Maggie+Long

"Poetry is the universal language..."- William Hazlitt

__ Ode to Love: __  You don't want to upset  That would be a disgrace.  It's the perfect setup  Right here in the world.  You can't find anything else like it,  It nearly made you HURL!  It's something called LOVE.  It's not hard to come by,  But when you don't have it in your life  You may just start to cry.  I'm not trying to preach, but listen to me now.  It hurts to see that people don't know how to teach to the crowd.

__ Sonnet: __  My thoughts and emotions are struggling now. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Should I keep on going down this pathway? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I would like to keep on doing it, but now? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I see you in the hallway and say, Hey!

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The pain the I feel hurts more then you know. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I love you with all of my heart you see. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I love to see you when you have a show. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Out of all the girls I hope you choose me.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Seeing your face makes me smile with so much joy. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I feel you do not know I am with you. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I know you loved it, do you know this toy? <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I am with my friends you are with your crew,

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Love is a complicated thing to do, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> But I am always happy to love you.

__<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Raised by: __

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> I was raised by <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Too many to count. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Eat all your veggies before dessert <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Type of people

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Some don't ride your bike without a helmet, <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Look both ways before crossing the street <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Type of people.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Some cookie baking <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Spring cleaning <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "Wash your hands before dinner" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Type of Aunts.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Some city livin <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Fine dining <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Shopaholic <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "If it doesn't fit, we can always bring it back" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Type of neighbors.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Some Rich mouthy <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Mama's boys <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Spoiled rotten <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> "If you touch my Playstation, I will tell on you" <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Type of cousins

Poem of my choice:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">My poet I chose: Rita Dove

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Persephone, Falling <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By: Rita Dove

code One narcissus among the ordinary beautiful flowers, one unlike all the others! She pulled, stooped to pull harder— when, sprung out of the earth on his glittering terrible carriage, he claimed his due. It is finished. No one heard her. No one! She had strayed from the herd.

(Remember: go straight to school. This is important, stop fooling around! Don't answer to strangers. Stick with your playmates.  Keep your eyes down.) This is how easily the pit opens. This is how one foot sinks into the ground.

code

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Adolescence II <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By: Rita Dove code Although it is night, I sit in the bathroom, waiting. Sweat prickles behind my knees, the baby-breasts are alert. Venetian blinds slice up the moon; the tiles quiver in pale strips.

Then they come, the three seal men with eyes as round As dinner plates and eyelashes like sharpened tines. They bring the scent of licorice. One sits in the washbowl,

One on the bathtub edge; one leans against the door. "Can you feel it yet?" they whisper. I don't know what to say, again. They chuckle,

Patting their sleek bodies with their hands. "Well, maybe next time." And they rise, Glittering like pools of ink under moonlight,

And vanish. I clutch at the ragged holes They leave behind, here at the edge of darkness. Night rests like a ball of fur on my tongue.

code ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Vacation <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By: Rita Dove

code I love the hour before takeoff, that stretch of no time, no home but the gray vinyl seats linked like unfolding paper dolls. Soon we shall be summoned to the gate, soon enough there’ll be the clumsy procedure of row numbers and perforated stubs—but for now I can look at these ragtag nuclear families with their cooing and bickering or the heeled bachelorette trying to ignore a baby’s wail and the baby’s exhausted mother waiting to be called up early while the athlete, one monstrous hand asleep on his duffel bag, listens, perched like a seal trained for the plunge. Even the lone executive who has wandered this far into summer with his lasered itinerary, briefcase knocking his knees—even he has worked for the pleasure of bearing no more than a scrap of himself into this hall. He’ll dine out, she’ll sleep late, they’ll let the sun burn them happy all morning —a little hope, a little whimsy before the loudspeaker blurts and we leap up to become Flight 828, now boarding at Gate 17. code