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Nature Poem: Fierce

Roaming the jungle in all glory

This beautiful, sacred one holds a story.

Though unique, it has similarities to others,

So similar they might be brothers.

They run, hunt, kill. Viciously gorgeous.

Ruler of speed within the jungle, always victorious.

Prowling along stalking prey,

Gazelles, impalas, and antelope if you may.

Raising their young, show them the way.

Not having the ability to roar

But other unique abilities settle the score.

Showing cubs the importance of

Independence, so when the time comes

They are able to handle their own business.

Sharp eyesight and the ability to accelerate

Faster than a vehicle, outrunning this beauty

Would be a miracle. Quick, strong attacks

On prey allows them to kill in under a minute.

The poor lifeless animal never knew who did it.

An adorable pattern of fur, a slim long-legged

Body, uses camouflage of grass for hunting,

Probably an instinct over a hobby.

Kept and trained for hunting by Ancient Egyptians,

The fur regarded as a symbol of status.

Even though faster than other wild animals on land,

They aren’t able to defend themselves if a surprise attack

Was planned. Avoid confrontations and fighting because

A single injury to the body could be life threatening.

So popular, they were almost hunted to extinction,

The beauty, uniqueness and characteristics are

Possible reasons.

31  lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Most Beautiful

On a wonderful summer day, downtown Chicago looked like something out of the magazines. Driving down Lake Shore Drive, the reflection off the ocean looked so tranquil, I wanted to stop and just sit for hours. The sky was bright and clear, the sunshine so warm and welcoming. Everyone was out and in the best mood. I didn’t know this day would show me so much within something so simple. The penthouse where my god sister was having her college graduation party had a view that was to die for. On the balcony, in every direction possible to look, the landscape was nothing but buildings, cars, expressways and the lake front. The inside of the penthouse was mind blowing.

As the day progressed, the view got more and more magical. The sunset turned the sky into a mural, the amazing shades of orange, blue and pink against the clear lake. The lights within the penthouse only added to the atmosphere; from the balcony looking in, the lights inside made the dark blue sky light up. The summer sky was vividly clear, so no clouds were in sight. The stars glistened dimly under the numerous lights of downtown Chicago.  We enjoyed the soft breeze coming off the lake as we danced the night away. As the night grew old, the horizon was no longer able to be made out due to the sky and color of the lake water becoming one in the distant sky.

This wasn’t like any old high in the sky building I’ve been in; the setting of this penthouse made me forget about my fear of heights because this wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen. I hadn’t put much thought into a sunset or the sky at night because I never really found interest in something that happened every day. This night opened my eyes; I noticed the beauty within the simple sunset that summer night. I don’t think I’ve seen another sunset as beautiful, another night so clear. The stars were even standing out amongst the lights. As I look back on that night, I wish I could relive it over and over again, but most importantly, I’d take pictures of the sky.

367 words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Native American Creation Story

It all started with a song. People gathered at houses to listen to music at events that became titled house parties. They then began listening to music alone in their own houses. These people never knew that they’d enjoy music so much that they’d want to listen to it everywhere they went. When the demand for music on the go became extreme, the CD player was created. As inventions moved on, no one used the CD player anymore.

Everyone enjoyed listening to music on the go, so they needed a magical creation that had to be light-weight and hold a copious amount of songs. It needed to look nice, be very durable and have a good battery life. It sounds impossible, but the amazing product was made by Apple. Named the iPod, this music player was released on November 10, 2001. The very first one was the first generation iPod. Apple worked very hard to improve the iPod, adding and removing various components until it was to the people’s liking.

            Knowing the people were overjoyed with the iPod from sales, Apple made other models of the iPod. These models included classic, mini, nano, shuffle, and touch. If these models couldn’t be modified to the customer’s liking, they were discontinued. Some components of the discontinued models were added as an upgrade to the newer models. Apple liked pleasing people and they kept making the iPod. As time went on, Apple provided their creation to billions.

            One day Apple wanted to put a logo on the iPod, but they couldn’t think of one; someone bit out of the Apple and the imprint left from the bite became the signature on the back of every iPod made. Now, everything made by Apple has a music component that serves as the iPod, and everything made by Apple has the bitten apple logo it somewhere.

 

Weather Experience

July in Chicago can be relatively warm, maybe even nice weather, this day in July showed me how hot Chicago can get. My family and I were getting ready to leave for Chuck E. Cheese because this day also happened to be my brother’s fifth birthday. The weather was 92 degrees, which isn’t hot to a Chicagoan; they did however say the heat index was unusually high this day. We stepped outside into an over, literally. Walking the short distance from our house to the car caused me to perspire a little more than necessary. Once in the car we turned on the radio and they said the temperature had risen to 96 degrees, but the heat index also went up, so it felt like 103 degrees. Driving to Chuck E. Cheese was pure torture because the air conditioning had recently broken in my mom’s car so we had to let windows down, which didn’t ultimately help us whatsoever. When we finally arrived at Chuck E. Cheese, we got out of the car so fast, you would’ve thought it was on fire…. It was thanks to the heat. The inside of Chuck E. Cheese felt like we’d walked into the Antarctic, but I didn’t complain. We all enjoyed the rest of the day, and were exceptionally happy that when my little brother finally decided he was ready to leave, the weather was bearable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Response to 5 Pieces

Thanatopsis was well written and makes me look at death from another perspective. I never took time out to think about how when we die, we become one with our surroundings, which is nature. Since we are buried in the ground, or if we get cremated some people dump the ashes into a body of water, we go back into the resource that helped us live. People are usually fearful when thinking about death. I’ve heard the saying “I came in this world lone and that’s how I’ll leave it” more times than I can keep count. What people don’t know is that this saying isn’t correct; people die every day, and people are born every day. Bryant says “Thou shalt lie down with patriarchs of the infant world,-- with kings, the powerful of the earth,-- the wise, the good…” This line shows that even though society gives certain people higher rank than others, when everyone dies, a title doesn’t matter. Bryant makes it clear that life should be enjoyed and when it is time to leave the world, one shouldn’t be afraid of death. “Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering truth, approach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.” He tells the reader to not be scared, but enjoy the last moments of life and be calm when death approaches.

            A snowstorm hasn’t seemed so beautiful to me before reading The Snowstorm. Emerson gives the smallest detail such a colorful description that the reader has to give it more attention than they normally would. It doesn’t simply say that a storm came and a family stayed inside until morning. “Announced by all the trumpets of the sky, arrives the snow, and, driving o’er the fields…” Emerson creatively let the reader know that the sky shows the presence of an approaching snowstorm, and when it comes, it is powerful, driving over fields. The family sits around a fireplace, as the storm outside takes control. When Emerson describes how the white of the sky and the white of the snow “hides hills and woods, the river, and the heaven,” it made me think of how the color of both snow and sky are the same. Emerson says the snow has “wild work, so fanciful, so savage,” because the snow goes wherever and a snowstorm is usually harsh, which is why the people were gathered around the fireplace. The beauty of a raging storm of snow was shown by Emerson throughout the poem. When it’s all over, the snow gracefully covers everything, from the help of a “mad wind’s nightwork”. Emerson compares the product of the storm to the work of an artist, because he sees beauty in what nature has done.

            In Nature, Emerson shows how nature fits in all situations. Nature can contribute to happy or sad moods, based on how the person is feeling. “I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear.” In this line, Emerson shows two different emotions he has from being out in the woods. Nature has calmed me before, just sitting outside feeling the summer night breeze; nature has also upset me, having to get up and go out into the cold for school real puts me in a bad mood. Emerson enjoys the quiet sounds of nature more than the busy noises of the city or villages, as do I. After reading Nature, I began to observe my surroundings more, noticing the smallest detail of everything; the way the wind blows tree branches, leaves laying on the ground, and the various colors of the sky. “Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both.” I think this line is true because when someone is happy, they enjoy the weather, and also when they enjoy the weather and nature, they are happy. This is also true for when someone is sad or upset, they don’t enjoy the weather and nature and vice versa.

            In Walden, Thoreau showed me the simplistic beauty of nature and one’s surroundings. He wanted to live simple, which was why he chose a farm; the one he was about to live on wasn’t in the best condition but he loved it because of that. When he said “I have frequently seen a poet withdraw, having enjoyed the most valuable part of a farm, while the crusty farmer supposed that he had got a few wild apples only,” I noticed how the farmer didn’t really look at how the job he was doing would later please his family and others. The farmer didn’t enjoy the farm because he had to maintain it; the poet got to see the farm’s beauty thanks to the farmer’s hard work. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” This shows that Thoreau’s love for nature and desire to live simply made him change his lifestyle because he wanted to know if there was more to life. I agree with Thoreau with his idea that money doesn’t bring happiness because some poor people live more joyfully than the wealthy; money isn’t everything in my eyes and for some people, money can’t buy happiness.

            The writer of The First Curl of Smoke left his/her job in New York, to become a look out for fires in the Gila National Forest; the author felt that the job in New York wasn’t getting him/her anywhere and he/she needed a change. Finding out about the job from a friend, the author went and never thought of coming back. “I needed no further urging. I’d already hustled too long and for no good purpose in the city, and when I finally looked out on that country with two dozen mountain ranges I couldn’t name, more mountains than a person could hope to explore on foot in a lifetime, I guess you could say I fell in love at first sight.” Experiencing something different showed the writer a new side of life that actually made him/her happy; such a simple job bought so much pleasure that the author kept going back. The author has never felt such adrenaline with a job; the first fire the author experienced and helped put out let him/her know this was something he/she wanted to do. The author found a comfort in being in nature, living simply. The changes the author made in his/her life showed him/her that there was more to life than working in New York and nature could be fun if it’s embraced.

           

 

 

 

 

Reaction to essays

In the essays The Sound of Trees, The Divine Soil, and River Driftwood, the three authors touch on different components but what these essays had in common were reference to death and nature. In River Driftwood, Jewett uniquely compares herself to the muskrat; she also links her idea of the similarities of herself and the muskrat with nature and the food chain, which is also natural. Jewett made me think deeper on where my food comes from and what it eats. “I do not think people are thankful enough who live out of reach of beasts that would eat them.” I’ve never thought about something eating me, so this was the most interesting line of the essay. “…it seems an awful fact and necessity of nature; perhaps, however, no more awful than our natural death appears to us.” I’ve never took the time to think about how our food faces death to nourish us; those animals might be just as afraid of death as humans.

In The Divine Soil, Burroughs questions something I’ve been wondering: is Darwin’s conclusion about human evolution true? “With its indestructibility of matter, its conservation of energy, its inviolability of cause and effect, its unity of force and elements throughout sidereal space, it has prepared the way for a conception of man, his origin, his development, and in a measure his density, that at last makes him at home in universe.” From this line, I think Burroughs is referring to nature, because nature gives food, shelter, and even brings enjoyment to man. In The Sound of Trees, Frost gives the tree specific qualities I’ve never read before. The way he speaks of the tree actually makes me realize the numerous jobs a tree performs. “As it grows wiser and older, that now it means to stay.” I think in this line, a tree has grown and someone needs the space the tree it taking and wants to cut it down, but decides to let the tree stay. These three essays were well written and require a deep thought process; they were some interesting readings.