EXTRA CREDIT!!! A Great Way to Break Up the Routine

I absolutely loved the poetry Sheila read in class. I was fascinated by the dream poems and how she remembered all of them.  This was truly amazing and I am extremely jealous. I don’t remember any of my dreams and really wish I did because I was well entertained by Sheila’s. I think I am going to take her advice and start a dreambook. Hopefully I will remember more of them and be able to one day look back on them and find humor in them like she does.

I like how she introduced us to both found and letter poems. I never heard of either of these and am glad that I now have exposure to them. I really enjoyed the poem about her grandmother’s advice, and thought it was hysterical. It was really cool that our class was the first to hear some of these poems. I felt honored because I really think that each and every one of them was terrific, and something I would never be able to write. I have so much respect for Sheila and give her props. I would never be able to write how she writes and think all of her pieces of work are beautiful in their own way.

            “Self Portrait with Roller Coaster” was my favorite poem and I loved the discussion that followed it. Sheila talked about how this amusement park that she went to as a child was basically an accident waiting to happen. She talked about how crazy the rides were, and how there was this one ride there that she loved that you literally go to the top of a mountain and it is similar to a body slide with no form of protection and you guide yourself down with a stick controller thing. There was a ride like this at an older amusement park that also went out of business from my hometown. I thought it was crazy that this insane ride existed in multiple locations. It just sounds so dangerous but so fun at the same time.

            I really like how Sheila explained all of her poems before she read them. She talked about who they involved, what they were about, and why she wrote them. She also talked about how she wrote a “happy” poem just to add variety to her always depressing poems.

            Another poem I really enjoyed was the one about the two doors. This was deep, emotional, and got me to think about people could turn out to be completely different and deceitful.

            I loved the idea of having this poetry reading during normal class hours. It was a great way to break up the routine and when I found out she was going to be reading to us, I was thrilled. Finals are coming up and all of my other last major exams and essays are also approaching or were occurring that week. Needless to say, I was and still am beyond stressed. Listening to her read and just sitting back and taking it easy for class, was exactly what I needed and made me happy. It was a great way to finish up the semester as our time spent together as a class is drawing closer and closer to an end.