Graduation Year
2016
Date of Submission
4-2016
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Literature
Reader 1
James Morrison
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
Samuel B Blomberg
Abstract
Thrust into a world of poetry, I’ve grown to embrace the poetic lens. Each topos, each trope, each rhyme, each cliché, each morning morning’s minion, each reduction to a state of almost savage torpor, each nightingale, each ode to an obscure, inanimate object, and every single Stella of the skies holds special significance hidden to the naked eye. Not insamuch as something undiscoverable upon ponderance. Rather, a way to contemplate the physical. The Ah, Sunflower! reaction. That is not to say that poets have a supernatural eyesight to certain beautiful images. My eyes do not see any more dandelion puffs whirl-winding in the sky than others.’ Take the image a step further. The puff of dandelion seeds becomes a floating scoop of ice cream. Dripping sweet nutrients to the field, fostering the growth of new dandelions. So, now we have the permission to kick the field of dandelions and birth more scoops.
These words come after my project as they are a reflection of my poetry. There is a step after expressing one’s thoughts into a poem. That is to say, it is important to re-read your poetry once your mind has settled. You can begin to reflect more objectively on your actions that put you into the poetic mindset. In the following pages, I have organized a few stories with deeper philosophical insight than my poems. Like my poems, they are about loss, love, life. But they contain moments of meditation and reflection. Moments in which I engage the reader with what is swimming around my head now that I’ve tried to understand the situation more objectively. But does reflection bring us closer to objectivity? It is common to believe that memory alters and bends the truth. By expressing my emotions ‘in the moment,’ I am lying. My written emotions are more driven by how I’m feeling with the pen in my hand than how I felt before I jumped off a wall and broke my ankle. Yet, this prose sort of writing provides us with a different effect than poetry. Much of my poetry has been a series of images or emotions. Very little self-reflection on cause-and-effect or position in society is explicit. For the most part, I urge the reader to find my thoughts afterwards within my diction, syntax, or rhythm. During this prose section, I will outright express my emotions as they are. Rather than convoluting a failed relationship and describing it as a metaphorical moat, I will say that I feel as if there is a boundary between us now. I will address how frantically I behave when I see her in my peripherals, just dying to get her attention. I will conclude with the reflection that I only set myself up for more disappointment by expecting any kind of positive reaction.
The result of these ‘after words’ is more insight on the reader’s end, hopefully. When writing poetry I try to apply sensory images that put the reader in the present moment I am trying to convey. My goal is to give the reader a first-hand view at the experience. My prose attempt to provide the reader with insight to a more reflective mode of expression. While my poems create a comprehensive view on the inner workings of my mind, I expect that this additional prose section will bring the project full circle.
Recommended Citation
Blomberg, Sam, "The Appetizer and Other Poems" (2016). CMC Senior Theses. 1347.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1347
