Tajh

-Leonard Cohen

toc =Ode To Thy Mac Book = What a disappointment you have been this year. Crashed 3 times, had to be re-imaged about 12, man you just won't let me bake on school work. But your stubbornness won't stop me from trying my best in school.

There is a part of you that no longer works and that is a valuable peice we all call a battery. For most of the year the only way you work is to keep you plugged up with the charger. What a ride that has been. No matter what I do your partner in crime we call a charger always happens to slip out.

Which causes you to start up slowly the next time I turn you on or just stays on a blue screen for a while. Just a couple days ago the tech people did me a good favor and hooked you up with a new hardrive. But it still doesn't make up for a lost battery and now a newly broken charger, now I can only use you when I'm at school using someone else's charger.

I can't use you at home. Ain't that some stuff. Well I'm goin to wrap this up by saying I've learn to forget and forgive you Mac Book. Maybe one day a battery will come my way or a new charger so we can cooperrate at home together.

But until then we'll jus work what with we have.

=Sonnet: The Last Quarter =

It is last quarter and we’re down by three, Kay calls time out and the team gathers close, He says the last point will be made by me, The plan is that I have to stand up post, ** My heart beats like the drum in the drum line, Then I walk up to the court up post at last, I look at the clock and then see the time. Then already one freakin minute passed. I look down to see my team cheering on, All I see is the blue moving around , It felt like I was standing there til' dawn , Then the ball had moved to me with no sound. So I closed my eyes and stepped back to key, I had released the ball to make a three.
 * [[image:http://i43.tinypic.com/30ibbbd.gif width="70" height="70"]]

=Ghazal: Last Words = I have not an ounce of fire now. I don't even have one last desire now. Now in the late stages of life I think of what else is there to do and all the liars now. I have no friends or family. None to come and comfort or inspire now. I've learned for forget and forgive them though. All the fire and grudges towards them has stopped as life is dryer now. I feel like I was born not to shine. I have been looked past and I'm tired now. I'm still the same person who takes everyone's shit. Do I have a decision to live? I guess no so I'll use this wire now. This terrible world is not what I expected it to be. I wish I fully knew what God requires now. My name has no meaning. My heart tells me it wants to be retired now. No one would care anyway. It's time to hear the choir now. Bye world and everyone who has influenced this decision.I know you probably don't care, but I must go higher now.

=What's my Poetry? =

Hello there, my name is Tajh Jenkins and I'm here to tell you a bit about my poetry. Quite frankly I'm not a very big fan of poetry. I don't really understand it ,but nethertheless I tried my best during this section of the year. Poetry is not as interesting as most people say it is. I never seen poetry in a perspective of many poets. But when I did this assignment I understood it a bit more. I'm not that much of a poet but when I wrote these poems.I assumed that I would be writing them very basic for example just rhyming words. But I've learned that poetry is much more than that. Poetry that I'm used to writing from grade school is basically like ABC,ABC,DEF,DEF. So it was a major change when I wrote these poems. My favorite poem from the above is "The Last Quarter". This is because I played basketball for many teams and I'm just very interesting in basketball.

= The Influential Poet himself: =
 * Born in Joplin, Missouri, James Langston Hughes was a member of an abolitionist family. He was the great-great-grandson of Charles Henry Langston, brother of John Mercer Langston, who was the first Black American to be elected to public office, in 1855. Hughes attended Central High School in Cleveland, Ohio, but began writing poetry in the eighth grade, and was selected as Class Poet. His father didn't think he would be able to make a living at writing, and encouraged him to pursue a more practical career. He paid his son's tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he study engineering. After a short time, Langston dropped out of the program with a B+ average; all the while he continued writing poetry. His first published poem was also one of his most famous, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers", and it appeared in Brownie's Book. Later, his poems, short plays, essays and short stories appeared in the NAACP publication //Crisis Magazine// and in //Opportunity Magazine// and other publications.(www.wikipedia.org)

** =Dream Variations = To fling my arms wide In some place of the sun, To whirl and to dance Till the white day is done. Then rest at cool evening Beneath a tall tree While night comes on gently, Dark like me- That is my dream!

To fling my arms wide In the face of the sun, Dance! Whirl! Whirl! Till the quick day is done. Rest at pale evening... A tall, slim tree... Night coming tenderly Black like me. In Langston Hughs "Dream Variations, he says //"Till the quick day is done.Rest at pale evening..." . This quote stands out the most for me because for me I can't wait until my day is over. It seems like there are not enough hours in one day. Which is why spend my evening resting alot like Langston Hughs. But when he wrote this Langston Hughs was saying how back then life was very hard for an average African American. In the poem he compares the tree to him because he's African American. Night time back then was the only time African Americans were not ridiculed or torture because that was when it was a time where everyone had fun.//

=Dreams =

Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams For when dreams go Life is a barren field Frozen with snow. In Langston Hughs "Dreams" he talks about the purpose of dreams. A quote that stuck out was the first stanza. It said,//"////Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams dies, Life is a broken winged bird."// This statement is saying that dreams determine a persons fate and future. So if a person allows him or her dreams to die.Their life is partially ruined. They don't have any future plans for their lives.

=Life is Fine = I went down to the river, I set down on the bank. I tried to think but couldn't, So I jumped in and sank.

I came up once and hollered! I came up twice and cried! If that water hadn't a-been so cold I might've sunk and died. // But it was Cold in that water! It was cold! //

I took the elevator Sixteen floors above the ground. I thought about my baby And thought I would jump down.

I stood there and I hollered! I stood there and I cried! If it hadn't a-been so high I might've jumped and died. // But it was High up there! It was high! //

So since I'm still here livin', I guess I will live on. I could've died for love-- But for livin' I was born

Though you may hear me holler, And you may see me cry-- I'll be dogged, sweet baby, If you gonna see me die. // Life is fine! Fine as wine! Life is fine!

In Langston Hughs "Life is fine", he describes life and death. This poem relates to me because life is going to be a little stressful every day. But I never take it as far as killing myself.Besides that a stanza that stuck out the most was "Though you may hear me holler, And you may see me cry // I'll be dogged, sweet baby, //If you gonna see me die."The character is saying that people may see him sad and on the verge of committing suicide, but he'll never kill himself over small situations like her dreamt.// =Who is Langston Hughs to me? = The poet I chose for this project was Langston Hughs. I chose him because many of his poems relate to me in so many ways. For example the poems I've chosen above. Langston Hughs is a poet that writes the truth and everything he sees which is another reason why I like his poetry. When I read Langston Hughs poetry I notice that he uses exclamation(!) points a lot. This tells me that Langston means every word he says because he uses the exclamation point to make his words be heard.