It's Friday night, the week before "Dead Week"

[Lyric]

"Dead Week" is the week before finals. The semester is almost over, and right now I have all A's in my Spring semester classes!!!

A friend gave me half a bottle of rum that he didn't want, so I'm finishing it here right now with ThinkBlue1966. Soon I'll be PUI. That will likely lead to the spilling of deeeeeep dark secrets, interesting photos, and maybe some rough-draft poetry.

I was told today that one of the major profs in the English department has taken a personal interest in my poetry, and wants to help me get into a really good MFA program when I graduate--and I'm only a freshman! Life is blissful.

So ask me anything! :hi: :P

[Lyric]

1. Okay, since nobody seem interested....I'll post a poem-in-progress.

Wrote this one this morning, before class. :hi:

Wild Roses
by Oktoberain

When I was young and lived in the trailer park, I learned
to make spaghetti over the phone. I was barely nine years old, and trembling
with a pot of boiling water--my mother tensed on the other end of the line,
sobbing when I’d safely drained the pasta, turned off the gas stove,
and picked up the receiver.

She worked nights down at the gas station.

                   Dad was in the living room on the floor again,
                   bowled over by Stoney’s beer in dark-brown bottles and the sad remains
                   of some Vietnamese child dead across the ocean. I didn’t know that then.
                   All I knew was the whine of my five-year-old sister, the churning
                   fear of that boiling pot, and Dad pissing himself on the floor.

When I was young and lived in the trailer park, I hated
Sunday mornings. The church bus that came for the angels down the street
never stopped for us. Once I put on an old dress and my mother’s battered
black high-heels, and stood at the curb in defiance, waiting to be wanted by God.
God drove on with an armful of shiny, pretty children

in their own shoes.

                   I remember pretending that plain macaroni
                   with milk and margarine was our favorite supper, because even then
                   we understood that our mother’s put-togetherness was frail.
                   She needed to believe we loved it, and we needed to believe it too.
                   We tended our mother’s despair like a bitter pumpkin vine.

When I was young and lived in the trailer park,
I felt ashamed of my family’s home. The way the smell of cooked grease
and cigarettes never left my hair, the dry, lopsided Christmas tree
bought for five bucks, the secondhand stereo with one torn speaker,
the battered thrift store sofa with coffee stains. But we had wild roses in the yard,

and they grew fat, and thick, and red.

                   Mom worked nights down at the gas station, and Dad re-fought the war
                   on the living room floor. There were boxes of food left on the porch
                   by strangers, birthdays without candles to wish on,
                   and a skin around me so thick that the moon could pull it,
                   stretched like a slingshot, and waiting.

Above me was nothing but the sky—so I shed my skin, raised my hand,
and reached.

[lunatica]

4. I can see why the professor likes you

Rare talent there! It's amazing that such beauty of words can be spoken of such sad things. That's where the talent shows. I'll join you with a drink.

:toast:

[Lyric]

9. Thank you, sincerely.

I have practically no self-esteem, so every bit of affirmation is like a balm to my soul.

:toast: Here's to a learning to create art, and valuing what art contributes to society!

[Radio_Lady]

17. Oktoberain, that is one a hell of a "poem" -- excellent writing!

Childhood can either suffocate us and even bury some of us emotionally. It can also push us out into the open air and force a re-sizing of ourselves during the refreshing period of adolescence and into adulthood.

Congrats on your schooling and the wonderful grades, and thanks so much for taking the time to post.

"I have practically no self-esteem, so every bit of affirmation is like a balm to my soul."

Consider yourself affirmed completely tonight.

Peace, love and happiness,

Radio Lady in Oregon

PS: Are you still in touch with your father, your mother and your brother?

If you can get ahold of a VHS or DVD copy of the movie "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio," you might relate to that the story. It's very touching and taken from a real story -- with a hopeful ending.

RL

[lost-in-nj]

19. Wow

I had to go back and read this again....

absolutely wonderful

I could see, smell and hear everything you wrote about....
how amazingly descriptive and how sad yet beautiful


lost


:hug:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

2. Is "Dead Week" still a lie?............

I had always heard that DW was called that because there would be no quizzes or tests in order to allow you to devote the whole week to classes and preparing for finals. But, lo and behold, almost every prof would sneak in a quiz or two "to get enough scores for a grade". Hence, the lie.

Is it still like that? 'Cos I'm not bitter! No ma'am. No bitterness here!! *grumble grumble*

:evilgrin:

[Lyric]

3. Well, it isn't for me!

All of my exams are over. All I have left is to turn in my poetry portfolio, my English 101 portfolio, and to finish my term papers for Brit Lit 2 and Poli-Sci 373.

What was your major? :)

[CrownPrinceBandar]

6. I was an anthro major w/ a geography minor.....

Its got marketability written all over it... not. That's why I fix TV's for a living.

However I'm trying to break in to X-Ray school right now. WVU has got a pretty good program and it would be nice to be in the ranks of the student body again.

[Lyric]

7. So when are you going to make time to meet me and ThinkBlue1966?

The semester's nearly over, but we're townies, so we're here year-round.

We need to get together and have a little Morgantown meet-up soon. :hug:

[CrownPrinceBandar]

10. Name the time and place..............

I just got freed up a bit financially, so as soon as I renew my donor status here, shoot me a PM.

Summer is the best time in Mo-hole, perfect for a meetup.

[Lyric]

11. God, I know.....less traffic!

Glad to know you're a townie too. :hug:

I'll definitely do that after finals week is over. Until then, I'll be going nuts writing two 10-page papers that are due by the 8th of May, lol.

English major (with a Creative Writing focus and a Poli-Sci minor) here!

[madeline_con]

16. Yes, it is a lie. So was Spring break last year....

at least at UWF. People must have complained.

[Captain Angry]

5. We don't get dead week.

Presentations, meetings, presentations, papers, and presentations.

But all the same, in 3 weeks, I'll have a Bachelor's degree. Now all that remains is to see how many of my grades suffer due to group projects. I am slated to walk Magna Cum Laude, but that's in jeopardy due to the jerks who believe that "D is for Degree" and won't put in any effort whatsoever.

That's awesome that as a freshman you've got a guide already.

[Lyric]

8. Yes, I feel incredibly fortunate.

A lot of advantages come from having one of the profs take an interest in you this early, and I am aware of how lucky I am to have had this happen. Of all this, she was a judge in the creative writing contest for Freshman, so she got a chance to see my work, and it makes me feel like yelling to the MOON that she thought it was good enough to merit her personal attention. :hug:

Have a drink with me? :toast:

[Lyric]

12. kicking

because I'd like the company tonight :)

[newmajority]

13. Dead Week? Are they touring without Jerry again?

it just ain't the same....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdTQ3OPtGY

[Cabcere]

14. Mmmmm, rum.

:9 One of my friends gave me some coconut rum - it was a birthday present, and she's more of a vodka girl, so I was more than happy to help her out. ;) Today is "Blowout" (a.k.a. the last day of classes, although I finished my last class yesterday), and it's been pretty fun so far, although my chronic lack of energy has kind of screwed things up a bit. :( Anyway, have fun w/the rum and ThinkBlue1966, and congrats on the poetry! :woohoo: That's awesome. :)

[Lyric]

15. Mmmm...coconut rum.

Parrot Bay, Malibu, or Bacardi? :9

I love it for making Rum Runners, although I'm all outta the stuff to make them here right now.

Much love,

Brandy

[Cabcere]

18. Parrot Bay

And I have discovered that I love coconut rum as much as or more than I love regular rum. :9 Quite tasty! :toast: :hi: