Wednesday 27 November 2013

I Say I Say I Say

Anyone here had a go at themselves
for a laugh? Anyone opened their wrists
with a blade in the bath? Those at the front
in the know, those of us who have, hands up,
let's show that inch of lacerated skin
between the forearm and the fist. Let's tell it
like it is: strong drink, a crimson tidemark
round the tub, a yard of lint, white towels
washed a dozen times, still pink. Tough luck.
A passion then for watches, bangles, cuffs.
A likely story: you were lashed by brambles
picking berries from the woods. Come clean, come good,
repeat with me the punch line 'Just Like blood'
when those at the back rush forward to say
how a little love goes a long long long way.

-Simon Armitage

I Am Very Bothered

I am very bothered when I think
of the bad things I have done in my life.
Not least that time in the chemistry lab
when I held a pair of scissors by the blades
and played the handles
in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;
then called your name, and handed them over.

O the unrivalled stench of branded skin
as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in.
then couldn't shake off the two burning rings. Marked,
the doctor said, for eternity.

Don't believe me, please, if I say
that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,
of asking you if you would marry me.

-Simon Armitage
"The Love Book"

All English 1201 and 1202 students will be creating a booklet which will include the following:

1. One poem which follows the structure of either a ballad, sonnet, free verse, or blank verse poem
2. A piece of short fiction.
3. A variety of visuals which reflect the ideas presented in the poem and short story.

This booklet must centre on the theme of love. Marking will be based on your originality, your voice as a writer, your ability to follow the applicable structure, organization and the necessary writing conventions of your chosen pieces, the overall presentation of your booklet, and your exploration of theme.

You will have some class time to work on this, but this assignment is largely independent. Please work on this at home.

Due Date: 

Thursday 21 November 2013

Havisham    by Carol Ann Duffy

Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then
I haven't wished him dead. Prayed for it
so hard I've dark green pebbles for eyes,
ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.

Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days
in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress
yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;
the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this

to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.
Some nights better, the lost body over me,
my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear
then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love's

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting
in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding-cake.
Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.
Don't think it's only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.