Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Exploration Two: First post by Amanda Bracey

Hiya class! My name is Amanda Bracey. My fun fact was that I like to play video games. I try to keep busy with work, as I find that I do not like to be bored. For the most part, I am a home body, I enjoy reading and listening to a variety of music.  Typically, if I am not playing video games I am outside riding my bike or just taking a walk at a park. While, I love my two spoiled rotten cats to pieces, there are days that I pray for patience with them as they stampede through the house at 4am.


One of the authors of the authors that I had learned about was Tim Seibles. Seibles is noted as an American poet and a creative writing professor for Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virgina. In 1992, age 37, his book titled Hurdy Gurdy was recognized worldwide. He received grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts and won the Open Voice award. Which, in my opinion is pretty awesome regardless of how old you are and you continue to work hard while doing what you love that eventually will pay off.


Below is a link containing further information about Tim Seibles: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Seibles


There was a poem written by Time Seibles titled For Brothers Everywhere particularly caught my eye. I think was imagery and the use of language. It was presented in a different format than the traditional sense that most poetry gets written in. If I had to pick one thing that stood out to me that would be the basketballs ripe as pumpkins struck me as odd at first but definitely pleasantly unexpected.

I, myself, have trouble with making action imagery like describing a basketball game come through clearly in my writings without being bogged down with a lot of detail.  When Seibles wrote, "the ball burning like fruit with a soul in their velvet hands, which while the wrists whisper backspin, an the fingers comb the rock once-- givin it up, lettin it go, lettin it go like good news..." it reminded me of when I used to watch my brother and his friends play after school. I admit that I am no scholar when it comes to basketball and will never claim to be one for the remainder of my life; however, I will never forget the look of tension and deep concentration that would cross my brother's face when he lined up the shot and held his breath as the ball released from his hands and the his grin of pure satisfaction would leap out once he knew his target was going to hit the mark that he wanted.

In the beginning of the poem, there was one word that did well with keep a hold on my imagination, which was the comparison of the basketball rims hanging like "pinatas." I automatically thought that pinatas came from Mexico. Interestingly,  the pinatas while their size and shape has changed over the centuries, the basic premise of word as well as it's purpose originated in Spain. It was written in the OED that Mexico did not start utilizing the word the 16th century.  The sentence that I came up with for use of the word was "Kids should be grateful for today's pinatas, back in the day they used to be made out ceramic.

5 comments:

  1. I fell your pain with the cats running around late at night. I too have two cats that I love to death but sometimes they can be a bit much. I enjoyed reading your entire blog and actually clicked on your link to the author! Great link and great blog!

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  2. You have a good sense of humor in your first paragraph it makes me want to keep reading more. You seem like a fun person and you enjoy being happy, which everyone loves :) I do not have any cats, but all my best friends love their cats and I hear similar stories about their cats too. You did a good job!

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  3. Hey Amanda!!! I enjoy being a homebody too, I feel a lot more comfortable and relaxed when I'm home. I understand your struggle with writing in detail, I too have issues with knowing how to write a descriptive sentence without being too overbearing.

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  4. I also try to keep busy with work because I cannot stand being bored! As well as I have a spoiled cat, I could not imagine two like you, one is enough for me! Nice job on your blog- well written!

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  5. Hi Amanda, I loved reading about how you interpreted and connected with For Brothers Everywhere. That poem created a lot of imagery for me as well, which made it a fun read. I enjoyed your post.

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