Distant by Christina Grimaldi

Perfect beauty takes me blindly
Tricking my senses into believing your words
Should've known to listen to actions not lies
Walk away, walk away, dont fall
Stay away, stay away, stand tall
you stole my wisdom, made me foolish
Child of fallen angels release your grip
Stripping me of light leaving me one sense less
Walk away, walk away, dont fall
Stay away, stay away, stand tall
Where does strength go when withered?
You devour it with eyes wide open
Struggling against her hold on my man hood
Sucking my life while stroking my head
Walk away, walk away, dont fall
Stay away, stay away, stand tall
Leave me and rest your devious ways
Only human but a demon lies with in you
I will walk away, not run incase I fall
Stay away from the one who leaves me no legs to stand tall

Standing Ovation by Christina Grimaldi

Crossing paths, locking glances
Making love, taking chances
time tip toes bye so quitely
Taking us hostage silently
As a bee you sting me quick
Injecting your venom, making me sick
Quick and smooth with no hesitation
Your performance of love deserves a standing ovation

The Frog and His Wig By Christina Grimaldi

Once upon a time, far far away there was a land that was ruled by frogs. And in this land there was a lonely, sad frog named Chester. The reason why Chester was so sad and lonely was because he was inlove with the most beautiful frog girl Belinda and wanted to marry her but never thought he would. Chester could never build up enough courage to ask Belinda on a date because he thought that she would never date him for he was bald and that made him feel unattractive. Time passed and Chester admired Belinda from afar and always wished that he had hair on his head so he could win her heart. Well, Belinda was coming to the age when female frogs were to be married and she started dating many handsome suitors, but they all lacked the charm and sense of humour Belinda so desired in a frog. When Chester saw that Belinda was dating other frogs he decided that enough time had passed and he made the decision to do something about his baldness. Chester went to the next town and decided to get fitted for a wig. He tried on many wigs. Blonde ones, black ones, even red ones but none of them looked right. Until finally, like as if sent down to him from the Gods, Chester found his wig. It was brown and flowy and he knew that that was what would need to impress Belinda enough for her to go out with him. So off Chester went with his new hair on his head to go gather his bride. He marched up to her door and was about to knock, but he lost his nerve. And just as he was about to turn away Belinda opens the door and for the first time their eyes met. She asked him if there was something she could help him with, and Chester just stood there for a few moments silently until finally he found the courage to speak. He asked her out for a date that night and to his surprise she accepted. They were to meet in an hour, so Chester ran home and made sure his wig was just right because this was his only chance to win Belindas heart. They met at a local park and shared ice cream together and it was going great! Chester was feeling so much more confident with his new hair on his head. He was telling jokes and making Belinda cry of laughter, he felt his dreams might actually come true. Suddenly the wind picked up and Chesters wig went flying off his head and up into the trees. Well, Chester was devestated, he did not know what to do. The wig flew too far up and it was too late for him to redeem himself. Belinda saw him without his wig and Chester was certain that she would want nothing to do with him now. Belinda looked at him for a few moments without speaking and Chester just sat there almost in tears. Finally Belinda spoke and what she said made Chesters head spin. She told him that she had never met someone that could make her laugh as much as he could, and that Chesters wig flying away was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her whole life. She burst out laughing and gave him a big hug. Belinda told Chester that she was looking for someone as funny and charming as he was and that she was so happy that she had finally found him. To say the least, Chesters wish came true, he got to marry his beautiful Belinda. Chester realized that he didn't need a wig to impress his love, she loved him for who he was, just the way he was, bald and funny!

Advice

why do we torment ourselves with trivial issues? Problems occur in our lives that we could handle with such grace and efficiency, but instead we dwel on them and make situations harder for ourselves then they have to be. It's as if we know the answers and what is right but it is so hard for us to admit it or follow through with them. And why is it that we can give such great advice for others but when that same advice could apply to us we never take it? Answers to issues appear so simple from the outside but when we are faced with those same issues we are lost and we torment ourselves over them. When do we and can we take our own advice?

Do We Place Our Hearts In The Right Hands?

A question that I ask myself so often is: Is the person I chose to give my heart to even worthy of it? I know that many of you would answer that if I am even asking this question then my answer should be obvious, but it's not. Right now I am going through a very difficult time in my relationship and I just can't seem to get my head around it. I have fallen inlove, no...deeply inlove with someone and he is breaking my heart. The worst part is is that I have no one to talk to about this because I don't want anyone to hate him. As I am typing this now I am sobbing quietly so that my mother wont hear me. Do you know what the loudest noise that I have ever heard is? It is my heart breaking and the silent tears that I am crying. I haven't eaten all day except for my nails and I must have smoked a pack of cigarettes tonight. What a mess! My problem is that I feel that whenever my boyfriend and I fight it seems so easy for him to leave me. What ever happened to saying I love you to some one and actually meening it? I feel that it is just a word that he uses but does not understand its depth. When someone says I love you doesn't that stand for anything? Shouldn't you stand by the person you love and try to work things out? I know that every body is replaceable but I never thought that love was. Maybe it's not love that he feels for me because if this is love then I really don't have much to look forward to. The thing is that we rarely fight but when we do it is earth shattering and it seems that I am the only one that gets hurt. Have I fallen inlove alone? I feel that I have. You don't only show some one that you love them through the good times, it is through the bad times when you see what you really meen to a person. As for the question above: Do we place our hearts in the right hands? Some do, but I didn't.

What Is Wrong With This World?!?

I was talking on the phone with my sister yesterday when she told me something very disturbing. Due to the fact that I don't watch the news because it depresses me, I was unaware of what was happening in the USA. Apparently (from what I was told), a lady in the US had gotten into an accident about 10 years ago and was basicaly a vegetable, except that she showed some form of acknowledgement when her family came to visit her through facial expressions (so I guess she wasn't in a complete vegetative state). Anyways this lady was married and had children but has been in this state for approximately 10 years. I guess her husband got tired of having her around and so he asked to have her life terminated. Now he had moved on with his life, he had a new relationship with another woman and even had children with her. Of course he wanted his injured wife out of the picture! The womens family was fighting to keep her alive. She showed signs of mental activity by facial expressions and she wasn't on any resperatory system, the only thing she was on was a feeding tube, THAT IS ALL! Her family faught her husband all the way to Supreme Court where his wishes were granted. The great Supreme Court ordered for her feeding tube to be removed and she was sentenced to death through starvation. As if she hadn't suffered enough for the last ten years now she was left to starve to death. What I don't understand is how the court could grant her husband rights over the poor woman when he had started a new life after her accident. He wasn't fighting for her well being, he was fighting for his own, and the Supreme Court didn't see that. She layed in her bed starving for 14 days!! Can you imagine? What did she ever do wrong to deserve such a death. Murderers get better treatment. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE? What bugs me even more is that in this is modern day we should know better and be more civilized than to be so inhumane. I guess we haven't come that far from our barbaric ways.

P.S. One piece of advice: If you have a choice to give power of attorney to someone in case of emergencies (such as above), I beseech you to give the power to someone of your bloodline. No one will love you or want the outmost best for you other than your intimate family. As seen above a husband or even a friend can move on with their lives but your family (the blood that runs through your veins) will love you forever.

TRUST

In life we build relationships with a significant other but do we really trust them? I personally feel that trust is an issue for me. Being that I have been in a relationship where I placed my trust blindly only to have that person prove to me that my trust was misplaced. After that experience I have found it difficult to trust again. What is trust anyways? In my opinion it is just a saved argument. For example: if my boyfriend were to tell me that he's going to a night club and then spending the night over at his friends and I were to say that I trust him and he goes, does my saying that I trust him going to stop him from doing something. No matter how much you trust someone it will not change what they do. For all I know, I could consent to his night out, placing my trust in him, and really he could be out with a girl spending the night with her. By saying that I trust him all I am doing is avoiding asking questions, not making him call me and ultimately avoiding the whole "you don't trust me" fight. By asking questions I would appear insecure and not trusting, but I feel as a girlfriend it is my right to ask questions. There is a limit to how far trust goes. I'm not saying that I don't trust at all, but I know the difference between trust and being naive.
Right now some of you might be saying "what an aweful girlfriend" or "I would hate to have her as a girlfriend", and you are entitled to your opinion, but please hear me out before you pass judgement on me. When I am in a relationship I give my all to that person but I feel that it is my duty to protect myself emotionally. My trust issues don't go as far as I don't trust at all, but there is a limit to it. I realize that we are all human and that we all make mistakes and I am not going to sit here believing that my boyfriend is an angel and that he is not capable of doing wrong, NO ONE is. My boyfreind tells me that he trusts that I would never do wrong to him, and he is right because I wouldn't, but I tell him that he should never trust someone so blindly because I am capable of screwing up as well. Hey, I am only looking out for myself, and you should too. No one will ever care about your well being as much as you do. Trust, by all means please trust, but don't trust blindly.

Literary Ballad

A literary ballad is a poem written by a specific author. These ballads are not set to music. An example of a literary ballad would be Dudley Randall's ballad "Dressed All In Pink"

Dressed All In Pink
by Dudley Randall

It was a wet and cloudy day
when the prince took his last ride.
The prince rode with the gonernor,
and his princess rode beside.

"And would you like to ride inside
for shelter from the rain?"
"No I'll ride outside, where I can wave
and speak to my friends again."

They ride among the cheering crowds,
the young prince and his mate.
The governor says, "See how they smile
and cheer you where they wait."

The prince rides with the governor,
his princess rides beside,
dressed all in pink as delicate
as roses of a bride.

Pink as a rose the princess rides,
but bullets from a gun
turn that pink to as deep a red
as red, red blood can run,

for she bends to where the prince lies still
and cradles his shattered head,
and there that pink so delicate
is stained a deep, deep red.

The prince rides with the governor,
the princess rides beside,
and her dress of pink so delicate
a deep, deep red is dyed.

-written about the assassination of JFK
-Jackie Kennedy is the princess
-iambic tetrameter
-rhyming scheme: abcb
-the dress symbolizes the country itself falling from grace
-colour imagery of pink as roses and red as blood
-princess is described in colour
-"dyed" at the end has a double meaning
-dress is said to be as pink as roses but roses are also a deep shade of red, but the dress is not referred to a rose when it is covered in blood
-Pink is the colour of innocence and it turning red is significant in displaying the loss of innocence

FOLK BALLADS

Folk ballads are American ballads that date as far back as the 1700's. There are two main roots of folk ballads:
1) illiterate white people
2)illiterate African American people

These ballads sometimes have a chorus/refrain and do not follow today's standard ballad form. The plot for these ballads are usually tragic. They are written by anonymous authors and were passed on through oral tradition. Due to the fact that these ballads were passed on by word of mouth they have probably lost some of their original wording through the years. The ballads were set to music and some can still be heard today. The main characters were not of upper class. An example of a folk ballad would be "Frankie and Johnny".

Frankie and Johnny
(author anonymous)

Frankie and Johnny were lovers,
Oh, Lordy, how they could love;
They swore to be true to each other,
Just as true as the stars above;
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie and Johnny went walking,
John in his brand new suit.
Then, "Oh, good Lord," says Frankie,
"Don't my Johnny look real cute!"
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie went down to the corner,
Just for a bucket of beer.
She said to the fat bartender,
"Has my lovin' man been here?"
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

"I don't want to cause you no trouble,
I don't want to tell you no lie;
But I saw your man an hour ago
With a gal named Nelly Bly;
And if he's your man, he's a-doin' you wrong."

Frankie looked over the transom
And found, to her great surprise,
That there on the bed sat Johnny,
A-lovin up Nelly Bly.
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

Frankie drew back her kimono;
She took out her little forty-four;
Root-a-toot-toot, that girl did shoot
Right through the hardwood door,
She shot her man, 'cause he done her wrong.

"Roll me over easy,
Roll me over slow,
Roll me on my right side,
'Cause the bullet hurts me so.
I was her man, but I done her wrong."

Oh bring on your rubber-tired hearses,
Bring on your rubber-tired hacks,
They're taking Johnny to the Burying-ground,
And they won't bring a bit of him back;
He was her man, but he done her wrong.

The judge said to the jury,
"It's as plain as plain can be;
This woman shot her lover,
It's murder in the second degree,
He was her man, though he done her wrong".

"Oh bring a thousand policemen,
Bring 'em round today,
Oh lock me in that dungeon,
And throw the keys away
I shot my man, 'cause he done me wrong."


-This ballad was written in free verse it has repetition and rhyme
-narrative
-she is portrayed as a loving girlfriend who adores her man
-he's a cheater
-use of more than one voice
-communally constructed
-love relationship that ends badly
-vigilantes justice, not condoned by the legal institution
-cultural expression and tragic romance

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 

Phantom Of The Opera

Hi everyone!!! Welcome back! I hope that you all enjoyed your holidays.

Tonight my stepfather and I took my mother out for her birthday. I think she is 49 years old now even though she insists that she's 35!!!! If she's 35... than she's been 35 for a very long time!! We attempted to have dinner at this popular Portuguese restaurant downtown, but they refused us because we failed to make reservations. You'd think that the last two times they refused us would give us the hint that reservations were needed, but as with many things in life we never learn!!!! We attempted to dine at the Mandarin but there was an hour wait and we were too hungry to sit around for an hour. I suggested a couple of nice Italian restaurants that I knew would seat us immediately but my mother( being a traditional Italian woman),refused to go, stating: "Why would I go and pay to eat something that I could make at home!". And so Mr. Greek's it was. Dinner was good but it was nothing in comparison to what we did after dinner. We went to go see the new movie Phantom of the Opera. WOW!!!! It was incredible. I was 9 years old when I was first introduced to the Phantom. My mother dressed me up in a purple floral, puffy velour dress, that made me look like I was wearing a bruise, and she took me to the live performance of The Phantom Of The Opera. I was in love. The theatre had red carpeting and everything was painted gold. It was, and still is, the most elegant place I had ever been. After my first encounter with the Phantom and Christine, I went back to visit them six times, and every time brought fresh tears to my eyes. After they stopped performing the opera I was upset. I saw it one last time before it ended and I remember thinking to myself that that was the end of my phantom rendevous. Then recently my mother and I went to see Mama Mia and in the pamphlet there it was, an advertisement for the new movie of The Phantom Of The Opera. We both look at each other and gasped "We HAVE to go see it". The Phantom holds sentimental value for my mother and I. It was something we both fell in love with and enjoyed sharing together. I loved it so much that I reinacted the main theme song in a lip sinc competition in high school and I won second prize. So now there was a new movie of our beloved opera and I decided that taking my mother to see it would be the best birthday gift ever, and it was. We sat there and were engulfed in the beauty of the music and amazed at what a good job they did on making this movie. It brought back so many beautiful memories for my mother and I and it was breathtaking. I think that the Phantom Of The Opera is so important to us, not only because it is an amazing classic story, but because it is probably the first thing that my mother and I shared and our memories of going to see the play are so beautiful and pure. After seeing the play at 9 years old I would sing the songs to my mother, but after I got older my voice changed and I didn't sound as good as I once did, so I stopped singing it to spare my mothers forgiving ears! The movie brought back so many memories and since it has been so long since we had last seen it, it also rekindled the story and love within us. So if you are planning on watching a movie, watch The Phantom Of The Opera, it is amazing and although nothing beats watching it live, the movie is still invigorating.