"Here a Pretty Baby Lies" by Robert Herrick - pg.627

Here a pretty baby lies
Sung asleep with lullabies:
Pray be silent, and not stir
Th'easy earth that covers her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When I first read this poem, I had to reread it to completely understand it. I'm drawn to stories about children and babies especially. I think that's just the mother in me. The word baby caught my eye and I read it and was confused for a minute until I realized what the poem was about. It's quite sad actually.
The poor baby in this poem wasn't actually sleeping like the first three lines suggest, but in fact was in their final resting place. I feel for the parents of this baby and wonder whether the author was writing form his own experience.
This poem appears to be not only innocent, but short, and sweet, but is actually very moving and heartbreaking by the end line.

Poetry

Poetry is anything that I can read that flows together harmoniously. It doesn't always need to rhyme or even make that much sense. I'd like to think that a lot of music is like poetry as well since it seems to me that poems and songs have a lot in common such as their style and length as well as their ability to rhyme. Poems can be about anything and they don't even need to make complete sense. Most poetry is heartfelt and means a lot to the writer, which is why they have written it to begin with.

The Short Story I Liked the Most

The story I liked the most was The Horse Dealer's Daughter by D.H. Lawrence. To me it's sort of like a classic little story of boy meets girl, boy saves girl, and boy falls in love. I really enjoyed this story a lot. It wasn't completely predictable. Jack didn't have any feelings for Mabel at the beginning, not until he saved her from drowning. Then, it was like his brain short-circuited and he knew that he loved her. It was almost as if he felt obligated to love her in the end. I'm not entirely certain that Mabel and Jack really had a true kind of love. It seems to me that they were both needy and lonely and wanted to force themselves to love the other. I am almost certain that there love did not last.

"The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe (p. 513)

Spirit of Perverseness

I believe that the spirit of perverseness is when we are redirected away from doing something we would normally do that was right into doing something that we would normally deem bad or wrong.I believe this would most likely come from being under extreme duress or maybe with the help of alcohol or drugs.

A few years ago, my husband and I allowed his half-brother, Shane, to come ad stay with us. He had no where to go and even though we live in a small house with three children of our own, we can't turn anyone away if they ask us for our help. Things were fine at first which normally they are, but then we started notice things missing. The first of which was our rent money. We didn't say anything, because we had no proof and you can't just go around accusing people of things. We managed to make it through that and then my son came to me one day and asked me where his game-boy was. We searched high and low for it with no luck whatsoever. I just knew what had happened to it. I was beyond furious as I called my husband to let him know of the events that were about to take place. I was even more furious as I ended the call with my husband, as he wanted to let it go too. I wasn't having that. It's one thing to steal from me, but a whole other thing to steal from my kids. I called Shane at his workplace and dared him to come back to my house in not so many kind words. I packed his stuff being very dubious about what I had done with them. He was meticulous when it came to his teeth, he took care of them better than I believe a dentist would do to his own. I did all sorts of unholy things with his items from rubbing his clothes in the dirt to putting his toothbrush in the toilet and actually brushing the bowl. I know I would have never done any of those things if I hadn't been provoked by madness and I do know that it was wrong to do them. I don't necessarily think it made me a bad person but it was completely out of character for me. I have never felt bad about doing this though, in fact, I would love to know if he actually ever used that toothbrush again!

"The Curse" by Andre Dubus (p. 563)

It was maybe a year ago. I was sitting at my desk doing something I can't remember on the computer. I looked out the window and saw a woman whom I'd never met walking up my drive-way. I immediately went outside to greet her and to see if there was something I could do for her. She was dirty with tear-stricken eyes. She smelled of alcohol ad had bruises on her body. I knew from my own experience what her problem was. She seemed completely confused and didn't know where she was. I brought her inside my home and offered her something to drink and my ears so that she could tell me her problems. I was mortified in listening to her story of domestic violence and tried to offer the best advice possible. She finally stopped crying long enough to let me know her sister's number so that I could call her to pick her up. I saw that she safely was returned home to her sister. I would very much like to know that I had indeed helped her in some way, although I cannot be sure of that. I know a lot of people would have just called the cops on an odd woman like that in your yard, but I felt responsible somehow, like she came to me for help. She never did tell me her name, but I very much would have liked to known.

"The Horse Dealer's Daughter" by D. H. Lawrence (p. 471)

Mabel - short, sullen-looking, 27, not so good-looking, the servant of the house, felt established from having money, brutally proud, no friends, lived in the memory of her mother, went to church regularly, mindless, persistent, lonely, fearful, suicidal until she was saved by Joseph, whom to which she became betrothed
Joe - carefree, chews tobacco, the oldest, 33, broad and handsome, his face was red, black hair, thick, his eyes shallow and restless, brown eyes, curious, sarcastic
Fred Henry - the second brother, erect, clean-limbed, alert, cold-blooded, brown hair, well-tempered, blue eyes
Malcolm - the youngest brother, 22, the baby of the family, jaunty nose
Lucy - the other sister, doesn't live close by to the rest of the family
Jack Fergusson - young with a slight Scotch accent, doctor, slave to the countryside, works a lot, undetermined, fearful, also lonely, weak, a hero for saving Mabel, a bit too proud, thought himself to be too good for Mabel but ended up loving her anyway
Joseph Parvin - the father of the family, uneducated, fairly large horse dealer, married twice, died and left his children in debt

Books and Movies

Is it just me, or does it seem like every new movie coming out in the theaters is based on a book? I'm not saying that most of them aren't good or anything. I'm just wondering if anyone out there in Hollywood can come up with anything original anymore. Like I said, some of them are good..but some are just horrible! Let's look one of the newest ones, Red Riding Hood, based upon a child's story that's been around since FOREVER! How many different versions of the same story must be told? Whether it be by book or movie! I heard of another new one coming out called Snow White and the Huntsman... Another Snow White movie, seriously, none will top Disney's version! It is amazing though how they can take a short story and make an entire movie from it. I just would like to see more originality when they do it.