Lenten Sonnet #3

Hey peeps! I'm going to post three sonnets tonight because I won't have access to the Internet on Thursday and Friday.

Needs and Wants (3/20/10)

To live in a society of want

Requires all to suppress their deepest needs;

While those around us act so nonchalant,

We rush and scramble to gather our seeds;

Look at the glowing glamorous glory

And the flashy fame and fearless fortune

That the vain tell as part of their story

Which reveals that their journey has begun;

Toward their greatest wants they swiftly rush

And leave behind necessities of life;

Away in the water the needs will flush

While on dry land the wants will cause much strife;

What you want is not always what you need

Because in the end life is what we bleed.

Destinations (4/9/10)

I am going away for a long while,

But I did not want to leave you behind;

The last thing that you gave me was a smile,

But you will always linger in my mind.

We humans are so breakable and hurt

With the thought that we must leave from this place

And journey on a path with different dirt

To arrive at an unfamiliar face.

Why must I be volatile and fragile

Enough to choose to abandon my love?

The dreams I had once wanted to fulfill

Are left alone in a blank head above.

After we forever on the earth roam,

We will finally reach a happy home. 

New World (8/27/10)

The sky turned gray and the clouds grew yellow

While she ambled through bald and barren streets;

At the final crossroads stood a fellow

Who swiftly gathered unwanted receipts,

Purposely discarded by the Wastefuls

And left to be picked up by Survivors

Of the dreadful day. Gone were Distastefuls

Who abused and ignored faithful Drivers;

The woman approached the hard-working man

As he directed his focus to waste;

She whispered to him, “A New World began

The day of the destruction we all faced.”

Instantly enlightened, he delighted,

New possibilities he had sighted.

I hope you enjoyed those! Have a great day and live life!

Ekphrasis

I was going through papers from last semester, and I came across one of the poems I wrote in my Honors Aesthetics class. I remember that we were learning about "ekphrasis," which means (according to Wikipedia) "the graphic, often dramatic, description of a visual work of art." One of the English professors came to our class and showed us a piece of art entitled Strange You Never Knew by the artist Steve Neves (one of our Aesthetics professors). In the piece, a young woman with medium-length brown hair and head slightly tilted downward sat in a white kitchen chair. On her face was the feeling of tranquility with a pinch of underlying pain. Behind her was an open window where a warm, summer evening rested. A single streetlight stood in the background and dimly lit up a dusty road. Dr. Larry Fink, the English professor, told us to participate in ekphrastic writing in accordance with the artwork presented to us. Here's what I came up with in the ten minutes we had to write:


Strange You Never Knew
A young woman sits beside the window
With the evening sky behind her.
A streetlight brightens the road,
But does not do the same for her.
The summer heat is overpowered
By the coolness of night.
It allows a window to be opened,
A window to her soul.
But what does she think about?
Is someone on her mind?
Someone in her past she left behind?
Does a melody play inside her head
That she'll be better off instead?
Is her thought as clear as the glass,
Or does pain reside in her semi-tranquil state?
Her back against a chair,
Why does she not look the other way
To see the peace behind her?
Strange you never knew
The thoughts of a perfect stranger.


Hope you enjoyed that! Have a great day and live life!

Lenten Sonnet #1

Forget "Sonnet Saturday." I think for this Lenten season, I am going to post a sonnet on here every day. So here it goes.


My sonnet is based on Shakespeare's Sonnet 19. I'll post his sonnet here for reference:


Sonnet 19


Devouring Time, blunt thou the lion's paws,
And make the earth devour her own sweet brood;
Pluck the keen teeth from the fierce tiger's jaws,
And burn the long-lived phoenix in her blood;
Make glad and sorry seasons as thou fleets,
And do whate'er thou wilt, swift-footed Time,
To the wide world and all her fading sweets;
But I forbid thee one most heinous crime:
O, carve not with thy hours my love's fair brow,
Nor draw no lines there with thine antique pen;
Him in thy course untainted do allow
For beauty's pattern to succeeding men.
Yet, do thy worst, old Time: despite thy wrong,
My love shall in my verse ever live young.


Now here mine goes...

A Timely Destruction (3/9/10)

As time will take its deathly toll on life

And make the flowers shrivel in the sun,

Then will it kill with its destructive knife

And force life’s fragile thread to be undone;

While friends walk by and we depart from home,

It runs along and hurries for its nest;

The sword, it stabs as we are soft as foam,

And time delivers dark and dreary rest;

But how will I remember you and me?

Will we be given love’s untimely end?

The trap of time’s nonstop eternity,

We shall escape and time we will contend.

If time will take its charted course above,

Then we will fight with letters of our love.


Have a great day and live life!

Sonnet Saturday & Sh*t _____ Say: Part Two

Hey people of the earth! I haven't really kept up with "Sonnet Saturday" at all because I pretty much forgot about it, but now that Lent has come around, I have more time to work on my personal blog.


I posted another "Sh*t People Say to Filipinos" video on YouTube! Here it is:

It's longer than my first video, so enjoy!


Anyways, back to "Sonnet Saturday." I wrote a sonnet last semester about Finals Week. Here it is:

Almost There (12/10/11)

High stressed emotions take complete control.

Awake until the sun begins to rise.

Connection lost between body and soul.

Where in the whole world are my clear, blue skies?

Ended a long relationship with sleep

Many years ago; regrets fill me up.

Tears from the eyes, about it I still weep.

Coffee overflows from a Starbucks cup.

Up very late, burning the midnight oil.

Snacking to stay awake, high calories.

What stinks? Milk in the fridge begins to spoil.

Energy low like teachers’ salaries.

Needing motivation, I’m almost there;

But to finish strong, I have to prepare.

Have a great weekend! If you don't celebrate the weekends like I do, have a great day!

Sleep

I love my sleep. The ironic thing is that I don't enough sleep. As a matter of fact, I should be getting sleep now. I have a class at 8 A.M. Not so happy about that. But my sleep cycle is messed up anyways. I learned more about sleep in my Intro to Psychology class. Man, do I love that class. Anyways, I can't figure out why I just can't sleep at a "good" time like 9 or 10 P.M. College has really affected my sleep patterns. Late nights with friends or late nights studying is the problem. In the end, it is my decision when to go to sleep. I just chose what isn't best for me. I am most definitely sleep-deprived. I always try to catch up on sleep during the weekends, but my weekends feel so short when I wake up at noon on Saturday ans Sunday. Time is fleeting. There just isn't enough time in the day to do everything you want to do. But sleep is a priority. A Necessity. I NEED sleep. We all need sleep. Living in such a busy world limits the time we have to sleep. It limits our dreams too. And dreaming is important even if you can't remember your dreams. Sleep is so important and valuable, but some of us choose otherwise. If you want to wake up happier and not have that "five more minutes" feeling, get your sleep! And not just 4 or 5 hours. More like 7 to 9 hours! Especially if you're still a kid or if you're in college! Catch some Zs (or in Garfield's case, some Ss). S for SLEEP!!! Goodnight! Hope that your future is bright!

Welcome to Blogger

I'm really new to this "blog" thing. I'm familiar with Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, but I don't consider those to be blogs. I think you don't have to worry about what other people think about you when it comes to blogs. I have a love for writing. Writing is my therapy. It relieves so much stress in my life. I have been writing about life ever since I could write. And isn't that what a blog is for? You can talk about almost anything. Just spew it out on paper (or in this case, a blog). Hopefully this "blog" thing will not be something I try for a while and then quit because I am excited about this new experience! I hope you all enjoy what I have to say! Oh sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Michael Cruz and I live in the USA. I am Asian and proud of it! I love God and my family and friends. They help me get through life. I'm a lover of music! Music is life's soundtrack! I like randomness even though it can be overwhelming sometimes. And I don't know what else to say right now except to LIVE LIFE!!!

So I have a question to anyone reading this...What questions do you have? Any suggestions on what you want me to write about? Please post in the comments below and spread the word about my blog! Thanks!