Which poem(s) did you like best? Who are the speakers of the poems? Who are the speakers addressing? Do you notice any symbolism or figurative language? Do any of the poems have a message?
Ms. Gutierrez's 8th Grade English
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February 2, 2007 at 11:07 am
Okay, I’m going to comment on one of the poems called Man Saves Own Life. I think that it’s a great poem that tells you that man saves his own life (hence the title!). You walk around everyday and do amazing things. Even the small things you do help everyone and everything, but you dont really notice it. You just do them and theres nothing to it. In a way it’s everyone’s a hero. Or at least thats what I think that poem means, I could be completely wrong. ^^; Oh well…
February 2, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Hey Mr Anstett I doubt you remember me but I was in the seminar! I want to say thanks for spending time with us!
One thing that caught my attention was how they were formatted. One thing I guess I sort of depicted was that Mr. Anstett’s poems had a ring of irony inlaid in them.
“…stream of air bubbles
rising from the mermaid’s red mouth
on a drowned man’s palm.”
Even some of the titles silently clashed the poems themselves.I really liked the poems and I think I got the picture from all of them, I hope.
Most of the poems were carried from an “I” perspective. I’m really not sure which was my favorite, I kind of like the messages they all delivered. Can’t wait till the Q and A! Thanks again!
February 4, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I’m not really sure if this is the right place to respond so I’m sorry if I do the wrong assignment. The poem “Indeed I Was” was the poem that I liked best. I didn’t fully understand it but when I read it, it just stuck with me. The speaker is the one being compared to a skeleton. I believe that all the poems have a message or a meaning but I can only pick out a few of them.
February 4, 2007 at 10:36 pm
LAst Year on Seminar 2 I got to have a really great experience with Mr. Anstett where I got to have a taste of his poetry through a reading he did for us. The poems were amazing then, I was even more impressed when I read them for the second time. I really liked the poem about “man saves own life.” It really shows that everyone can change someones life and everyone can be a heroe. Kaitlyn pointed out that all of the poems had a ring of irony in them. (I like the way you put that Kaitlyn). The poems were amazing, and they got me in the mood to write poetry.
February 5, 2007 at 10:46 am
My favorite poem by Mr. Anstett is “Needling”. Each number is a different tattoo talking through the author. The author is addressing anyone who has ever see someone with a tattoo. Each tattoo is its own symbol for the kind of person who has it. I like that each stanza is like a riddle. To me, the flesh tone tattoo means that the person wants to express himself in his own way, but secretly, wanting to be creative, but not call attention to himself. I can see the old man’s tattoo, wrinkled in dark, muddy green. When the old man was young, the tattoo was crisp and clean just like his life was at that time, but as he got older and his life started going downhill, the tattoo begins to blur. My favorite image is the one of the lungs. What is interesting is that the tattoo is going to mirror what is going on inside the person’s body, that as the smoker’s lungs get darker, so does the tattoo. In the very last stanza, Mr. Anstett ends the poem with much irony. It must appear funny to a coroner that see these tattoos as they are ready to cut open the dead body. The last image is very visual and ironic, because the mermaid’s bubbles could not save the drowning man, even if they were on his own body. I think that all the tattoos have a wonderful way of representing what is going on inside each owner.
I decided to try to make my own stanza, thinking about a person I know who has a tattoo.
She came from behind the counter, the Nile lapping at her knees.
Her calf, a sarcophagus that guards the body
skin stretched tight, colored with the blood of plants.
Two painted wings, letting her fly to the Underworld.
February 5, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I am also going to comment on “Man Saves Own Life.” It was my favorite out of all of them. I thought it was a little confusing, but it made me think, which is good. I like he has a positive attitude towards himself and helping others. I like poems like this one because there is a lot deeper of a thought to it. Also it has a good moral to it.
February 5, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Im not sure either if this is the right place to respond, but the poetry was good. Im not really a poetry critic, so I don’t know which one I liked the most.
February 5, 2007 at 8:29 pm
I’ll comment on the needling one because, even though all of the poems were interesting, I liked that one the best. My favorite phrase was the one about the “flesh- toned tattoo of the word invisibility”. We’ve all seen people with tattoos of all shapes and sizes that sometimes mean something but usually don’t. When I read this poem, I could picture what they looked like. It was wonderful to get to meet such a great poet last year on seminar 2. Thanks for talking to us Mr. Anstett. Mr. Anstett has a fabulous way of writing that makes his poems really fun to read.
February 5, 2007 at 8:43 pm
I loved all of them! I can’t decide a favorite unfortunately. I noticed, however, that most were ‘I’ which is I think, a harder viewpoint to write since you have to either of experienced it or be able to have an incredible enough imagination to place yourself in their shoes. All had amazing messages. The irony and small contridictions are great. I love them all, can’t wait to read more. The easiest message to pick out was probably the one in “Man Saves Own Life.” Where it’s all about how you touch other’s lives. I’m going to go find some poetry now…
February 5, 2007 at 8:46 pm
I enjoyed reading the few poems of Mr. Anstett that were posted on our Wiki. He obviously writes about many things that are important to him. They are really moving. He has that impressive skill of controlling what the reader feels as they read his various works. They each have a very important meaning and message to them. I am pretty sure I understand the poems, mostly. I enjoyed getting to read a couple of Mr. Anstett’s poems and look forward to continue to be inspired by authors in our community. Thank you
February 5, 2007 at 9:31 pm
Davis! Way to go. I’m inspired by your impulse to first create a stanza in response–but even more so by the poetic prowess of the stanza itself. I’d love to see more of this from you!
Mrs. G
February 6, 2007 at 4:59 pm
I think that Mr. Anstett has a unique way of saying what he wants to say. he doesn’t say I am getting a tattoo, he goes through the process on what happens when he gets a tattoo, which makes the poem more interesting. Some of the words in Good Morning I didn’t understand so the poem was pointless to me but I still got the feeling of what was going on. My favorite poem was Man saves own life because he keeps you hooked in to see how he was a hero, even though he never accually tells you what he did, you still want to finish and are engaged wondering what the character did. Indeed I was tells what he looks like in a special way by saying that not only is he thin, but he is so thin that he looks naked next to a skeleton, or the professor lifted each bare limb. It just is more discriptive than saying he is as thin as a skeleton. He writes it much more meaningful. Over all he is a talented writter, although his topics are kindof random.
February 6, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I noticed that a majority of your poems was about helping people and that is noble; what inspired you to write poems about helping other people?
February 6, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Mr. Anstett: Amazing poems. The imagery was outstanding, and it really made to want to read on. I liked the topics you chose a lot too. Most of the time we focus on our flaws, and it’s nice to see a poem that centers a man thinking of himself as a hero. Thanks for your time!
~katie
February 6, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I realy liked the kamakazi 1 because of my lack of understanding of what is actualy happening. I dont understand it but i like the way its writen like this man has been beliving all of this time that he is going to be atacking america still after all of these years. There is probibly a lot more to the poem i am just not getting but it is funny because of all of the time that has gone by cence that event and that we have all ready forgiven the atack against us. I just hope that 1 day we will all forgive echother for anything we might have done and just end all of the aingst in the world because in the end we are all human and there is so many more constructive things we could do than be mad at eachother oh well wishfull thinking on my part but mayb that was the point of the poem?
February 6, 2007 at 7:32 pm
My favorite poem was the Man Saves Own Life. I would enjoy getting the meaning of the poem to help better my understanding of the poem. It seems as though this man is a great writer with many interesting topics to write about, and I would like to read more writings by him.
-Zack
February 6, 2007 at 7:45 pm
I also enjoyed the poem “Man Saves Own Life”. I find it interesting that all of his friends come up to him and he only says that,”They’d do the same in my shoes.” I also found the poem “Good Morning very interesting.
February 6, 2007 at 8:23 pm
I just absolutely love “Man Saves Own Life” it comes across so clear and it shows how inteligent Mr. Anstett is in his field of creative writing. He has much skill. While all the poems were good, still my favortie just so happened to be “Man Saves Own Life.” There is and was probably a much deeper meaning than i am seeing but what i got out of it was that when things happen, we dont know how it will end…but in anyway we react. I think the symbolism is more applies to the other poems but one was that “i walked around the house all day a hero.” Also most of the peoms were adressed as “I”
February 6, 2007 at 8:42 pm
The skeleton poem, Indeed I Was, gave me the message most people act exactly like other people. Those people think they have to act a certain way to gain people;s approval. “I imagined me and the skeleton synchronized[on the sketch pad]” The person who is being compared to the skeleton realized that people saw who he was acting like, and other people (the professor) pushed him to act like such. “Indeed I Was” is a great poem with a very purposeful meaning. I loved all his poems though.
February 6, 2007 at 8:54 pm
so i think that maybe the first poem is about him saveing some one and the rush of adrenilin that he felt is what he is describeing. I had a great image in my head when i was reading it i really enjoyed it. and then one of his other poems im pretty sure the third one i think he is talking about how everything we do in life will be tatooed to us forever and what we do in life is permanent. i understand this very well and again i enjoyed reading it very much.
February 6, 2007 at 9:55 pm
“Indeed I was” was the poem that spoke to my unique taste. It’s like saying that a person is not just a skeleton, a predictable structure. There was many things that make up a person, a body. I am enamored by the way it is portrayed through an artists drawing
I love the line where it touches into Shakespeare. “Alas! Poor Yoric!”
~Amaya
February 6, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I thought that man saves his life was a really good poem! To me it showed how you just kinda do somethings! How some are unpurposeful but they result in something very good!
February 6, 2007 at 10:42 pm
I really liked all the poems but i have to say i really liked “Indeed I was”. i liked it because its an issue we have to go through evry day.Everybody goes thorugh alot of peer pressure and people telling us to be something we arent. I see that alot, every day actually where people being something else becasue thats what they are expected to be and i liked how Mr. Anstett adressed that using a skeleton.(i didnt really get it when i first read it but then someone explained it to me and i got it but we arent sure if this is what it really means).
February 7, 2007 at 4:51 pm
I read the one about man saves own life and I liked it alot it confused me when he said even my feet do it I did not get that part and jesse is my hero because she is me when I get called Jesse.
February 7, 2007 at 5:51 pm
I really enjoyed all of the poems. they were unique and interesting. my favorite was “man saves own life.” it really painted a picture in my mind. I realised that many of the poems have some extreme measures. so, i was wondering if mr. Ansett( is his name spelled corectlly) was a veteran from a war? It was nice to read some well written poetry, and i would like to do it again sometime.
February 8, 2007 at 8:28 pm
After reading The needling poem in english today I have to say it was my favorite. I feel all your poems have hidden potential and have more of a meaning then just the words on the paper. Unfortunantely I’m not sure if I got the whole of it! I have a feeling you are trying to get a message almost against tatoos with your poem. I’m going to try to translate:
1. They are just drawings, they arent real and don’t change who we are.
(We all move uniformly.
2.Flesh tone color tattoo of invisibility sounds invisible in itself, wouldn’t affect anything. I think.
3.People are who they are, they don’t need their names written upon them to make them that person. I think.
4.I believe this has symbolism you think of monuments and they are BIG. To have them circling an ankle well you gte the idea.
5.This also has sybolism. Just before tornadoes/anesthesia
When you think of tornadoes you think dark, foreboding. When you think of anesthesia you thing of blurred unclearness. So you get dark and unclear the tattoo. Since he’s older…well its now faded and old. When he got it he was happy and excited, like your first bike you’re so excited but eventually it fades from your interest.
6.I think I may have to give davis credit for this one
7. You think of these tattoos and you think total “Bad boys”. The overall stereotype for bad bikers or gangsters are tattoos, buff, leather, “cool”. But they have the greatest fatality rate. Its making a statement that once thought cool tattoos represent a lifestyle that will lead to be left under fleshy dirt.
Also the mermaid thing same stereotype thing with sailors you think tattos. Who knows how he drowned but did that mermaid help him? NO.
So I tried to interpret meaning if I’m wrong please tell me I’d love to find what your poems truly mean.
P.S. Note the I thinks and “Stereotypes” I’m just trying to use vague examples.
I hope this helps or is good.
February 9, 2007 at 7:40 pm
Thank you all for your comments and questions. I hope to address them when I have a bit more time, possibly this weekend, but certainly during the Q&A Tuesday night. I’m looking forward to it.
Thanks.
Aaron