Shrink

The term shrink is largely outdated and belongs to an era in which mental health treatment was a source of shame. While there remains a stigma surrounding mental health today, getting treatment is far more widely accepted than it was when this term was more commonly used.

Alive and at the Helm

You'll find no single method for comprehending poetry, just as there's no one method for writing poetry. The experience of reading a good poem and appreciating how the poet uses language is its own reward. The overriding rule is to not speed read, don't skip over words or sections, and whenever possible, read the poem aloud.

Love and Loss

The first and most important step in understanding poetry is to figure out what is happening in the poem, or at least what is being presented. Even though there may be no story or characters, there are things, and these things will interact with each other in various ways.

Coming Soon

Notice point of view. When pondering what the poem means, consider the mindset of the speaker. Would a different poetic speaker alter one's understanding of the poem? Consider the sound of each word as it hits your ear, and take in the aesthetic pleasures of the sounds themselves.

Spirit

There is a belief that a distinction between spirit and soul has been made by the west and earlier civilizations, which influenced western development. The human spirit can be seen as the heavenly component of a human's non-material make up - the part that is impersonal or universal. While the soul is a personal element unique to each individual.

Myopia and Maplewood Rose Garden

On June 15, 1958 the Stecher Memorial Fountain honoring the late Frank Stecher was dedicated in Maplewood Park during the Rose Garden ceremonies. The fountain, made of pink Georgia marble, was presented to the city by Mrs. George Schlegelr, founder of the Stecher Lithograph Company. Mayor Peter Barry accepted the $2,000 structure on behalf of the city.

Introduction Poem

To the ancient Egyptians, an individual was believed to be made up of various elements, some physical and some spiritual. Similar ideas are found amoung theancient Assyrians and Babylonians. In the Kuttamuwa stele it requests that mourners commemorate life and the afterlife with feasts "for my soul that is in this stele". It is one of the earliest references to a soul as a separate entity from the body.

My Girl

There's a magic to watching a toddler make a wish on a dandelion puff. And you even get to write a poem about them when they take a nap.

Smile

Primatologists trace the smile back over 30 million years to a grin stemming from primates, who often used barely clenched teeth to portray to predators that they were harmless. The smile may have evolved differently among species, especially among humans.

I Understand

Martians have fair, brownish skin, thin and slender wrists and necks, and six fingers. They also have large yellow coin eyes and soft musical voices. When Martians die, they melt and seem to dissolve into white ash and are common used for hospital ceiling tiles (Place smiley face here.)

Common Veteran Story

What does a story have to do with a veteran? Many of you may be asking that question, but if you are a veteran, think back to your time in the service. It more than likely will bring a smile to your face, maybe some outright laughter, fond memories and quite possibly some tears. Stories are what bind veterans together; it is how we speak with each of our brothers and sisters in arms.

Hot Dogs

Sausages are one of the oldest forms of food. Franks, or frankfurters, originally come from Germany, from the city of Frankfurt. But the hot dog as we know it was introduced during the St. Louis "Louisiana Purchase Exposition" in 1904. Frankfurters were being sold with gloves, and the vendor was running low. The vendor, reportedly, asked his brother-in-law, a baker, for help and improvised rolls as a way to hold the dog. And thus the hot dog was born!

Tool

Corpus callosum, bundle of nerve fibres in the longitudinal fissure of the brain that enables corresponding regions of the left and right cerebral hemispheres to communicate.

Ephemeral

As a written form, poetry has a unique style and structure when compared to other types of writing. Poetry often includes deliberate line breaks, sound patterns, word counts per line, and rhythm, which makes it different from prose and contributes to how readers recognize it.

You Never Know

You say you never know to mean that it is not certain what will happen in the future, and to suggest that there is some hope that things will turn out well. You never know, I might get lucky. There might be an even bigger one — I doubt it, but you never know.

Marriage

Some readers see poetry as inherently difficult to understand, and this can set you up for having a hard time enjoying readingit. "Much of what's good in contemporary poetry right now is fairly accessible... Ocean Vuong, Tina Chang, Victoria Chang, Analicia Sotelo, Jenny George, Morgan Parker, Tracy K. Smith, and Kate Baer, to name a few." Poetry is also more accessible than ever in the sense you can find a lot of it for free (including here.) "The beauty of the internet is that you can read full poems online..."

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