College in a Suitcase

Which, by the way, makes me think of <ulIf You Give a Mouse a Cookie

though they’re not related of course.

But in continuation with our poetry series today’s topic is attending a poetry reading. Like I’ve said before, I’m not going to expand on the topics because they’ve already done that.

But I have attended a poetry reading. Wasn’t my favorite experience ever. Plus I was tired. Plus she had a really soothing voice. Plus, I wasn’t familiar with her or her work. I didn’t have a connection.

Now if you were to ask me who I would want to hear a poetry reading of, it would have to be Rudyard Kipling. Unfortunately for me, you, and everyone – that’s not possible – since he died a while ago.

But you can always read what is perhaps his most famous poem, “If”.

It’s quite an enjoyable poem and I would have loved to see him reading it.

Anyways, if you know what I’m saying, it’s time to jet.

Miss Lissy

I don’t know if I’ve said anything about this before, but I’m pretty sure I have. I am a Lutheran. I believe in God and the Bible and I believe that everything in the Bible is true – not just the parts I like and yes, including the parts that are supposedly not “culturally relevant.” Yes, I have lost friends over this. Yes, I have been picked on, teased, and made fun of for this. Yes, I am still this despite all that. And no, it will never change. When you believe the truth why change?

This leads me to today’s post in our poetry series has to do with bringing a poem to church.

So if you were ever wondering, do God and poetry go together? Some poems, no. I’ve seen poems that are highly anti-Christian, anti-God, and anti-faith.

But some poems belong there. There are even poems in the Bible (the Psalms being the most famous examples).

I thought I would show you though a poem that I would bring to church. One that talks about God and reminds me sometimes that I am asking Him for the wrong things. It really is amazing when you change your view, how it helps. I mean, I could ask God for a different body because body image and self-esteem are something I’ve really struggled with, but instead I’ve asked Him to help me love the body He’s given me and I’ve begun to be able to look at it as His work and the majesty He’s created in me. It’s a freeing experience to recognize Him for His amazingness and not to focus on me. He created my body; who am I to say it’s not good enough?

So take the time to read this poem and I pray, if you do not know Jesus, you will come to find Him and realize what wondrous love He has to offer.

I Asked God

Asking God to bless your life,

Miss Lissy

So right – Celebrating poetry out of season. But you know what? Poetry never goes out of season! And taking my cue from this list on celebration, I wanted to talk about another one of their options. Leaving poetry in unexpected places namely.

I think this one is nifty. You could be like a super secret spy agent of poems!

Okay, that wasn’t as cool as it sounded. Did I mention it’s almost 1 am?

Why am I up this late? Insomnia? No, not really – just waiting for Nick to get home so we can do devotions. Thought I would blog and let something productive happen.

But really – try to leave a poem somewhere strange and hope to brighten a stranger’s day.

You could even leave this Hafiz poem.

“The Happy Virus”

I caught the happy virus last night
When I was out singing beneath the stars.
It is remarkably contagious -
So kiss me.

Spread the happy virus, not swine flu.

Miss Lissy

So right, after realizing I didn’t publish the post I wanted to right away (he he), you’re probably wondering where I am going on and on about this poetry series I’m doing. As I explained earlier, I am going to celebrate poetry! Whoooooot poetry!

And I’m going to do this by looking at a series on poets.org but I’m not going to expand on their points, it’s more of a show you poetry type thing and inspire you! So today from the series they say that you should revisit an old and classic poem.

Is e e cummings old enough to be considered classic yet? I sincerely hope so. I love his poetry and they are definitely excellent poems to revisit. One of my favorite ones, since it reminds me of Nick, is this poem right here. “i carry your heart” is a poem that just moves me. I am a sucker for good love poetry. There, you’ve got the secret out of me.

Anyways, I should get going.

Miss Lissy

So like I said, we will be celebrating poetry. Another way you can celebrate poetry is by memorizing it, so that you know, when someone says, “Oh Miss Lissy, what is your favorite poem?” I can rattle off something cool and sophisticated like (but really, I have always been horrible at memorizing poetry – really, trust me on that). The link above does have some tips for helping you memorize poetry however. So you should click on it, if that’s something you want to do.

If you can’t think of a poem to memorize, why not try “Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep” by Mary Frye. Her poem can be found here. I think it would be an excellent poem to memorize because is is short and it also rhymes (which seemed to help me our and the link above, suggests a poem with rhythm which this poem definitely has). It is also quite enjoyable a lovely.

Now something that can be run into with poems that I haven’t addressed is the fact that you can often come across words you don’t know. This is where vocabulary software can come in handy. It can be found in places like www.vocaboly.com. Such software will be very helpful in preparing you for reading poetry and also for college. I took one of their vocabulary tests and got 90 out of 100 which isn’t too shabby. The best part? They’ll let you download a free trial before you buy it. Free trials are always a win so you can know if this is something that will help you improve your vocabulary. Everyone has different learning styles, but who knows? Maybe you will find yours there.

Anyways, peace and poetry,

Miss Lissy

Edit: I thought I published this already, but apparently I just saved it. So sorry!

And for that, to you my readers, I must apologize. I won’t say it won’t happen again. I have a life. I had finals. I went to Canada to meet my boyfriend’s family for the very first time. I moved into my new place.

But enough with that. My next new series is going to be based off of a list – this one, in fact.

It talks about celebrating National Poetry Month which is in April. But I believe the poetry should be celebrated all the time. And so, I’m going to highlight each of these and along with them, include an appropriate poem to go along with it.

So their first one, which they’ve so nicely expounded on is read a book of poetry.

And yes, I’m aware this post will probably be rather link heavy. Live with it. I’m not forcing you to click. Only if you’re interested.

One poem that interests me particularily is called “the crunch” by Charles Bukowski. I won’t copy and paste it, since it’s still under copyright I’m sure, but one line that gets me is “people are not good to each other.” Anyways, I advise you to go check it out.

And if you like it, read a whole book by him. The link above will tell you where you can find it. You can find this poem and more by him in the book entitled Love is a Dog From Hell

I know it’s going on my list of books to read. What are some other good books of poetry you’d recommend?

Miss Lissy

So, after all this time, I’m finally coming to an end with my manta series and I want to thank Kathryn once again for her allowing me to use her mantras. I’ve really appreciated it all.

And the last one, I sat and looked at it for a long time and I’m like, what can I possibly say about this? How do I make this apply to you, my audience?

Because the last one simply is, “I will write.”

But I’m going to say, remove write (or keep it, if you will) and replace it with whatever you are passionate about.

There are lots of reasons to follow your passion:

1. You will be happier pursuing something you love.
2. You know the saying “Do what you love and the money will follow?” Yeah.
3. Those around you will be happier because you’re not miserable with your nine to five job.
4. You’ll feel more accomplished.
5. Life will just in general be better.

And I know, there’s no guarantees, but that’s what I think will happen when you follow your dreams.

Miss Lissy

I am seldom quick to use the word deserve. If I do, it’s usually in the context that I don’t deserve this or you deserve better than me. Uplifting I know, right?

But recently, I’ve come to realize that I do deserve one thing that isn’t negative. I deserve time and space to take care of me and my mental, emotional, and physical well being. I don’t have to deal with drama and people 24/7. In fact, I can’t. I wasn’t designed to completely neglect myself in the interests of others. But that doesn’t mean I don’t try.

But, as the next mantra in my series is all about deserving.

“I deserve to take time out each day to write.”

For a writer, yeah, you deserve to make it a priority. But what about for non-writers? Everyone has something they deserve and that is to make time for what they enjoy. Everyone also deserves time off. I challenge you, to take a break, just for half an hour a day to disconnect from Facebook, Twitter, Myspace – any social networking, turn of your cell phone, and sign out of Skype, MSN, AIM, and Yahoo.

You will be amazed at what this time to yourself does. We are so connected these days and we’re losing the ability to think with ourselves and even with God. You can use this time however you want, but just disconnect. If you don’t find it beneficial, I apologize, but at least try it. The first day will be weird, but it will get less weird as you go on.

Anyways, I’m curious – what do you feel you deserve?

Miss Lissy

“It’s important to listen to my instincts about writing.”

As my mantra series comes to a close, I must admit it has been a lot of fun. I’ve enjoyed the challenge to talk about it in the sense of writing and also in the sense of my life as a college student. Is it fitting that this is coming to a close at about the same time my freshman year is coming to a close? Perhaps. Who knows?

But anyways, today’s mantra is listed as above. It is incredibly important to listen to your instincts about writing. If you think this scene would work better this way, rewrite it. If you think this character needs to be a little less headstrong, calm them down. If you think this line should rhyme with the last, that’s good too.

But you need to be cautious about your instincts, because they can be influenced by past events. They can lead you to think everything is really good or they can lead you to think everything is completely horrible. These are bad instincts to have.

But you should also trust your instincts in life. If you’re nervous about the guy hitting on you, leave. If you’re nervous in the parking lot by yourself, call security and wait for them. If you’re nervous that your paper sucks, take it to Academic Support (or your school’s equivalent).

But at the same time, your instincts can be influenced by past events. They could lead you to think all men are horrible, when really, this guy could be different (and they are out there).

So what do you think? How do you feel about your instincts?

Miss Lissy

It’s been an . . . interesting . . . time around here. Finals are coming up and I have like two weeks until I go to Canada. It has definitely been busy and crazy and hectic. Especially with swine flu. Five schools in Milwaukee shut down as of this moment.

But I’ll continue on with this mantra series.

“Putting my writing out into the world may affect others in ways I’ll never know.”

I guess writing about this is a lot harder than I thought. It’s hard and often even impossible to know how you affect others. You can hear statements like, “You changed my life” but can you understand what it means? The emotions behind it? And what about all of those who never speak up? It’s pretty remarkable if you think about it. So I guess you never know, when you put words on paper or to blog or to facebook in the ways that it will change someone.

So just remember that. It does affect people.

Miss Lissy