Introduction to The Literary Studio
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 26th, 2019
“Toward a Unified Theory of the Doughnut,” Elizabeth McCracken is a nonfiction personal essay where McCracken tells the passage of time with different forms of doughnuts in each setting. It is written in the present tense with a few “flashback” types of scenes and her voice is very present throughout the essay. One of my […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 26th, 2019
Elizabeth McCracken’s “Toward a Unified Theory of the Doughnut” describes her experiences with doughnuts. She chose to write this essay in a strange way, each paragraph is numbered and its not written in true essay form. It is filled with comedy but also a realness that makes you think and go… oh wow. The chuckles start […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 25th, 2019
The “Seam of the Snail” by Cynthia Ozick is a short story about a girl’s perception of her mother and perceptions of herself. Through the lense of first person reflective, the story begins with the girl looking back on her childhood, growing up in the depression. Within this memory the girl talks about how her […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 25th, 2019
Terezin The heaviest wheel rolls across our foreheads To bury itself deep somewhere inside our memories We’ve suffered here more than enough, Here in this clot of grief and shame, Wanting a badge of blindness To be a proof for their own children. A fourth year of waiting, like standing above a swamp From which […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 25th, 2019
“The Seam of the Snail” a short story written by Cynthia Ozick. The story begins with Cynthia discussing memories of her childhood with her cousin Sarah. Her cousin Sarah was a perfectionist and could tell who made Cynthia’s dresses. Cynthia also notes in small detail her Uncle Jake’s perfection of building “meticulous grandfather clocks”, to later go on […]
Posted in Essay on Mar 25th, 2019
In her creative nonfiction piece “Toward a Unified Theory of the Doughnut,” Elizabeth McCracken uses doughnuts to frame her narrative about growing up and watching the world change. She talks about her experiences with doughnuts chronologically, moving from her early school years to now, and reflects on how both doughnuts and society in general have […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 21st, 2019
“Hip-Hop Ghazal BY PATRICIA SMITH Gotta love us brown girls, munching on fat, swinging blue hips, decked out in shells and splashes, Lawdie, bringing them woo hips. As the jukebox teases, watch my sistas throat the heartbreak, inhaling bassline, cracking backbone and singing thru hips. Like something boneless, we glide silent, seeping ‘tween floorboards, […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 21st, 2019
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 21st, 2019
We can’t remember her name, but we remember where we buried her. In a blanket the color of a sky that refuses birds. The illiterate owls interrogate us from the trees, and we answer, We don’t know. Maybe we named her Dolores, for our grandmother, meaning sadness, meaning the mild kisses of a priest. Maybe […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 21st, 2019
Panic at John Baldessari’s Kiss by Elena Karina Byrne The aftermath always happening like an airplane falling, or a man midair falling from a horse, and an arrow, a gun, many guns pointing away, at us, our all bull’s-eye-on-the-mark. This is what he sees when he sees. Maybe Wrong or not, the appropriation, the film clip, chase, […]
“Equestrian Monuments” by Luis Chaves seems to be a rather sorrowful poem. Through the structure of a litany poem, the life of a man is examined and then is described as being a complete waste. This man recollected his life as being lived in a fog. Unfortunately, he had that realization toward the end […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 20th, 2019
Brenda Shaughnessy’s “McQueen is Dead, Long live McQueen” is an elegy in which the narrator explains how she has been mourning. There are many similes and metaphors in this poem to express the pain and the unclearness of her immediate future, which is stressful for her. Everything actually is blurred, not just how you see. Glasses […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 19th, 2019
“It is a tragedy, yes, but a confusing one. What happened to the wrestlers and where have they gone? Loulou the Pomeranian would love to know. Outdoors the hills are buried in snow, but inside a rose, a rose full-blown, a roomful of rose. The bloom and its shadow overtaking the space. The bloom proposing […]
Posted in Assignments, Poetry on Mar 14th, 2019
Write a poem using one of these poetic forms or types, all of which are discussed in the glossary of literary terms on this blog: Ekphrasis “Description” in Greek. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 14th, 2019
The poem “Teenage Lesbian Couple Found in Texas Park with Gunshot Wounds to the Head” by Meg Day is an extremely powerful poem. The first thing that I noticed that helps make it so powerful is the repetition of “It’s always the girls” that starts off each stanza. As JGB always says, when you repeat […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 13th, 2019
Reading poems in “Last Psalm at Sea Level” by Meg Day. The poem that I could relate, and understand to the most is Answer My Questions:. This poem make sure us think about the beginning of time in a more of a modern mindset, Meg Day writes “Who called the time” By saying this she make us […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 13th, 2019
“Answer My Questions:” is a poem written by Meg Day that is written from the point of view of someone having to witness the impending or current death of a child. This is told to me by the last couplet in the poem, How do you choose a coffin for a body that’s still growing […]
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 13th, 2019
“On Nights When I Am Always Almost A Mother” by Meg Day is a short poem composed of lines no longer then three words each. Through the literary devices of vivid imagery and descriptive language Meg evokes a feeling of empathy in the reader. There is a deep sense of loss and sadness in […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 11th, 2019
In her collection of poems Last Psalm at Sea Level, Meg Day explores different form to treat different subjects and their limits. In the poem “On the Day That He Goes, I Will”, she dedicates the poem to Avery and we can imagine that this is one of her loved ones. The first surprise is at […]
Posted in Poetry on Mar 6th, 2019
Meg Day’s “Answer My Questions:” is a sorrowful poem about the impending death of someone close to the speaker. In the poem, the speaker uses “you” to address the dying person, but it doesn’t seem as though they actually voice these thoughts to the person aloud. Throughout the poem, the speaker makes references to things […]