HIGH STAKES: SPARKY


Old dog relaxing on his fur carpet
Smooth, greasy, golden stained hair
Eyes tired and ears tired

Chest rising and falling in his sleep
Smells of grass and sprinklers stain his coat
Pink tongue colored in wet

The rumble and grumble of a creeping truck
His subtle whiskers jab into the exhaust-tasting air
The mail man creeps and the dog sits

His ears and eyes tired and turned away
Hair poking and folding at the edges of his face
Uninterested and weary, he has forgotten to bark

In his younger years he enjoyed the occasional
Yap, bark and ruff
He is now unexcited about the world

He has seen it all
He has heard it all
His ears and eyes tired

The dog is tired of the mailman

REFLECTION:

This poem was very fun to write. I tried out a new technique when writing this poem. I found my dog and sat beside him and watched him for a few minutes before I began writing. I tried to study him so I could translate him naturally into words. 


I learned that, as a writer, I have a very tough time articulating my ideas onto paper. Ideas rush through my head before I start an assignment. When I begin, my brain goes dry. Sometimes I have a hard time translating my thoughts, ideas into writing. Writing thoughts is difficult because thoughts aren't tangible. When one writes about an existing item, place or person words form easier. This is because the words simply have to describe. How can one describe what doesn't exist? What description could there be?


I would like to improve my inability to translate thoughts into words.With this ability I could be very versatile next semester. It would be grand to be able to write what I see in my head. This can be achieved through practice and studying. One must learn more words if one cannot say what they want with their current vocabulary. Expanding my vocabulary would be a great way to help me find words to be used in my writing. 

Like I previously mentioned, I had a problem capturing my dog's essence and personality because, well, he is a dog. He doesn't have the same human characteristics that I am used to recognizing. I found myself trying to personify my dog, which was a very amusing task. 
I liked the poem because it helped me focus my writing abilities into capturing reality. Trapping sparky onto a computer screen using text was a tough task that I loved. This poem reminded me of a photograph because my goal was to capture his current essence eternally. 


Below this next conglomerate of words are a few screenshots. They show the thought/writing process behind the poem you read. My steps are clearly shown in the photographs. First I observed my dog and jotted down smal descriptive phrases of him. After I typed down enough I began constructing my poem by putting some of my favorites together.Also, below the first photograph are few pictures of my dog. This is the dog I was trying to bring to life with words. I hope I characterized him well.

HERE ARE THE DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES THAT I USED:

BELOW THAT ARE THE DOG PHOTOGRAPHS I TOOK:







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