5th Blog Response ( Maps to Anywhere)

Sudden Extinction

 

I enjoyed this short story’s message and use of imagery. The author describes the brachiosaurus and triceratops in a way I never thought of but it makes perfect since and you are able to understand the image as you are reading. The narrator compares the brachiosaurus to a candle; he says “The Brachiosaurus’s brain, for example, sat atop his tapered neck like a minuscule flame on a mammoth candle.” If you know about dinosaurs you know the Brachiosaurus was the largest thing to ever walk the earth, with a neck about 3 times larger than a giraffes. However in relation to body size the head and brain of the reptile was much smaller. The narrator says “My Favorite is Triceratops, his face a hideous Rorschach blot of broad bone and blue hide. The museum of Natural History owns a replica that doesn’t do him justice. One front foot is poised in the air like an elephant sedated for a sideshow. And the nasal horn for shredding aggressors is as dull and mundane as a hook for a hat.” To me the narrator was describing the triceratops bony facial features that included the two large horns protruding from its forehead and one smaller horn jutting from his nose. The image the narrator gives you is that of a powerful creature, however the narrator then says it the horns are now as useless as a hook for a hat. I believe this meant that the dinosaurs were once a powerful species with large horns and teeth, but now they are extinct and put on display and the once ferocious horns are remnants of the past just like the once popular hooks for hats. To me the narrator of this short story was not just talking about the extinction of the Dinosaurs but our extinction as well.

The narrator says “There are guys at my gym whose latissimus dorsi, having spread like thunderheads, cause them to inch through an ordinary door; might the dinosauria have grown too big for their own violation?” I believe with this sentence the narrator compares us to dinosaurs. Saying that maybe us are humans are growing too big for our own good and maybe that is what caused the dinosaur’s extinction. The narrator then says “Once, I imagined our exercise through X-ray eyes. Our skeletons gaped at their own reflection. Empty eyes, like apertures, opened onto an afterlife. Lightning-bright spines flashed from sacrums. Phalanges of hands were splayed in surprise. Bones were glowing everywhere, years scoured down to marrow, flesh redressed with white.” To me this whole paragraph is the narrator also comparing us to the dinosaurs, but also explaining we could share the same fate. To me it means that no matter how strong we are we all are just made up of bones. Just like the dinosaurs were large strong beasts, they too were just flesh atop of skeletons and they perished, just like we as humans might, despite our physical prowess.

The last paragraph of the short story talks about the human’s extinction. The narrator says “And I knew our remains were meant to keep like secrets under earth. And I knew one day we would topple like monuments, stirring up clouds of dust. And I almost heard the dirge of our perishing, thud after thud after thud, our last titanic exhalations loud and labored and low.” To me when the narrator mentions that we were meant to be like secrets under the earth, it means that our bones will be kept under the earth until they are excavated like the dinosaur’s fossils. The narrator also says we are going to topple like monuments one day. To me this means that just like the largest and tallest creature, the Brachiosaurus, humans too will fall and our great skyscrapers will crumple to the ground returning to dust after our extinction.  In the last sentence the narrator talks about our last breathes as humans become extinct and fade into past.

4th Blog Response

Goldberg Writing Down the Bones

The Samurai

            I enjoyed reading “The Samurai” even though I don’t enjoy poems. “The Samurai” is a short story that deals with writing poetry. The narrator talks about releasing the inner Samurai part of their writing selves. The narrator says “So when you’re in the Samurai space, you have to be tough. Not mean, but with the toughness of truth. And the truth is that the truth can never ultimately hurt. It makes the world clearer and the poems much more brilliant.” This to me means that the inner samurai is meant to convey honesty when reviewing the works of others. That it may be hard to be honest when reviewing peoples work. It means don’t be mean but be truthful don’t sugar coat anything if you see a problem with the work express your concerns and help the writer better their work.

The narrator also talks about how you should write the way you want to write because that is where true passionate writing emanates.  The narrator says “They just mean we woke up, like on a Sunday morning after a late party Saturday night where we drank too much. Our eyes are open but we’re not very alert. It’s good to know where our writing is alive, awake, but it’s when our writing is burning through to brilliance that it finally becomes a poem or prose piece.”. These sentence to me, means that when we write about topics that don’t interest us we are not truly writing. When we write about our interests that’s when our writing has passion and becomes a true work of fiction. In the last paragraph of the story the narrator says “There’s enough bad writing in the world. Write one good line, you’ll be famous. Write a lot of lukewarm pieces, you’ll put people to sleep.  This means that you should follow your passion as a writer and not to write about what other people want you too because there are plenty of people doing that, but to follow your own writing dreams.

 

I Don’t Want to Die

            I also liked “I Don’t Want to Die” which is an interesting short story. The story talks about finding peace in writing and in our everyday lives. The story says that if we do not find peace when writing we will burn out from using up all of our energy and vitality.  When the narrator talks about the death of the Zen master Suzuki Roshi he says “Right before Suzuki Roshi’s death, Katagiri Roshi, an old friend, visited him. Katagiri stood by the bedside; Suzuki looked up and said, “I don’t want to die.” That simple. He was who he was and said plainly what he felt in that moment.” We must also do the same when it comes to our writing. We must plainly express what we feel through the words we write down on paper. That no matter where we might be we must accept who we are and not try and change it but express who we are through our writing.

3rd Blog Response (Juice)

            After reading page 8-11 in “Translation” from Juice by Renee Gladman I tried to figure out who the character was and where the story was taking place. My first impression was that the narrator talks about their town and says “Most people will say they have not heard of my town; even those with imagination will deny it. But you will never see a more fantastic place. The narrator then says “we have statues that the sky illuminates to such a degree that we live on them. The first thought that came to my mind after reading these sentences was that the narrator was describing heaven or a place of that nature. Maybe narrator is saying that most people haven’t heard of heaven or will deny its existence. Then she speaks of the statues that are in the sky and maybe the grand statues are the ones that line the streets of heaven. But then the narrator says “They aren’t mirrors; they are magnificent distractions of great height and fortitude. They are brick and handsome.” I thought this sentence was describing a mountain range and that she was comparing the mountains to heaven in their beauty and how it brought them peace. After reading the last paragraph on page ten that extends to page 11 my thoughts of the narrator comparing their location or their situation to a heavenly or spiritual nature was reinforced. The narrator says “Well, imagine coming home to a one-hundred-mile expanse of beauty that you always have thought of yourself, and finding on that day it exists without you. The narrator also says “No science can explain what propels this story. The land can hardly contain its volatile nature. Anyone observing my predicament would wonder why I have continued on. But, in a way, because there are no observers, I have no choice but to go on.” To me when the narrator talks about returning home and finding what you thought was yourself existing without you, I thought they had died. Not knowing they had died their spirit returned to home only to find their body separated from the spirit that still exists. I also thought that is why the narrator said that science cannot explain the story, because nobody knows for sure what lies beyond. Also when the narrator says there are no observers so they have to continue, I thought it meant that no one could see them because they were a ghost.

            As I read pages 12-17 the narrator seems to be telling the back story of the narrator’s life and how they came to be in the predicament mentioned on page 8.These pages also seem to fit my earlier assumption of something spiritual. The narrator says “Last month, there were voices in my dream. Voices direct and full of passion sounding strange in my dream. I think they were my ancestors. I mean, I think that’s where hope comes from.” To me this meant that the narrator’s ancestors were trying to communicate to them about death and tell them it was ok to pass on to the other side. The narrator then says “Many years back there was a virus ravaging us-made the black skin of my neighbors turn toward the moon. At the time, I was too young to be affected by the cycles of the moon. Bear in mind, this is a land without normal science. The Floyds’ boy was the only one to decipher that science, but he was sick. To me this meant that the virus was taking many of their lives so they began to pray to god which represented the moon. I thought the sick boy who deciphered the science actually was seeing god or the spirits beckoning him to come with them and he did not have a chance to tell the others what he was seeing before he died. On page 14 and again at the very end of page 17 the narrator mentions sex. Saying “There are games one play’s while one is waiting for a mass return; they are mostly sexual. I cannot help but be sexual before there mountains, their flirtish behavior and exquisite face. I found that I am moved to ecstacy-ecstacy being my most treasured activity.” And “So far it has been sex and leaves that keep me alive.” I don’t think the narrator is talking about literal sex but using it as a metaphor. I think the narrator is trying to covey the beauty of the mountains and the forest and that their beauty is so magnificent it brings the same joy and emotional pleasure as sex.

            Pages 18-20 solidify my earlier assumptions in concrete it seems. Throughout these 3 pages the narrator talks about visions and spirits. The narrator says “There are certain things about the spirits I figured out. For instance, they knew me- a few moments into their initial visit I could tell they had thoroughly studied me. Well, I thought that would mean something-communication might be clearer or anything except what did it mean. You see, these figures had no voices. My town had gone and the only semblance of humans that I’d seen were not humans at all, but photolytic patients who were lonelier than me.” To me when the narrator talks about the spirits knowing them it reminded me of how people say god knows everything you do and is always watching. When the narrator says the spirits have no voices and their town was gone they haven’t seen another human, I thought it meant that the spirits wanted the narrator to pass over to the other said but would allow them to come when they were ready. The reason why the narrator hadn’t seen another human was because they are dead and stuck in limbo. The narrator then says “Spirits teach people about death. When they come and there is nobody dead, then they themselves want to be taught.” I thought this meant the narrator was dead but still did not accept the fact that they had died and when the spirits visited, the narrator became frightened at the thought of death being the reality. Towards the end of the story the narrator says “It has been six years since the exodus. A year since I last spoke. I have forty-two years left of anticipated health, and anticipate five hundred years before the great tidal wave. Things here slowly returning to slime and translation.” To me this meant that the narrator had anticipated to live a normal life but was beginning to realize that they were in a place where time had no meaning, for example when the narrator mentioned 500 years before the tidal wave. Towards the end where the narrator said things are slowly returning I thought it meant that they had returned back to the town, which brought us back to the beginning of the story where the narrator found themselves separated from the body and realized they had died. Maybe this is why the narrator has no name because they are trying to convey the body is only a vessel and what really matters is the spirit that is contained within it.

2nd Blog Response

          The short story packet is by far more amusing and more understandable than Fluorescence. The short stories are also very impressive. I have always found it hard to try and write a full story that had everything I wanted to say in it on less than a page. Some of my favorite short stories in the packet are the Mystery Stories by Sharon Krinsky.
          Each one of the mystery stories are less than a paragraph. Despite the short length each one tells a story and leaves you wondering. Each of the stories is its own little riddle that gives you clues but doesn't give you the answer which forces you to think about the solution outside the box. The stories make you want to keep reading to find out what happens next, but there is nothing else which leaves you to fill in the rest of the story however you want. My favorite story of hers is "The Japanese Man" the story talks about a old sad man singing about his fortune and that the narrator has a dream that he is that man and wakes up crying in the dream but not it real life. To me the story tells us about a man that is sad but suppresses his feelings. When he sees the man on the road and later dreams about him that night his feelings are allowed to be expressed but as soon as he wakes up he represses them again.
          I also read the short story "Survivors" by Kim Addonizo. The story is about two men that seem to be in a relationship that is implied but never solidified by the narrator. The two men in the story appear to be ill and affected by a disease. The narrator mention T cells which leads me to believe he is talking about AIDS. The narrator talks about the barriers that they have had to overcome because of their sexual orientation, like family trouble and societal issues. Maybe the narrator does not solidify their relationship because he in some ways feels that he has not accepted it. He talks about letting his partner's parrot fly free which also might symbolize his freedom that death brings and at the end he would rather die than be alone without his partner. I find these stories interesting because even though they are short they give you a glimpse of a deeper more engaging story that the reader creates.
          I also found the short story called "The Colonel" by Carolyn Forche was interesting. The story seems to be set in a house that is located somewhere that speaks Spanish. The story talks about bared windows and broken glass on the floor and the colonel eating lamb with a glass of wine which makes me think he is a colonel of a drug cartel. He brings out a bag of ears which could be from rival members that he or his men have dispatched. I also like the word usage in this short story like when the narrator says "He spilled the human ears on the table. They were like dried peach halves." I would have never thought to use those words when thinking about severed ears. The story also makes you think about what happened before this dinner and who the men are and where they are going after.
          Overall these short stories allowed me to imagine a much larger and grander story than the one that was actually written. That is why these short stories are amusing. They force you to create your own past and future that coincides with the glimpse of the world the author gives you. You are allowed to create your own begining and your own end for the characters which makes you connect personally with each of the stories.
         

1st Blog Response Assignment

          After reading the first half of "Fluorescence" I am only left in a confused state. I have tried to comprehend the meaning of each of the poems, but as I moved on from poem to poem Jennifer Dick's words only formed jumbled paragraphs of random words in my mind. I am in no way assaulting  Jennifer Dick's works. Nor am I saying they don't mean anything. They just have no meaning to me.
           On the back of the book there are many authors praising the work of Fluorescence. Saying things such as "readers, in the end will be left with the timely and ethical understanding that words are 'abbreviations for what is in their hands." (Srikanth Reddy) and "Fluorescence is moving. Both emotionally engaging and in motion to match the realities of our moment, Jennifer Dick's poems are accountable to the truths of a violent kaleidoscope world" (Laura Mullen). But as I read through Fluorescence I was not left with an ethical understanding or emotionally engaged.
          Dick's writing style confuses me to no end. She often spaces out the words in her poems, which to me makes them very difficult to read and makes it hard to follow her train of thought. For example her poems Trace3 and sighted are
 written
     in a way                             that forms
                                          bazar                  broken lines

                                                                                                                                                           of words
              that makes                                     me                                               wish                              the          poem                 would                  just             end
         so I                        could                  move on                    to              the               next          one.


I got so lost in the format of the poems I could gain no meaning from it. Another poem that confused me was in the chapter "What Holds The Body 1999-2000".

"We are unmaking the explosion. Everything still.
It feels like baking, everyone huddled in the blue kitchen. The two
violinists are wide-eyed. I can't see myself. There are no more
mirrors and the light is                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                      orange"

What does this poem mean? Why is "Orange" wrote on a separate page? I have no idea. Maybe her and her friends are baking cookies in a blue kitchen as two violinist play music for them, and she has a crush on one of them so she wants to put on makeup but there are no mirrors, and as she looks for one she is blinded by the sunlight. Maybe she is a terrorist taking apart a bomb in a blue kitchen as they listen to classical music, and they want to add glass to the bomb but there are no mirrors then the bomb accidently explodes. To be honest I don't have the slightest clue to the deeper meaning of the poem.
          I have tried to understand the deeper meanings of these poems but my mind will not allow me to. I see the words for the words true meaning. Orange is Orange, baking is baking. I am not very creative and the only papers I have wrote in the past year have been research papers for my science classes. I can understand the laws of physics but these poems have left me baffled.