Irene Gach Lá

Graham, Joan. 2014. THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END. Ill. Kyrsten rBooker. Las Vegas: Amazon Publishing. ISBN 9781477847152.  The POEM THAT WILL NOT END is the story of a boy who cannot stop writing poems. Throughout his day and everywhere he goes, he write poems across topics and formats. From Going Bananas at breakfast to Couplet for French Fries during lunch, he writes and writes and writes. When he is finally required to write a poem in class, his mind goes blank. His teacher accepts the poems he wrote throughout the day instead. CRITICAL ANALYSIS The concept is excellent, but some of the poems are a bit forced. Since poetry is designed to be heard by the reader, it’s evident that some of the poems are adjusted to force a rhythmn. For instance, on page seven: I tried to eat my breakfast But didn’t hesitate To scribble on the napkins And doodle cross my plate. If you examine the last line, the word “cross” is written, but it should be “across....

Hopkins, Ellen. 2009. TRICKS. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division. ISBN 9781416950073.  TRICKS takes us on the journey of five teens descending into the seedy world of teen prostitution. Eden is the daughter of a preacher. Her mother sees demons in Eden’s first brush with love and sends her off to prevent whorish behavior, which Eden ironically learns at the ranch where she’s sent. Cody deals with the devastating loss of his stepfather to cancer by spiraling downward into the world of gambling. He soon will sell anything to pay his increasing debts. Seth is looking for love and acceptance of his homosexual identity, only to be accused by his father of being a deviant; then, he becomes one. Whitney desperately seeks love from her socialite mother and successful father. She wants to be seen and noticed by them, but will accept the love of a stranger to replace her familial invisibility. And finally Ginger, who is tricked for the fi...

Heard, Georgia, ed. 2012. THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK: A BOOK OF FOUND POEMS. Ill. by Antoine Guiloppé. ISBN 9781596436657.  Found Poetry . What is it? Where do you find it? Why is it important? Before I wrote my review of THE ARROW FINDS ITS MARK, I had all of these questions and more. Found Poetry is everywhere. If you can spot it somewhere in your environment, or read it somewhere in a piece of text, Twitter, Facebook, etc., then you can recreate it into Found Poetry . Found Poetry is a re-imagining of words which already exist in some form.  For instance, these are my last five Facebook updates from friends. They are dated March 1, 2014: Happy, Happy March! Wrapping it up before the big storm Night fishing has turned into day fishing. Fish=1 Jack =6 I'm a beaver? I didn't see that one coming! Leaving for tape clinic (Pre-contest) Here is the Found Poetry I created from these updates: Night fishing has turned into ...