Why do i like the poet?

Billy Collins does not keep things from others and will share with others what he had discovered of himself.That was what the poet Stephen Dunn has said, "We seem to always know where we are in a Billy Collins poem, but not necessarily where he is going. I love to arrive with him at his arrivals. He doesn't hide things from us, as I think lesser poets do. He allows us to overhear, clearly, what he himself has discovered." He has a good thinking mind and allows the reader to understand fully of what he meant about his poems.His poems are able to make the reader have emotions like sad, touched and etc.All of his poems are excellent as each poem is unique in the way that the ending is very surprising and impactful.

Billy Collins was born in New York City in 1941.He is just another above-average guy in New York City. A 60-year-old college professor, soft spoken, bald on top. He's learning to play jazz piano.

Link:http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/features/2001/sep/billycollins/010904billycollins.html

Three poems by Billy Collins

The Golden Years
All I do these drawn-out days
is sit in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge
where there are no pheasants to be seen
and last time I looked, no ridge.

I could drive over to Quail Falls
and spend the day there playing bridge,
but the lack of a falls and the absence of quail
would only remind me of Pheasant Ridge.

I know a widow at Fox Run
and another with a condo at Smokey Ledge.
One of them smokes, and neither can run,
so I’ll stick to the pledge I made to Midge.

Who frightened the fox and bulldozed the ledge?
I ask in my kitchen at Pheasant Ridge.



Forgetfulness
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read,
never even heard of,

as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,

something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.

It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.



The First Night
Before I opened you, Jiménez,
it never occurred to me that day and night
would continue to circle each other in the ring of death,

but now you have me wondering
if there will also be a sun and a moon
and will the dead gather to watch them rise and set

then repair, each soul alone,
to some ghastly equivalent of a bed.
Or will the first night be the only night,

a darkness for which we have no other name?
How feeble our vocabulary in the face of death,
How impossible to write it down.

This is where language will stop,
the horse we have ridden all our lives
rearing up at the edge of a dizzying cliff.

The word that was in the beginning
and the word that was made flesh—
those and all the other words will cease.

Even now, reading you on this trellised porch,
how can I describe a sun that will shine after death?
But it is enough to frighten me

into paying more attention to the world’s day-moon,
to sunlight bright on water
or fragmented in a grove of trees,

and to look more closely here at these small leaves,
these sentinel thorns,
whose employment it is to guard the rose.

Why i like this poem?

Firstly, this poem is short and made me understand it very well.It makes the reader feel and think about what the author meant when he used the figurative languages.Although the poem does not have much figurative languages, the author himself expresses his feelings towards the poem very well.I like the part where he wrote "sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide".It makes me feel very impactful as his words are well expressed.

Figurative language used in the below poem

The author of the poem uses personification where he wrote there "whatever a sun will sing is you".I think that he wanted to make his poem more alive and romantic to the reader.

Also, he uses metaphor like "you are my fate"," you are my world".I think that he wants to give the impact on the reader about what he felt toward his lover.

My favourite Poem-i carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Project Day's Preliminary Round

My group were all very excited and nervous for our preliminary round.We were quite shocked to know that we were the first group to do the presentation.It was not that smooth as we had a little problem with our PowerPoint slides.Chee Peng did not present as he said he had a sore throat.What kind of excuse is that?Eventually me and Alvin have to 'struggle' to do the presentation.We were able to answer all the questions and hope that the judges will alow us to pass in the preliminary round.

CCA for today

For today,I went to my NCC training at 4pm.I had to struggle to change into my NCC uniform as it was very huge and particularly the boots.I had spent alot of time trying to tie my boots and tightening it.During the training,we were late because of one guy who was most of the time late and sabotage us.Some of us are very mad at him.As we had to help him change into his uniform,we were later for training.Our NCOs punished us by telling us to do 30 pumpings.At first it was 35 pumpings but he reduce it to 30.We were almost dead at the end of the training.All because of that guy who landed us into this stage!By now,I am already tired but I would still post.Bye guys.I got to go.Have a good night.

Discussion about Lamb To The Slaughter

From the discussion,the first "lamb" is Mrs Maloney.There was double impact on her. Firstly,her husband said that he was going to leave her with another woman.That really hurt her feelings deeply.Secondly, she also lost her loved one who is her husband .Lastly, she "killed" her own soul as she slaughtered her husband and changed into another kind of person.

The second lamb is Mr Maloney as he was really slaughtered by his wife who used a frozen lamb leg to kill him.

The third lamb is the baby.The baby was "slaughtered" as the baby will be born without a father.

The last lamb is the leg of the frozen lamb as its purpose is to be eaten by someone but ended up as a murder weapon.

Nuisance callers dial up a 999 logjam

Prank calls,complaints of noisy neighbours at night,sightings of snakes...Policemen have been receiving a whole load of these calls from morning till night.They are grumbling about all this unimportant calls which eventually jammed up the call system and caused the relevant and important calls to lag behind.What if there was someone killing someone at somewhere but the witness could not call the police immediately and by the time the witness managed to call the police,the perpetrator could have already hacked the victim to death.From a prankster's perspective, he/she thinks that it is very funny and enjoyable to do that.ITS WRONG.How can we be so immature to do something like that?I would like to tell all the pranksters that if they continue to do this kind of silly and atrocious act, the police will deal with them severely,be it to get a fine or thrown into the jail.As for those who called the police for inrelevant or unimportant matters like for example, asking what number to call for hiring a cab.I really laughed at it when I read the article.We should help prevent crimes from happening and not messing up with the calling system.People have a part to play in keeping our country safe and pleasant.

i went to ST.JOSEPH'S HOME to do CIP

Last Wednesday, my friend,Jarrett,from 1A1 and I went to ST JOSEPH'S HOME to do CIP work.As you can see,we cleaned the huge garden located in the middle of the old folk's home.We had to sweep dead leaves and flowers away and throw them into a
big plastic bag.We arrived there at about 12.30pm and ended at about 3pm.By the time it was about 2pm,we were so tired from sweeping the leaves under the hot sun that we wanted to give up and leave the place.We took a break for about 15 minutes and continued with our "tiring work".I was glad to see that the garden is clean and pleasant.You can look at the pictures next to my post.Okay that is all I have to write.Have a good night!

New Year Eve

I am so excited about the oncoming Chinese New Year!!!i could get lots and lots of Red packets and eat delicious snacks.I am looking forward to the reunion dinner which all my relatives and family members gather and eat.I just hope that the New Year will not go away so fast.Last and importantly,I wish all my friends a happy Chinese New Year!!!Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!!

I love my School~~~

Hello Everyone.My school is wonderful.I feel that I am getting more well adapted to the school.I now have many quite good friends and some caring teachers.The food in the canteen are not bad but I disliked the chicken rice.I think that it is quite oily.(no offence to those who love to eat the school's chicken rice.That is only my opinion.)So bye everyone I got to go and sleep.Have a good night sleep.