Not Just Because She's My Teacher

            I’m proud to say that I have privileged enough to hear not only one example of my own teacher’s talent but also several. Not only was it nice to have a relaxed class where we could all just sit back and listen but also I was really excited to hear more of Sheila’s work…and no I’m not trying to kiss her ass ;). Beginning with a lyric essay titled “Self Portrait with Rollercoaster” designed in an eight parts; it was my first time hearing a piece of this format. Being introduced to a style completely unfamiliar to me I wasn’t sure what to expect or what to pay attention to.

There were however a few components that stuck out to me, like the use of anaphora with “see her” and alliteration with “watch her watch,” and the bookend structure, beginning and ending with the slides. There was one line in particular that stood out to me, “here they dare each other.” Why it did I cannot say, for some reason it resonated with me the most; maybe it was a sense of impulse in which I was in search of myself. Continuing on through the reading, a series of different style poems, from found poems, and letter poems to dream poems, which I found in specific quite fascinating, With the found poem about Sheila’s grandmother’s advice for the wedding night, I couldn’t help but laugh because I could never in a million years picture my own nana giving out such blunt and unexpected advice. I was very intrigued with the concept of turning a dream sequence into a poem, maybe because my dream recall is fairly poor compared to Sheila’s vivid dreaming, I was inspired to give it a try myself. After going over my notes from class, the poem I put a giant star by was Sheila’s relationship poem. The metaphor of the front and back door or wing moving through and the differences between them seemed to make the poem most relatable; everyone has experienced at some point or another “the sounds of someone leaving” or at least I have. The ability to take inanimate objects, apply such intense emotions and background to them is what I believe what makes a good writer.