Picture Perfect 1

The black and threatening clouds overtook the normal clear blue sky. The seas churned and tossed the small research boat like it was paper. The only hope that the crew was given were the quick flashes of light. In the sharp strikes of light, the crew could see the waves that threatened to capsize their vessel. The clouds rolled in and dominated the skies with little warning to the fisherman, as they had forgotten to check the weather report. Gradually, the waves grew more and more powerful, and swept the youngest crew member off the deck and into the raging Pacific waters. He was interning on the boat for another 2 weeks, but his mind was concerned with surviving for another minute. The rest of the crew was hiding below deck, so they had no idea he was gone. Percy could only watch as a wave crashed down and invaded his lungs. He struggled for oxygen, but the water kept coming; the storm had claimed its first victim. For days the tempest plagued the ship, with no thought of ceasing. Guiltily the crew had forgotten about Percy. It wasn’t until the fifth day that Thomas noticed Percy’s absence, but nobody else seemed to care. He was only an intern. The moment after Percy was written off was when the hole sprung. The water raced in through the gap, and in minutes the boat began to sink. The storm had claimed its second, third, and fourth victims without remorse.

Prompt Writing Burst

      Write a short scene in which one character reduces another to uncontrollable sobs without touching or speaking 

       She walks into the bar, looking lonely and lost. He was watching from a destroyed booth with chewed gum covering the bottom of the table. There was a tear in the booth cover shaped like his broken heart. He watched her, wondering if she would even notice he was there. They had split 2 months before, but he never stopped thinking about her curly hair and her blinding smile. As she ordered a drink, a blonde girl approached him, asking for his number. She talked, but he was only paying attention to the girl he loved. He felt a slap, and saw the blonde girl storm away in anger and frustration, but he only cared about Morgan. She felt the heat of his stare on her back, and turned expecting to see a stranger. The room grew quiet, and her heart filled with the remembrance of her love. Maybe they were meant to be together. Maybe their breakup was a mistake. Her eyes swelled with possibility, and the tears fell like a waterfall. She approached him, sobbing, and fell into his strong and forgiving arms.

Irony Story- The Second Table on The Left

Amanda looked on as the popular girls laughed at the small girl in the corner nibbling on an unpeeled grapefruit all by herself. The cafeteria was abuzz with morning complaints and sleepy chatter. Students entered the cafeteria and strolled mindlessly toward their usual tables. Everyone knew not to sit at the second table on the far left. That belonged to Brittany, Alexis, Sidney and Juliet. The kids knew not to sit near them, unless they wanted to be watched and ridiculed. The girl with the banana was new, and didn't know the rules.

Amanda looked on from her small table of friends, all noticing the bullying, but too submissive to say a thing about it. They didn't even stand up for Amanda when she was the target of Brittany's constant jokes and Juliette’s insulting remarks. Amanda wishes she could help the girl. She wouldn’t know what to say. What do you say to the new girl  who has already found herself a cruel group of bullies?

As Amanda sits uncomfortably in her hard grey cafeteria chair, she wonders how anyone could stand to be so cruel. She wonders what that girl with the grapefruit ever did to them, but already knows the answer. They take people down to build themselves up. Tragically no one ever stands up to them, but Amanda wishes someone would. Anyone but her.

Amanda had come to hate those girls over her four years here. The bell rings blandly in the background, sending everyone to start their monotonous days. The bullies stand up and begin to walk to their first period class, forgetting about the poor girl that they just tore down mentally.

That day passed slowly, with the memory of that freshman’s face when she realized the most popular girls in the school were laughing at her fresh in her mind.  Amanda hadn't stopped thinking about her, not even during her AP stats test. She wondered what she could do. She should have stood up to Brittany and her cult. During last block she decided she had to do exactly what she had originally avoided. The plan was set in her head, nothing can stop her now.

The next morning at 7:20 Amanda entered the already crowded cafeteria. She saw Brittany, Alexis, Sidney, and Juliet already sitting at their regular table, already having found another victim. Amanda watched them for a moment, before weaving through the throngs of students chatting with their friends. Nothing can stop her now. She hears snippets of conversations, but she isn't paying attention. Her determination to stand up to the bullies fills her head. Nothing can stop her now.

The girl’s heads turn as they sense her approaching. Their faces transform, all of a sudden serious, and the loud room seems silent. Amanda advances and as soon as she opens her mouth to begin her rant, Sidney cuts her off.

“Hey Amanda! I absolutely love your dress today! It’s like soooo pretty I wish I could pull that off like you do! And your necklace! It’s beautiful!”

Amanda is shocked. She has never heard Sidney compliment anyone, ever.

“I totally agree!” Juliet exclaims, “Come sit, we have an empty chair.”

Amanda has never seen anyone else sit at their table. As she sat down, she was expecting her presence to be awkward and unwanted, but instead she fell easily into their conversation about a new movie that had just come out. Mid laugh, Amanda sees the girl with the grapefruit sit back in the seat she was in yesterday. Alexis notices too, and points her out to the group.

“She looks like she just rolled out of bed and stole her clothes from a retired clown on the way to school, all while applying eye shadow to her eyebrows. They are legit pink.” exclaims Brittany, loud enough for the entire cafeteria to hear. Everyone turns to stare at the outcast to see if the statements were true.

The girl’s cheeks flush red with embarrassment as she shoves her face in a book. Amanda has completely forgotten about her previous notion to stand up for the girl as she laughs along. She has never laughed so hard in her life. She has finally found the place where she feels comfortable. These girls and their jokes make her feel like she belongs with them.

Amanda falls easily into the daily routine of meeting her new friends at that same table, at the same time. The most popular girls in the school were no longer only Brittany, Alexis, Sidney and Juliette. People now included Amanda on that list. She never once thought about standing up for someone again, not even as their list of victims piles up without a care.

In May the freshman with the grapefruit that was their victim in late September approached the girls at the second table on the left. Her mind was set on standing up to those horrible girls. Marsha had reached her breaking point when she witnessed her friend be publicly humiliated by the five bullies, all because of a shirt.

Marsha pushed her way through the crowd, struggling because of her height, but finally approaches the table. Marsha expects to be humiliated by Brittany, who usually runs the destruction, but today another girl takes her place.

“Look at her! She thinks she can talk to us!” laughs Amanda easily, like ruining lives comes easy to her.

“I bet she is thinking that we are members of the denim jumpsuit support club! Honey, that meeting is in SSR!” yells Amanda, her words oozing sarcasm.

The laughing continues, radiating throughout the entire room. In a fit of laughter, Sidney knocks over a chair and sends it flying towards where Brittany had just tripped Marsha. The metal base of the chair strikes Marsha’s head with enough force to send her to the ground, knocked out cold.

Marsha blinks open her eyes to five girls’ faces standing over her. The girls immediately calls for a doctor, and when he comes running in, he begins to explain the situation. These girls, named Brittany, Sidney, Juliet, Alexis, and Amanda, are  her best friends. He continues to explain how Marsha lost her memory and it is good that she was rushed to the hospital so quickly. She is lucky to have such caring friends.

War on Terror

Original and Revised Poems

Original Triolet-

Everyone is watching.

You have to be the best

You have spent your life dreaming of this, wanting to do something.

Everyone is watching.

Your future is watching from the sidelines.

You have trained for this moment harder than the rest.

Everyone is watching.

You have to be the best.

Triolet- The Game of Life

Eyes stare with anticipation and peer into your soul,

Failure is ready to call you home.

You have dedicated your life to dreaming of this moment

Eyes stare with anticipation and peer into your soul,

Your future is watching from the sidelines.

You have been bred for this stage,

Eyes stare with anticipation and peer into your soul,

Failure is ready to call you home.

Original Pantoum-

The thunder claps,

the lightning zaps.

The winds howl,

The sky churns with a never ending growl.

The lightning zaps,

the seawall begins to collapse.

The sky churns with a never ending growl,

people hide inside like fowl.

The seawall begins to collapse,

branches snap and roofing flaps.

People hide inside like fowl,

the wolves prowl.

Branches snap and roofing flaps,

the sounds against the windows become more than taps.

The wolves prowl,

Children are alert as owls

Roofs collapse, the damage is washed away and all that is left are scraps,

the thunder claps.

No one ever thought things could go afoul

the sky churns with a never ending growl.

New Pantoum- Storm of Revenge

The thunder claps,

The lightning cracks the sky.

The winds howl,

The sky churns with a never ending growl.

The lightning cracks the sky

The seawall begins to collapse.

The sky churns with a never ending growl,

They cower, unsuspecting of their troubles to come

The seawall begins to collapse,

Branches snap and roofing flaps

They cower, unsuspecting of their troubles to come,

Oblivious to what they did.

Branches snap and roofing flaps,

The sounds against the windows become more than taps.

Oblivious to what they did,

With my next strike, they will be left with nothing.

They learned their lesson,

The thunder claps.

A force of nature can never be tormented without a price,

The sky churns with a never ending growl.

Original Tanka-

The darkness descends,

A new day gone forever,

Never to be seen,

Through the night, all is quiet,

Only stirred by the sunlight.

New Tanka- The Passing of a Day

The darkness descends,

A new day lost forever,

Never to be seen,

Through the night, all is renewed,

The world revived by sunlight.

Multiple Tones: Disgusted and Awestruck

Tone: disgusted

The dirty, grimy, litter filled streets are what makes up a city. The thousands of people bumping into each other on the crowded sidewalks, which are dirtied with the crushed dreams of the people who sleep there at night. As I pass the alleys I see a man with ripped clothing begging a wall for forgiveness. The frigid winds blow the poisoned air which was infected by the nearby factories that have no regard for our planet. As I walk out from under the shadow of the large and overpowering skyscraper, I enter grey gloom of the house districts. Houses that are all crowded together, with no privacy. I cannot fathom living a life where I look out my bedroom window and all I see is brick. The city, where you can buy a disgusting hot dog, heroin, and get cancer from the toxic air all in one square mile.

Tone: Awestruck, grateful

The hustling, bustling, never-ending streets are what make up a city. The thousands of people all together, enjoying each other’s company walking carelessly along the streets, which are worn with the success of the people who walked them before. As I pass the alleys I see a man with ripped clothing receiving help from a selfless volunteer. The refreshing winds blow the air that both the poor and the wealthy require to live. As I walk out from under the merciful shadow of the large and beautiful skyscraper, I enter the friendly community of the house districts. Houses that are all crowded together, with only room for neighborly love. I cannot fathom living a life where I look out my bedroom window and all I see is nothing. The city, where you can buy a delicious, had cooked hot dog, a designer handbag, and experience the kindness of the human race all in one square mile.

4 Sentence Analysis

In the excerpt, the narrator uses derogatory diction, multiple point of views, and detailed imagery to establish tone. Within first and second point of view, the narrator creates images of scientists experimenting pointlessly, while using negative words such as wrenches, cruel, nastiness, and stupid. The narrator establishes a judgmental, criticizing and disapproving tone in order to show his contempt of scientists and those who make a living without working physically. Overall, the working class narrator is expressing his views on the irrelevance and pointlessness of experimental science and intellectuals.