Poetic Reflection

When writing my poetry collection many thoughts and ideas bounced around my head. The only obstacle I had to overcome was trying to transfer my thoughts into words and make them flow in rhythmical elegant poetical manner. This indeed was a struggle. The first poem I wrote was a haiku titled Do you Want to Keep Your soul. Like all of poems, I always write the poem first then make up the title. So what inspired to title my haiku that was a story my father told me. My dad told me that in Africa, where he is from voodoo and black magic is a daily occurrences and he knew a singer who actually sold his soul to devil for power and fame. During his concerts, he would perform live “Satanic” rituals on stage. At the time I wanted to be a singer, and my Dad told me that if I want to be successful in the music industry that I have to work hard and be careful because you never know who people really are. When writing this haiku, I should have tried to capture a moment, such as an individual about to sign a contract with the devil. Aside from that at least I used the right syllable count.

I didn’t like that haiku so I chose to rewrite that haiku. The haiku I replaced that with was titled “Lost in the Breeze”. That haiku was about a man whose wife passed away and he was visiting her tombstone. I titled it Lost in the Breeze, because I was trying to explain how the man feels. He best friend and life long companion has left him and he feels lost without her. When writing this haiku I used the proper structure and poetry devices effectively. I feel that this haiku evokes a feeling of sadness, because the readers realize that someone that was once loved my somebody passed away.

The third haiku I wrote was titled A Race against Nightmares. I titled this haiku that because I relate nightmares to fear. I’m not encouraging others to run away from the fears; on the contrary I’m encouraging others to face their fears. In my haiku, I state “Your nightmare won’t follow you unless you let them”. What that line means is that you can face your fears; however it’s up to you to find the strength and courage to face them. To improve this haiku, I could’ve used better diction. I used the correct structure and was consistent with spelling, grammar and punctuation

The last haiku I wrote was titled Dancing with the Ocean. It’s about an individual whose committing suicide by jumping into the ocean but the individual is hesitant about their decision. But the individual realizes that once there in the ocean they feel at peace and they let the ocean decided their fate. I titled that because the individual is allowing the Ocean to decide their fate so there dancing with the Ocean to the tune of death. In this haiku I used good diction by words such as majestic, resist, beauty and embrace. Those words to me seem very elegant. It was the proper length and there were no errors in grammar and punctuation

After writing 3 haikus, I wrote a poem title Beauty Hidden Behind the Veil of Africa. I titled it that because often times a bride or women wear veils because there hiding their beauty. The veil of Africa is the media that is often times showing the negative elements of Africa such as poverty and aids. Africa has those things but it also has beautiful things such as the people, the nature and the culture and the media doesn’t show that. This poem was supposed to be a sonnet but I failed because I didn’t follow one rule. I didn’t have 10 syllables per line. In addition I needed more line breaks because some of the lines seemed to long. I had a good use of rhyme throughout the poem. I think I had decent diction because I was very descriptive when describing some features of Africa. I think my poem would evoke a strong response depending on who you are. If a black African individual read this they might feel more of an impact than if a Caucasian individual read this. I was slight lacking consistency in my grammar and punctuation and I should make an effort to look over my work for grammatical errors before submitting it in for marking.

The second poem I wrote was titled the Innocent Criminal. This poem was about a woman named Soraya M who was stoned because he husband accused of her of adultery. I titled this poem that because Soraya knew she was innocent but in the society she lived where men had the first and last say in everything she was guilty. This was completely unjust. My poem was the appropriate length and I think I used impressive diction. I think I did that because I wanted the reader to somewhat feel what she was feeling as she was being stoned. In this poem I should have used more line breaks and space. In addition I also should have made sure to check my punctuation.

The last poem I wrote was the worst poem I ever wrote. I have absolutely nothing positive to say about this poem.  I titled this poem A Glimpse of Paradise because it was suppose to be my opinion on what heaven looks like. I’m pretty sure my opinion isn’t accurate. I didn’t really use and poetry devices effectively and my poem doesn’t evoke a strong response. I think this poem makes readers unsure of heaven because I provide no information of why heaven is like that. I consider the diction in this poem weak and I lack consistency in spelling, grammar and punctuation. Aside from all that the poem is the appropriate length. I had a good idea for this poem however I should have spent more time writing it using proper poetry devices and diction.