if i loved You j.a. ibarra

if i love You
e.e. cummings

if i love You
(thickness means
Worlds inhabited by roamingly
stern bright faeries

if you love
me) distance is mind carefully
luminous with innumerable gnomes
Of complete dream

if we love each (shyly)
other, what clouds do or Silently
Flowers resembles beauty
less than our breathing

My OWN POEM
if i loved You
by j.a. ibarra

if i loved You
(memories of us
would still exists with me
adding to my dreams

if you loved
me) distance would have strengthen our relationship but you made the
decision not to

if we loved each (shyly)
other, what others thought or Past
Experiences wouldn’t have affected us
and we still could have…
loved

I like the way that e.e cummings used “if I love you, if you love me, and if we love each (shyly) other,” at the beginning of each of her stanza because I feel that the poem sort of tells the reader a story to understand how much both of them loved each other. I also like how she chose where to capitalize words and when not to.
Similarly, in my poem I followed the same structure that Cummings used and also only capitalized specific words. But I think that the main change that I did was instead of writing about “if i love You” I went ahead and wrote the poem with “if i loved you.” My ending is also different but I think that, it was my own personal choice to do that and not ended the same way that she did.

i love you much (most beautiful darling) by ee cummings

In the poem “i love you much (most beautiful darling)”by e.e. cummings, she writes in as a person in love with someone else. It’s hard to say whether the speaker of the poem is a man or women writing to their loved one. In any case the poem talks about how much the speaker loves someone. The speaker says how they them “more than anyone on earth” and like the person “better than everything in the sky.” This poem also has a lot of reference to different elements of nature. For example the speaker makes reference to the earth, sunlight, winter, sky.
While reading this poem, it reminded me of Romeo and Juliet and how they had this love that could never be but each one wanted to express their love in whatever way possible. But I also notice that this poem and I think it was the authors’ choice to have a lot of parenthesis to group certain words in the poem. For example cummings writes “noone can quite begin to guess (except my life) the true time of year -” Similarly, in another poem entitled “i carry your heart with me( I carry it in” also by e.e cummings, cummings uses the same time of style by putting parenthesis in the poem. She writes “i fear no fate (for you are my fate , my sweet)” also although the poems do not have a similar structure to them. The first line of each poem is the title of the poem as well as they both have parenthesis in them. Although it might seem odd to have parenthesis throughout the poem I think they add a personal touch to e.e cummings poems.

Poetic Language

I think that poetic language is the specific type of language that you use while writing poetry. A lot of the different poetic devices that people use are also part of poetic language. All the words used in poetry and put together are used in order to convey a feeling or personal thoughts. Poetry I think does not have a specific definition and it all depends on the person who is writing and what type of poetic language they use.

Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note by Amiri Baraka

I think that Baraka’s poem “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,” talks about how this man no longer prays at night. This I think leads me to believe that this man no longer has a religion or does not believe in his religion. I thought it was interesting how “each night [he] count[s] the stars.” I like how Baraka ends his poem with the description of his daughter praying in her room “her own hands clasped hands.”
I think that this poem is really significant to my own personal life because back in my junior I began to realize that I grew up into a religion. I never really had a chance to choose so since then I have been rethinking my religion. Because everyone in my family is Catholic, I also had to be Catholic.
I had no say in whether I want to explore another religion or not. I feel that I am old enough to make my own decisions. Instead of just accepting everything that is told to me, I want to analyze what others have to say and make my own decision. I have been distancing myself from my religion and attending church does not seem to be something that I feel is a mandatory commitment for me. I think that I am that guy who sits and looks out at the stars and counts them even when they are not their. I am that guy who now sits there and wonders why no one else “sings anymore.” Unlike the man in the poem, I haven’t had that moment where I see my own daughter praying.

Minstrel Man by Langston Hughes

I think that this poem reflects not only our community here in East Palo Alto but also to our society in general. I think that when Langston Hughes wrote this poem he was writing about African Americans and how in his times in society African Americans were seen as invincible people. It seem that back in the day the hardships that African Americans went through were not seen by the white society even African Americans who were actually living a good life were not even recognized. African Americans were only acknowledged for negative aspects.
Nowadays, this sense of being invincible has expanded not only to the African American race but to all minorities. In our society, minorities are ignored in education and in many other social issues. Minorities although many might seem like have mouths “wide with laughter” and throats “deep with song,” do not mean that they are living a prosperous life, these people also suffer but our society has set them aside.
In our own community, East Palo Alto, where all the residents are primarily minorities, the education system is upsetting. Many of the students in those schools do not have a lot of resources and once they are in high school many act like they are okay but inside they are students that need academic help but no one notices. Minorities have been set aside from our society from many issues that like this poem no one notices they “die.”

In The Depths of Solitude

I exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal
trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preserve my soul
constantly yearning 2 be accepted
and from all receive respect
never compromising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret
a young heart with an old soul
how can there be peace
how can I be in the depths of solitude
when there r 2 inside of me
this duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity
- Tupac Shakur