Some Sort of Poetry

Dear Blog,

I wrote short poems for Woods Staff, as part of my staff development presentation. The first set (posted in a previous blog) was used to show the style I was hoping everyone would use in writing poems about each other. Jim challenged me to write another batch of poems using everyone's last names. I did and showed everyone the next week when they shared the poem they wrote for another staff member. Here are those poems.

I also did this activity with the new Woods/Scholar's staff that we have. I have included some of those poems (I didn't finish them all in time), plus the poem Ashleigh wrote for me. I think I might toss in a couple others, too.

I'd like to note that the first set of RA poems (first names only) were done very quickly and aren't as high caliber. The second set (with last names included) proves to be better, since I took more time with them. The Scholar's examples aren't great as they were rushed, but Ryan has the poem I wrote for him in his office here in Woods House. Blog, I don't know if you care about all that, but I'm allowed to defind myself, right? Kinda sorta?

[Attention: These poems may/will contain inside jokes, stories, and information unknown to many readers; don't feel bad if you don't understand]


Nikki Gambill
Nuances of her actions
Indicate to the well-informed that the
Kaleidoscope of her life
Keep moving, and to those
Informed are the signals of
Good days and bad days,
As anyone has; although the informed know of the
Myriad of things she has,
Bombarded by billions of
Inescapable obligations and
Life laced with the essence of
Laughter and tears
[Nikki also challenged be to include the word 'Kaleidoscope' with this batch of poetry; she also said this was a sad poem...I don't know how I feel about that]
 
Spencer Orr
Sensible and sympathetic,
People such as he are
Ever increasingly rare because
Not all people in the world go as far as to
Care like our friend;
Every task, every motion, every
Report he does is done with
Order and precision,
Resembling the skill of a
Regal gentleman 

Ashleigh Eddelbuttel
Again and again I find that
She simply astounds me with
Her impressive ideas and
Lovely artistic
Endeavors,
Including the far from
Gory tape outline of a murdered man,
Her incredible idea for a graffiti floor theme, and
Even the near legendary accomplishment for the
Diversity panel presented to the building,
Devoid of flaw and
Executed like a professional;
Likewise, one can make the case that
Because of her outstanding effects,
Usual programs will have to be
Taken to another level to compete with the
Top performance demonstrated by Woods’ own
Eloquent and downright
Lovely fourth floor RA 

Daniel Golden
Does thou wish
An elaborate poem,
Namely toward sir,
Invariably written to-day?
Enough!
Let
Go!
Only so much mockery can one
Listen to or write with before
Death feels like sweet
Escape! (But sweet life is again worth living since
Nancy Pelosi is gone from power) 
[I wrote this as a partial joke, because its hard to write about myself; plus, some of these poems feel a little too dramatic]

Kelsie Young
Knapsack your worries when she
Enters a room, because
Laughter resounds in response to her
Smile, the gloom vanishes like dust
In a vacuum;
Every week, every Wednesday,
Yields a wondrous feeling found
Only in the presence of this Young lady in abound,
Underscored by her stories and
Never a bore,
Gone with you worries, simply tossed out the door.
[So rhyming here, a little sing-song, but it works for Kelsie]
 
Jim Winslow
Justice
Implies that
Man should be
Willing to aid
In the efforts of
Nother man;
Simply put,
Lone in some of
Obvious endeavors, he
Will aid everyone when he can, no doubt
 
Halyssa Greene
Harried by the pressures of
Academics and her
Lifestyle as an RA,
Yet continues to excel in both
Spheres of her world,
She shall always be
An example of the
Great things a person can do,
Regardless of the many
External influences life holds;
Elevators continues to rise high,
Never stopping, for she
Eventually will reach the top of whatever realm she desires
 
Elliott Hankison
Evening glow of the
Lower-level monitor
Lights up his face
Inches
Over books filled with
Tens of hundreds of delicate,
Tedious equations and problems,
Hearkening back time of
Analysis and algorithms devised by men,
Not with monitors, but candle light and a
Keen mind to revealing
Imaginary numbers and
Socio-relevant uses for the
Often intimidating mathematics
Newly conceived 

Brandon Mahler
Baseball is an important element in
Regards to describing him
(Although the Cardinals are the true
Niche in his life; that is, if
Describing him you
Overlook the key attribute of his
New role as husband to
Michelle, in which case she
Attains the title of
His most important element,
Let alone the fact that all men realize that
Every man’s greatness stems from their significant other when they
Ruminate on their lives)

This is where the "old" poems end and the most recent begin. I was going to rewrite poems for the entire staff, but I lacked the motivation and drive to finish.

Jim Winslow
Jump
Into action with
Master Bruce;
Wherever he journeys
I follow in suite;
Needing a Batarang?
Some bandage for that cut?
Let the Joker come
Over and
We’ll show him what’s what.
[I am the Alfred to Jim's Batman; it's a neat poem with some quasi-rhymes]
 
Halyssa Greene
Hear it once more
And take heed of the words;
Lovely Halyssa is
Yet another day closer to
Slipping away from here and
Starting on her path to
A grand graduate program.
 
Elliott Hankison
Energetic and hardly
Lazy, he performs all his actions with
Love and
Immense focus;
Often “in
The zone,” he keeps
Track all everything always, much like a Jedi would.
 
Brandon Mahler
Boy, what a
Rough start to the season;
Albert goes about his day,
Never paying mind to the
Determined fans,
Only to the large amounts of
New, crisp dollars he could be earning.

The following are Scholar's Staff.
 
Ryan Reed
Recently adopted into Woods,
You would suppose his
Abilities would be tested immeasurably;
Not the truth, I can say, as he
Readies himself each day and
Emphatically reaches out to
Every staff member,
Doing all he can, all the time.
 
Vanessa Jones
Virtuous in every regard,
Another example of the hope
New generations bring;
Everyone can tune in to the
Smarts
She possesses and the heart
All admire.
 
Nicole Clement
Nyx would of course be threatened by the
Intellect and sheer
Cuteness
Of this impressive
Lady,
Even if she is a mortal.
 
Jeremy Fain
Juxtaposition of shorts in
Eleven inches of snow
Rarely crosses the minds of the
Everyday citizen, yet is a
Must for this guy for does all things,
Yes, like a boss.

I tried to write a poem for Ashleigh using iambic pentameter. I pretty much failed, and her poem was ten times more awesome.

Ashleigh Eddelbuttel
Allow me please to
Show you, dear reader, of what I’ve learned from this
Heavenly girl:
Life’s too short to dwell on
Ev’ry small thing,
In fact, one must
Grapple those things first;
Hurry, but plan ahead,
Even if life’s unfair.
Don’t hold back,
Don’t hesitate,
Embark on,
Lead your own fate
Before someone else can,
Understand that fairy tales just
Trip you up.
This above all, though,
Enjoy life;
Love.

Daniel Golden - By Ashleigh Eddelbuttel
Daniel, Daniel, Daniel, where do I begin?
A lot of people appreciate you and think you're a
Nice guy, and I agree, but
I also think I would be lost without you this year.
Even though we have absolutely nothing in common, except maybe a little bit of sign
Language, I

Greatly value
Our friendship. I have never met a man so infatuated with
Love, feelings, and romance. If I
Didn't know so much about your love life I would think you were gay :)
Everything you say I value, appreciate, and sometimes have to look up,
No matter what, I will always take advantage of your listening skill. Thank you so much for this year. I love you.

Here is a name poem I wrote for Bethany on her birthday.

Bethany [Censored]
Behold the splendor of a girl
Enveloped in her studies,
Trying as she may to process and recall
Hundreds of facts
And concepts at a
Near steady pace;
Yet suddenly, the studious cutie has started to focus those stunning retinas upon a boy hopelessly fallen for one of the few angels on the planet, and he now waits on her, his eyes also focused and inevitably locked onto her soul hidden 'neath shielded diamond eyes.

And here is a poem I wrote at midnight for my friend Morgan after she and I chatted for a bit after a long time of being apart.

Claiming Memories
A Midnight Poem by Daniel Golden

Memories we never shared bring me
online tonight, double-clicking on
an old account with you singing
with friends like you used to sing to me.
Your hair is shorter, longer,
cuter, than back to way I really remember
in each of life’s snapshots.
Your friendships rock on tough tides,
your eyes remain the sole beacon.
That homecoming dance
is a treasured memory of mine.
Ghost hunting trips are, too,
though I wasn't there.
My heart tugs at your voice,
even if only recorded,
and I know a phone call lullaby
would ease my mind tonight.
Digital love, an obstacle,
I know.
So please forgive me as I claim
others’ memories because life decreed
we couldn't
make new ones.

Spring Break

Dear Blog,

For the past few days I've been home for Spring Break. For the most part, it's been nice. I've been sleeping until noon, playing some video games uninterrupted, watching some favorite TV shows, talking to my parents and sister, and just not worrying about anything. Yes, I have papers to write, research to conduct, books to read. But for this week, I feel like I need to keep to myself for a bit.

This being said, I plan to visit Bethany tomorrow. Although I desire to be on my own during the break, I do want to see her and her family, too. This is a good chance to get to know her more. She and I have lots of fun, so I can't really object to that during a time allotted for relaxation. She wants to visit the aquarium and I am more than happy to take her there. Back at her house, her family wants me to watch Inception (since I have yet to see it). I'll be sleeping her brother's room, so I have a small present for him.

I bought Pokemon White and plan to play it when I get back to campus. I hope that will be a nice way for me to relax in between homework, work, people, and anything else that pops up. I have a few other games that I want to play, mainly on the Xbox 360, but I imagine they require a tad more focus than Pokemon will. Life seems simpler with the mention of Pokemon. Great games, great TV show, cute toys, all fantastic memories. If I could, I'd play each game again. And capturing a Pokemon, fighting battles, and traveling the landscape makes hearkens back to when I was young and completely enveloped into the Pokemon world. Makes me feel somewhat peaceful to play Pokemon (well, as peaceful as pitting two mutant creatures into a battle to the death makes a person).

My vlog idea has been put on hold, by the way. I hope to create a format to cater toward Woods House needs. A sort of newsletter in video form. Upcoming events, Student Litre interviews, that sort of thing. I need to learn my voice, set up a studio, make a few practice videos, learn length, content, etc. I have a lot of work to do on that front. Let's hope I can make some magic happen, eh?

I wish I knew what else I could talk about. Hopefully I can get back to a steady blog schedule after the break. Hmm, I feel like "after the break" will be an interesting time for me this year. Focus on academics, work, friendships, relationship(?), fraternity, Pokemon, blog and vlog, and perchance the opportunity to reduce soda consumption. A lot to do all at once. But I have to start sometime, why not after the break? And I have have to do all of that, why not all at once? It makes life interesting.

Points of interest:
vlogbrothers on YouTube is something worth watching every week.
RayWilliamJohnson and his show =3 is quite good, too.
charlieissocoollike makes fantastic videos from time to time (and mentions Doctor Who).
Castle, the ABC show is brilliant. Go forth and watch!

Until next time!
-Daniel Golden