Introducing the Warzone

Introducing the Warzone by Kai Junn Lathrop

I stride across the soothing forest,
as I swim across the sparkling lake.
I can't deny the nature,
With the birds chirping,
with the rabbits hopping,
with the tigers roaring.
Feeling the smooth, wet rock against my hand.

The forest speaks to me.
It says, "Be free, be free! Enjoy the soft silky grass!"
It's peaceful, so quiet.
I took what I had to enjoy

Then...

BOOM! The bountiful memories of nature flashes before my eyes.
A panda chewing bamboo blurs into a firing tank.
Birds flying into the sky blurs into a fighter plane.
The trees burining,
the lake drying,
the grass pulverizing.

I wish that the whole world can see,
that nature is in fear,
my eyes drop into tears.
I wish that nature was free as me.

I sit under the smooth rock
which is now a half stone.
I moan... I moan...
This is me,
introducing the warzone.

Faking the Sickness

Sick by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today,"

Said little Peggy Ann McKay.

"I have the measles and the mumps,

A gash, a rash and purple bumps.

My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,

I'm going blind in my right eye.

My tonsils are as big as rocks,

I've counted sixteen chicken pox

And there's one more--that's seventeen,

And don't you think my face looks green?

My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--

It might be instamatic flu.

I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,

I'm sure that my left leg is broke--

My hip hurts when I move my chin,

My belly button's caving in,

My back is wrenched, my ankle's sprained,

My 'pendix pains each time it rains.

My nose is cold, my toes are numb.

I have a sliver in my thumb.

My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,

I hardly whisper when I speak.

My tongue is filling up my mouth,

I think my hair is falling out.

My elbow's bent, my spine ain't straight,

My temperature is one-o-eight.

My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,

There is a hole inside my ear.

I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?

What's that? What's that you say?

You say today is. . .Saturday?

G'bye, I'm going out to play!"

The “story” or idea of this poem is pretty simple. A kid doesn’t want to go to school, so he pretends that he is sick. I love how Shel Silverstein puts creative and wacky expressions to describe how many ways you can get sick. I notice how the poem builds up into a transition, like you hear a girl groaning in pain. But then you here her say, what? It’s Saturday? So the voice and tone of the poem changes erratically. I also noticed how the poem starts off with Peggy Ann having a soar throat, and then comparing what she says at the end, I have a hole in my inside my ear. I also noticed interesting metaphors, like my brain is shrunk and my belly is carving in. I don’t know how, but Shel Silverstein must have a ton of creative ways for metaphors and descriptions. The reason why I find it so original is because the phrase isn’t so predictable.

         I find the rhyming simple in this poem, but has a very smooth rhythm. Reading it felt more like I was reading lyrics, and that’s not bad at all. So the poem is basically has an A + B pattern. Like Mumps, Bumps, Eye, Dry. I find the rhythm smooth because each segment or line have an equal amount of syllables. For example, “My tongue is filling up my mouth” and “I think my hair is falling out”. If I played a metronome throughout the whole poem, it would not sound choppy.

         Shel Silverstein has many creative ways to describe expressions and phrases, and I find most of it fairly original. That’s why Silverstein’s work is fresh, and his literature actually has the capability to get kids excited about his poems. It is also why I picked, “Sick”, because kids relate to it heavily. Waking up in the morning for kids is a bummer because, what makes you think we feel like getting up to go to school. It’s like a “Today’s another day”, moment. But the positive issue with Silverstein’s work is that we can take this example of lazy kids who don’t want to go to school, and socially, put it in a healthy manner, and have a sense of humor about it. The poem “Sick” is my main reason why I admire Shel Silverstein’s literature. 

Spin Us a Web, Spider Man

Reading the graphic novel, Spider Man, brought my “super hero” comic book experience to a whole new level. That may sound a bit silly, but reading comics was a real hobby for me when I was an elementary school kid. Then, watching Spider Man as a movie was awesome. Seeing him hop around New York with his web, and seeing it come to life was great. But then, years later, watching Spider Man as a Broadway musical BLEW MY MIND. Seeing Spider Man fly across a city was cool, but seeing Spider Man fly across a Broadway theater room was just a phenomenal, while I was there! It was simply amazing. The acting was great, the set was mind blowing, and the music was enjoyable.

Most people are pretty familiar of the Spider Man franchise. Like the story, characters, etc. But for people who are not, here is the story of Spider Man: It starts off with a shy, quiet bookworm high scholar, Peter Parker. Peter is a victim to bullies and kids who love to make fun of him for being smart. He lives with his aunt and uncle who have over-protective parenting issues. Peter loves them, but he does get irritated. When he goes on a school field trip to a science laboratory, he gets bitten by a mutated spider. It hurt, but the spider gave Peter super powers. Like climbing walls and building up his strength. Meanwhile, Peter creates his own sticky web shooter on his wrist, to reach higher places. But in other versions of Spider Man, he gets the web from getting bit by the spider and it squirts out of his veins or something. I don’t really know. But Peter, the lonely high scholar, now turns into a super hero who fights crime and beat up bad guys!

There’s the basic story, but reading the graphic novel, watching the movie, and seeing a Broadway show of Spider Man was a very interesting experience. Spider Man is a thriller, and probably one of the reasons why Broadway decided to make a musical from Spider Man. They knew that mostly everyone in the country knows Spider Man and predicted the show would be famous. And besides, it is the most costly production Broadway musical to this date. So yeah, that attracted a lot of people to see this play.