To My Dear and Loving Sister

So this may just be the biggest form of plagiary ever, but it popped into my head and it fit. I love you Minnie.

To My Dear and Loving Sister

If ever two were different, then surely we.
If ever older sister were lov'd by little sister, then thee;
If ever Mindy was happy with Megan,
Compare with me ye another Megan if you can.
I prize thy wardrobe more than whole Mines of gold,
Or all the riches that the East doth hold.
The happiness we've shared is such that Rivers cannot quench,
Nor ought but watching Gilmore Girls, give recompence.
The smile you give is such I can no way repay,
The heavens reward thee manifold I pray.
Then while we live, in happiness let's so persever,
That when we live no more, we may live ever.

Original Poem
"To My Dear and Loving Husband"
By Anne Bradstreet

The Art of Losing

I just spent the past couple hours writing a paper on a poem by Elizabeth Bishop. It is called "One Art" and to say the very least this poem is a masterpiece. It is a villanelle (which is an extremely difficult poem to write because of its strict outlines on external structure) and is beautiful, but I think it takes a couple times of reading it for it to become beautiful. When I read this I couldn't help but think 'practice makes perfect', but that's not the case when it comes to losing. No matter how much you lose, or how many times you lose it only gets painstakingly harder.

This poem is beautiful, but I felt like something was left out. What is to be gained from losing? Its not an art to be perfected, because one simply cannot master the art of losing, even if its in number or importance, quality or quantity. So what is to be gained from loss? Just some food for thought :)


One Art

by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster.

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three loved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

--Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

Sunshine

Warm weather = Happiness

The end.

Spring Break

I am proud to say that I have a very literate family.

This past week was Spring Break, and while normally this would entail girls gone wild and boys doing the twist I am not part of the norm. This week for me was full of sleeping, laundry, and reading.

This is where I tie in the quip about having a literate family. This week my sister (whom is anxiously awaiting her departure to the MTC in Provo, Utah to serve in the New Caledonia mission) was re-reading the Twilight series. Laugh if you will, but she is only slightly ashamed of her addiction. Needless to say with my lack of Spring Breakesque plans it rubbed off and I picked up the Stephanie Meyers book that Mindy had just finished- Eclipse.

Now I'm not saying that these books are end all, bar none the the best books ever written. In fact, they are far from it, but they are entertaining to read. Even with the impossibility of finding an Edward and living a doomed soul ever after, these books help fill the home-alone-laundry's-done-I-don't-really-have-friends kind of an afternoon. As I read about how hopelessly and irrationally in love Bella is with her Edward I thought about everyone I knew that had read these books and came to a startling, if not happy epiphany.

Every person in my immediate family over the age of 12 has read this series You may think 'well then she's got a family full of girls'. In that thought you would be entirely inncorrect. I have a father, an older brother, a brother-in-law, and a younger brother. Now some of the men listed above may or may not have been black mailed and or coaxed into reading these books, but they read them all the same, and truthfully every one of them enjoyed them in the end.

I'm not trying to convince humans of the male gender to read these books, I mean, to each his own right? I just got a genuine smile out of the thought that I have a very literature oriented family.

So to my family members that read this (aka Chelsea ;) ) thank you for being lieterate and sharing such literacy with me. A special thanks to Gavin who saved me from dying of boredom, in my haste to bash on the doctor the last time I was sick I failed to mention the life saving factor that is Fablehaven- not just a book series for ten year olds thank you very much COUGHkirenaCOUGH.

In conclusion I am a bookworm and can now add that to the list of things I blame on my parents, but in a good way- like being able to send them a text saying "Call me and tell me I need to come home" I've kinda missed that in college.

In conclusion of my conclusion, go read a book! Even if its a book about fairies and goblins, or hormone driven teenagers and their vampire boyfriends... husbands. Oops, gaving away the ending. Sorry!