Breaking up is hard to do!

Break Up
by Christina Grimaldi

Goodbye
Don't cry
It was fun
Now it's done
Don't stall
Don't call
Nothing to show
Let love go
No more tears
One less fear
New tomorrows
Fewer sorrows
Less pain
More to gain
New beginnings
Start forgiving
No regrets
You, I won't forget


The style of this poem was inspired by Cathy Dean's poem Rules and Regulations. Although Dean's poem is satirical and mine is not, I really liked the structure of her poem. The lines were short and to the point. I feel that you don't always need so many words to express yourself, sometimes the fewer the words the better. I wrote this poem because I have recently endured a break up and the words came to me easily. I hope you like it, and for those of you who have recently experienced a break up or still healing from one I hope that my poem helps you to see that you will get over it and that brighter things are in store for you. Keep positive!!

Take This Waltz (After Lorca) by, Leonard Cohen

In another English class that I'm taking this year we studied a poem by Leonard Cohen called Take This Waltz (After Lorca). Apparently it has been translated from Spanish and according to my professor it has lost a lot of meaning through translation. I have posted this poem because I felt it to be beautiful and symbolic( also it is one of the few poems other than Shakespeare's that I find appealing)

(After Lorca)
Now in Vienna there are ten pretty women.
There's a shoulder where death comes to cry.
There's a lobby with nine hundred windows.
There's a tree where the doves go to die.
There's a piece that was torn from the morning,
and it hangs in the Gallery of Frost--
Ay, ay ay ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz,
take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws.

I want you, I want you, I want you
on a chair with a dead magazine.
In the cave at the tip of the lily,
in some hallway where love's never been.
On a bed where the moon has been sweating,
in a cry filled with footsteps and sand--
Ay, ay ay ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz,
take its broken waist in your hand.

This waltz, this waltz, this waltz, this waltz
with its very own breath
of brandy and death,
dragging its tail in the sea.

There's a concert hall in Vienna
where your mouth had a thousand reviews.
There's a bar where the boys have stopped talking,
they've been sentenced to death by the blues.
Ah, but who is it climbs to your picture
with a garland of freshly cut tears?
Ay, ay ay ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz,
take this waltz, it's been dying for years.

there's an attic where children are playing,
where I've got to lie down with you soon,
on a dream of Hungarian lanterns,
in the mist of some sweet afternoon.
And I'll see what you've chained to your sorrow,
all your sheep and your lilies of snow--
Ay, ay ay ay
Take this waltz, take this waltz
with it's "I'll never forget you, you know!"

And I'll dance with you in Vienna,
I'll be wearing a river's disguise.
The hyacinth wild on my shoulder
my mouth on the dew of your thighs.
And I'll bury my soul in a scrap book,
with the photographs there and the moss.
And I'll yield to the flood of your beauty,
my cheap violin and my cross.
And you'll carry me down on your dancing
to the pools that you lift on your wrist--
O my love, o my love
Take this waltz, take this waltz,
it's yours now. It's all there is.


It may have been apparent to you that it was made into a song due to the fact that there is a refrain between stanzas. The line that says "my mouth in the dew of your thighs", was one of the parts that was altered in translation. When translated into English it sounds like the poet is talking about a female because we often associate wetness of thighs to the woman's sexuality, but infect when this poem was first written it was written by a homosexual and therefore that line was translated incorrectly, I do not know what the proper translation would have been. Also the part where he says " I want you...", was actually supposed to say I love you.

I also appreciate some of the gothic imagery eg:
" on a chair with a dead magazine"
" Take its broken waist in your hand" etc.

It is a beautiful poem with a lot of imagery and metaphors. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do
and if you have any feed back please comment.

In Class Movie

On Monday January 17, 2005 I arrived to tutorial about 5-10 minutes late and at first I thought that the tutorial had been cancelled because the lights were off, but when I entered the room I found that we were watching a movie. I asked my friend what we were watching and she answered King Henry. Since I was late for class I didn't know what the movie was supposed to be about and at first impressions I thought that the king was very mean. I walked in just before the king receives the gift of the tennis balls. He seemed pretty upset. He spoke with a lot of anger in his voice and had harsh facial expressions. This brought me to the belief that the king was a mean king. As the movie progressed I learnt that he was not such a bad king, but instead a noble king. He fought for his country and punished those who deserved it even if they were his friends. His subjects were loyal and they loved him. They placed their trust in their kings hands and he brought them to victory. I found it hard to follow the movie due to the accents and the occasional French speaking, but I got the basics of what was going on. I wouldn't classify the movie as a great one, but for it's genre it was well made. In all King Henry (if that was really the movies name!!!), was an experience and gave us an idea of our worlds history.

Phantom Of The Opera