

Poems can help people take abstract concepts and transfer them into tangible ideas. It can help us achieve a better understanding of emotions that are harder to define. It can help someone realize that there are other humans experiencing the same kinds of emotions as them, or give someone a deeper understanding of the experience of someone from a different background. A poem can be good for entertainment and being pleasing to the ear. A poem can be about a heavy subject matter and be used to recreate a difficult emotion or event so that it can be experienced safely. The hardest part of writing a symbolist poem was conveying the meaning of it without explicitly saying what the meaning was. Instead of explaining what the emotion was in literal terms, I had to use metaphor and simile to compare and contrast the emotion with more tangible experiences. For example, if I just stated that I was anxious and my hands were shaking, it wouldn't be as relatable. However, if I compare my shak...

Deep breath, inhale, exhale, Head between my knees, The air turns artificial, stale I'll keep my eyes shut, squeeze The air is a napkin on the tongue Looking up, I see the source Smoke is filling up the hallways Lurking to the back of the throat, coarse The more the air dries up, The more my eyes water, My hands become fishes that have escaped the bowl, Shaking, trying to find some normalcy If only I was free of the smoke, I could push open the doors and Feel the fresh, winter air Smacking my face like a wake up call But the smoke follows me I escape to a diner, staring at a matchbook Behind me, the windows have clouded up The more one tries to get a better look, the more it obscures They say even non-smokers will have gray lungs From just existing in the city From being exposed to those who hold the embers between their fingers And inhale their fates The churches, the schools Have become factories Pumping out thick, black clouds When they could be ...

I believe that meaning is important in poetry. Even if a writer doesn't intend for a poem to have a meaning, it's impossible that someone could read the poem and not derive some sort of meaning out of it. Meaning can be derived from the poet's choice of words, imagery, the structure of the poem itself, and the rhythm of the poem. I think a poet would have to actively try to make a poem that is meaningless. It would be nearly impossible unless the poet writes a completely literal description of something, in which case it would be more of an article than a poem. The very act of writing a poem means that what is written will be interpreted by the person reading it. There are some visual arts where I believe it is okay if the creator did not intend a meaning, but left the meaning of it up to interpretation. For example, an abstract painting. However, when it comes to film-making and animation, which are part of my major, I believe having meaning is absolutely essential. If y...