Calisthenics (Week 6)

Metaphor Substitutions

1) Calling from the far shore
- announcements from the far shore
-calling from the border
-hollering from the far lakeside

2)Burning the wood
-kindle the wood
-ignite the forest
-smolder the wood with ice

3)Smug by the fire
-gratified by the fire
-haughty by the swain
- self-righteous by the warmth

4)knocking the wind out of someone
-knocking the wind out of a tree
-knocking the wind out of mill
-knocking the wind out of someone's helplessness

Improvin' (Week 6)

"Song 378" by Dan Albergotti

They say grace is amazing
They say fools rush in.
Pope was a wise man. This is a song.

This is a song because it says song,
says song insistently, says sibilance.
Hisses a background for sharp notes.

It says there is a note that marries

skulls to smile, despair to hope

if only for one trembling moment.
It sounds the diphthong between birth
and death. This song says mystery.

When the great composer was asked to name
his favorite music, he said, No music.
The dead and dying sing a silent song.



"untitled" by Atarah Rumph

They say fools rush in.
The rushed in fools
are they who rushed into sin
while sipping on a mocha frappuccino.

Hissing for sharp notes,
she held his red, multi- pocketed
windbreaker under one arm
while the other arm was occupied
with his child collection of animated movies.

A collection of animated movies
that scream life, liberty, and justice
is new in this abandoned world.
His shirt flies past her face.
they say fools rush in. 

Free Write (Week 6)

Dear pieces of me,

I miss you guys sooo much. I really have no idea when ya'll left and why but I really do wish you would come back. Honestly, I havent been drowning or frowning, i've just been confused. It's like I know something is missing but when I start looking for whatever it is, I cant seem to find it; or you guys. If I didnt treat you guys with the respect and love as the other parts of me then I'm truly sorry but being confused and knowing something is missing isnt such a great life. I though i found you guys on the corner store but that was someone else pieces. Or maybe you guys left me because ya'll's purpose was served already. Well what ever the excuse or situation may be, I would have loved a hug and a goodbye. But just in case you guys think of me as much as I think of you, I just wanted to let you all know that I miss you.

Love, me

Junkyard Quote 21-24 (Week 6)

"And I dont mind when we fall out just as long as we fall back into it so I hope we neva put an end to it even tho ur really not into it......" 
- My friend and I were having a conversation about a girl he likes but doesn't think she is interested in him


"i thought you were my passion but every day I learn more and more about you & i realized it isnt you"


"thought I was on a roll but ended up rollin' back to square one, I guess that's what I get for impersonating the feds"


"A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave." - Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Response 2 (Week 5)

Response 1 (Week 5)

Calisthenics (Week 5)

Free Write (Week 5)

This foul ladybug screams my name
near my bedroom window
I heard her vigorous buzzing
from her loud vacuum of sex
it must be mating time
walking outside with just the skin of my feet
the desolate worm crept between my toes
slimy, grimy, but comfortable
that's how it felt
looking into the moon's eyes
I started to feel a connection
then quickly looked away
heading back upstairs
I adjust my frustrated pillow
kick my ignorant socks off the bed
and dream about happy pickles.

Improvin' (Week 5)

Junkyard Quote 17-20 (Week 5)

Sign Inventory (week 5)

Improvin' (Week 4)

Dan Albergotti's "Among the Things He Does Not Deserve"

Greek olives in oil, fine beer, the respect of colleagues,
the rapt attention of an audience, pressed white shirts,
just one last-second victory, sympathy, buttons made
to resemble pearls, a pale daughter, living wages, a father
with Italian blood, pity, the miraculous reversal  of time,
a benevolent god, good health, another dog, nothing
cruel and unusual, spring, forgiveness, the benefit
of the doubt, the next line, cold fingers against his chest,
rich bass notes from walnut speakers, inebriation, more ink,
a hanging curve, great art, steady rain on Sunday, the purr
of a young cat, the crab cakes at their favorite little place,
the dull pain in his head, the soft gift of her parted lips.

Things She Needs to Work for by Atarah Rumph

Response 1 (Week 4)

Response to Christine's Free Write: How to Show Your Mother She Raised You Right

I enjoy the tone the speaker has throughout the entire draft because the tone has a bit of sarcasm in there. I just have a weird connection to this poem because without knowing I do some of the things listed just so my mom would think she raised me right. I would like to suggest that instead of "a sport's bottle", in the revisions the "sport's bottle" gets a name like Gatorade or Powerade. I'm interested in seeing the rest of the listing since the writer isn't done. The idea of expansion for this poem is a great idea. 

Calisthenics (Week 4)

These lines come from random sources such as: Vogue, EcoBeauty, I wish I had a Red Dress, Happiness, and my psychology textbook

The swing rhythm was breaking up into a cool-jazz rebop

when a small commotion was happening at Daniel Hersheson Salon

lips feel bare to the touch but the flush of color won't smudge on his shirt

but she finally decided the spirits of sexual healing must be revealed.

When communication is cut off, she kicked his lying bum

out of the house since he refused to give up his mistress.

After three years worth of Blue Bell's butter pecan ice cream

and cheap microwave dinners, she always experimented with

twisted updos and braids and sometimes you just

have to wear heels.

Free Write, Week 4

Merry Father's Day


I was just an embryo when my father left. I had anencephaly for a few weeks from my mother’s heart bleeding once she noticed all his clothes disappeared like a ghost from their small closet. I would have slapped him with my tail if I wasn’t so comfortably warm in that place I like to compare to heaven. That was back then I was trapped and cramped for space but now I’m out, healthy, living, and continuing to grow without any of your love. One day I picked up a gun, contemplating shooting my brains out to the sun because I was tired of having to point out that you were never there to share any of my childhood memories with me. Tired of waking up in the middle of the night without mom being sleep in her bed because of her third job as a waitress at a restaurant to try to keep the lights on. Balancing stress, mom just couldn’t teach me how to be a man. It seems as if you forgot that physically and emotionally, me and the woman you once loved are completely different. Though it was hard, she tried her best to make me understand the good and the bad in both sexes. I was saved by someone even though I didn’t know their name or where they lived but all I knew was that they prayed. No bullets in the gun that I wanted to end my life. Relief seeped through my skin as I cried on my mother’s bosom. I used to loathe not knowing you as a man and as my father because I ached for your love but now I love you unconditionally for whatever you were and were not because it made me a better man than mom could ever imagine. 

Junkyard Quote 13-16, Week 4

"If I went back to high school, I have to make sure I have a bulletproof vest." - Mindy

"every hello is like the preface to a 20 volume love letter" - Some girl's blog on tumblr (http://crushtheinfamous.tumblr.com/post/3139803313)

"she was babysitting the opportunity" - I believe one of my friend's said this but when i saved it in my phone i didnt put a name

"I've been right. I've been left. I've been wrong. I've been left behind. I've been up but mostly down." - Middle Class Rut