Tag: poetry

“The Hill We Climb” out today

John GuillenLeave a comment

During the inauguration of President Joe Biden Amanda Gorman just about stunned all of us with her inaugural poem. It was the first time (myself included) many had heard her name. As announced shortly after her reading, her inaugural poem is now available in book form today. Talking to someone last night I realized I don’t read poetry. But there’s no specific reason why I don’t. Amanda may just change that when a collection of her poems released later this year.

Do you have a favorite poet or poetry collection?

Buying all the poetry books

John Guillen2 Comments

Last night before the Super Bowl Amanda Gorman recited an original poem to honor several people who are making impacts in their communities. Once again I was very much impressed.

Her books are coming soon. But what I’ve started realizing is poetry can have the same effect as any other work. You reading this might think this is hardly a revelation. Up to this point I’ve never found much interest in poetry. Not because of the medium itself, but because I’ve fully embraced fiction.

I’ve constantly told myself to branch out in nearly all aspects of my life when I’m ready. It may seem small, and maybe it is, but I’m thinking in the days to come, I’ll finally open myself up to the world of poetry. And I feel like I have much to catch up on.

Are they any poets you think I should start with?

Amanda Gorman is About to Take Over

John GuillenLeave a comment

I wrote last week about Amanda Gorman’s extraordinary inaugural poem. It seems every few hours she’s making more moves.

In March her inaugural poem will be published with an initial printing of one million copies. In September a collection of her poems (along with her inaugural poem) will be published, also with an initial printing of one million copies. She recently signed with IMG Models and will be taking part in the Super Bowl festivities in less than two weeks.

In any scenario all of this would be such phenomenal news, but I know I’m not the only one ecstatic that all these things are happening for a young African-American woman. Amanda Gorman isn’t going anywhere any time soon. And maybe her prediction of one day running for president (she told Hillary Clinton she would run in 2036) isn’t so far off. I’m excited to see what comes next.

You HAVE to Hear Amanda Gorman at the Inauguration

John GuillenLeave a comment

Yesterday a new president was inaugurated in the US. Though it lacked many of the traditional festivities due to the pandemic, it was still a memorable day.

But Amanda Gorman may have stolen the show. She’s the national youth poet laureate and recited an original poem at the inauguration. No description I provide will do her words any justice. But I will say her words and her exceptional performance once again prove what so many have said in recent years. Words matter. And for years and decades to come, her words will stay with so many among us. Here’s the full poem. I hope you’ll take a minute to listen.

She also has a forthcoming poetry collection due to release in September, which you find here.

In Search of Poetry

John Guillen8 Comments

I had the opportunity to study different types of writing in college. Poems. Short stories. Novels. This is something I hope every college student gets to do, no matter the major or area of study.

My favorite work to analyze was always the novel. I felt like I had a ton of material to work with. Now I no longer have to write analysis papers. But why not further diversify my reading by including works that aren’t novels? I want to but my experience with poetry is limited. It’d be easy to just Google search “20th century poets” or something like that and go with whatever I see. I don’t want to.

There are two poets I’ve been looking for. Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson. I can’t remember ever studying either of them, but I know their personal stories are well known. Plath committed suicide at a young age. And Dickinson’s poems were largely unknown during her lifetime.

I’m open to suggestions here. Which poets have you enjoyed reading?

September was one big Fail

John Guillen4 Comments

Welp. In my August recap I declared that I’d be better at blogging regularly and reading posts. Turns out I lied. I’m pretty sure I read posts from only one blogger all month. I took forever to reply to comments at times. And I just barely managed to keep my streak of posting everyday alive. There were multiple days on which I posted just minutes before midnight. Oh well. Now let’s look at some stats. Previous record in parenthesis.

Posts: 30 (31)

Likes: 566 (837)

Comments: 516 (2121)

Followers: 3220

Books Read: 0 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 0 (3)

Lows across the board. This month ended up being very similar to January. Which had been the worst month of the year. I didn’t post everyday. And I struggled to find any kind of rhythm. I didn’t read a single page in September. I didn’t post any new poems on here. But I did write a few. And it just wasn’t the kind of month that I’ve grown used to. My plan is to write multiple posts at once so I’m not having to worry about them each night. Now for some posts.

Top Post

I’m Scared to do This

Favorite Post

Saturday Selects: It’s all about control

Post you may Have Missed

Here we go Again

I wish I could tell you for certain that I’ll get back into the swing of things here, but I have no idea if that’ll really happen. I still like blogging okay. I still like interacting with y’all about a variety of things. But I just have no motivation at the moment to stick to my regular schedule. Before it took power outages to get me to write posts outside of my regular time, and now I do it every week for no reason at all.

In other news, I’m about to finish up my probation period at Half Price Books. So that’s exciting. I think I’m doing just fine over there. And I think I’ll be getting to work on some new YouTube videos soon. Today or tomorrow, perhaps?

But who cares what I’m doing? How was your month?

August is Over, Fall is Near

John Guillen10 Comments

Whew. August is over. Can’t say it was better or worse than any other recent August, but it wasn’t so bad. And some rather interesting things happened along the way. But as always, first with some stats. Previous record in parenthesis.

Posts: 31 (31)

Likes: 793 (837)

Comments: 936 (2121)

Followers: 3205

Books Read: 1 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 1 (3)

Nothing too spectacular to discuss here. It wasn’t really too bad at all. But it could have been much better. But there were some days that I just didn’t feel like getting on WordPress. I actually did not read a single blog post all last week, I just didn’t feel like it. And I was sleepy. But I’m not going to “catch up” as other bloggers might do. No one writes posts specifically for me to read. I’m sure everyone is just fine with or without me reading their stuff. But I’ll be better this week. I already have been.

The one thing I will say is that I did actually write a poem for the first time in months. And I think it was pretty decent. But it’s not for the blog and I won’t be revealing why I wrote it in the first place, just that I did.

Last thing before I get into some posts. I made the decision about halfway through the month not to make any more videos until September. It was mostly a time thing. I’m not stopping completely. Making videos is actually pretty fun for me.

Now for some posts.

Top Post

Killing Main Characters

Favorite Post

Day 1 at Half Price Books is Done!

Post you may Have Missed

Auto buy Authors

There aren’t too many firsts once you’ve been blogging steadily for more than two years, but something happened for the first time this month that hasn’t happened before. The top post of the month wasn’t written by me. It was written by Amy. I’m calling it luck. Her top post had only four more views than mine. Oh well. I guess it’s finally happened. Someone has posted on my blog and become more popular than me. *sigh* It actually very nearly happened earlier this year when I had my week of guest posts, but I was able to come out victorious. Ha!

And I haven’t forgotten that I started working at Half Price Books about halfway through the month! It’s been fun. And I think I’ll be getting a few more books tomorrow after my shift. I think. I’ve learned plenty and still have more than half of my training left.

So that’s it. My August in a nutshell. Plenty of sleep. New job. And the seventh consecutive month of blogging everyday. Oh, and I made an Instagram account! How was yours?

On this day in 2014 I published The Reader in Me Part II.

 

July, oh, July

John Guillen50 Comments

July was an odd month. It was my worst month in terms of views in about a year and easily my worst of 2015. But the comments and Likes were only slightly below what I’ve come to expect. At first I thought my views were down because of it being summer over here, but the reasoning behind a bit of a slow month isn’t relevant. It happened and I kind of gave up about midway through the month because it was just not happening. Now for some stats. Previous record is in parenthesis.

Posts: 31 (31)

Likes: 782 (837)

Comments: 855 (2121)

Followers: 3152

Books Read: 1 (4)

Poems: 0 (2)

YouTube Videos: 2 (3)

The numbers aren’t bad overall. I still wish I knew why the views were way down for the month. Hopefully August can be a bit of a rebound. I am disappointed that I only managed to read the one book. I kind of attribute that to the book I’m reading now. It hasn’t sucked me in and makes me not want to read. But eh. I’m finishing it today and I’ll have my first book of August out of the way.

Also, my goal for the rest of the year is to read at least eight books a month. It sounds like a lot when I’ve only read three in the past two months combined, but I need to really go after my personal record and goal for the year. Reading eight each month would put me right there on the doorstep. And it’d give me an opportunity to keep making videos. I’m not worried about views on YouTube. I’ve already grown to enjoy the video making process.

Now for some posts.

Top Post

How Many Books Have you Bought This Year?

Favorite Post

Why you Need Half Price Books in Your Life

Post you may Have Missed

If you Could | Book Tag

I’m just a little bit surprised by the top post of the month. On the second of the month I wrote a post about acquiring the rest of the Harry Potter series and it had been the leader in the clubhouse for the entire month, but it was ultimately beaten by one view.

I think that’s all. As always, feel free to tell me about your month in the comments. My only real goal for August is that it be better than July.

On this day in 2014 I published Saturday Selects: How do you perceive law enforcement?.