Tug-of-war

To-day we have tug-of-war. Yesterday,

We had thumb war. And to-morrow morning,

We shall have tic-tac-toe. But to-day,

To-day we have tug-of war. A couple

Fight like dogs in one of the neighboring gardens,

                      And to-day we have tug-of-war.

This is one end of the rope. And this

Is the other, which uses you will see,

When you are given permission. And this is the middle,

Which in your case we have not got. The couple

Stand in the garden with their noisy, ugly gestures,

                      Which in our case we have not got.

This is where you stand, which is not always easy

Cause you cannot cross that line. And please do not let me

See anyone getting burn marks. You can avoid it quite easy

If you wear some gloves. Their yelling

Is loud and full of emotions, never letting anyone see

                      Anyone of them getting burn marks.

And this you can see is the flag. The purpose of this

Is to decide who wins, as you see. We can tie it

Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this

Tying a love knot. And rapidly backwards and forwards

The man pulls with his strength and the woman with her wits:

                      They call it tying a love knot.

They call it tying a love knot: It is perfectly easy

If you wear some gloves: like the flag,

And the winner, and the line, and the point of balance,

Which in our case we have not got; and the fighting stops

Silence in all of the gardens, and the couple goes backwards and forwards,

                      For to-day we have tug-of-war.

 

A Trip to Boston

We woke up at sunset and the sky was a brave red on the last day of our journey. It had been 10 days since I woke up and thought “Fuck I’m in my twenties, and I still have no idea where my life is going,” so we, Louise and Eva, immediately bought two plane tickets to Boston, and here we were. A crow flew past our hotel window, and we reckoned that was a good sign. Eva was really historically and politically interested, and she desperately wanted to squeeze in a visit at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, so we went there after breakfast. Unfortunately, some of the exhibits were being renewed, so they had closed off sections of the museum and signposted them “Do not enter.” Luckily, we were able to see the most interesting thing at the museum which was the Space Race exhibit focused on Project Mercury. We went to Walmart to buy Swiss Miss, a delicious brand of cocoa we wanted to bring back home. Walmart truly is an interesting place, you can buy everything from a drilling machine to food items to even a .44 magnum.

We went to have the last supper at the Pelican Restaurant where we had shallot and pearl onion soup for appetizer and pigeon with russian banana potatoes and gravy for the main course. Over dinner we discussed our plans for the evening. “We have to go to the Drunken Flamingo when it opens,” I said. “Yes, but I need to remember my watch. Last time we went out we totally lost track of time,” Eva exclaimed. We immediately got up and I must have missed the sign on the floor saying “Caution Wet Floor”, because I slipped and hammered my knee into the sharp edge of a table, creating a deep cut in my leg. It was so bad that the restaurant called an ambulance for me, and when it came, we left through the emergency exit. I was a bit panicked because they do not have free hospital care here, but luckily I had travel insurance. We got to the hospital where I was checked by a German doctor named Dr. Oetker, who told me the cut looked like it had been made with a bubble level. While I was being examined, Eva went out to explore the hospital. She came up to an interesting looking ward and decided to enter, and in there a nurse and patient were having a conversation. “How are you? Recovering?” “Yea, I’m not contagious anymore.” Suddenly, someone tapped Eva on the shoulder asking her to leave because it was for authorised personnel only.

Although our last day was very eventful, I was happy to go home but I wondered if we had got what we came for and looked Eva in the eyes and we were both asking ourselves “Are we there yet?”

Letter based on Hills Like White Elephants

Dear Lulu                                                                                 July 6, 1927

I am sitting at a railway station waiting with my boyfriend for the express to Madrid. He went to take the bags to the other side and I expect it will be some time before he comes back. 

I have to tell you something, and I wish you were here, because I need your advice! It all started out really nice, I met this handsome American man and everything was fine, but then things started to go bad. Now we do not really talk. He ordered some beer and some drinks for us and I told him that the hills look like white elephants, but this was really to begin a conversation about what our trip is really about.

I am pregnant Lulu, but my boyfriend does not want me to have the baby even though he says it is my decision. He believes, and wants me to believe, that everything will go back to normal if I just have an abortion although I know that this is not true. I do not know what to do! I wish you were here to comfort me in this unfortunate situation!

Please write!

Your unhappy friend, Jig

Love is...

Function – poet

Abstract notion – Love

Love is amazing

Love is scaring

One day you meet a person

And next you start to develop feelings.

Suddenly he is your everything

You feel vulnerable and exposed

But then he there, showing the way

Making everything seems great

And then suddenly it is okay

Love is great

Love is horrible

One day you are happy

The next day you are not

A fiery feeling fills you up

Make your thoughts go all wrong

But then he is there, loving and caring

Makes the day seem great

And then everything is okay

Love is red

Love is green

It appears like the seasons

With its changing colors

In the spring it is warm and growing

In the fall it can become cold and slowing.

It’s something we give

And it’s something we take

But in the end it is worth it all.

Reflection:

The poem describes some of the different feelings that follow with love, how you fall in love, how it feels to be jealous, and how it is to lose a love and it also shows how it is all worth it even though you get hurt sometimes.  This poem does not have a lot of rhymes, but follows a structure of nine verses in each stanza. If I had chosen the function of a novelist the story of the poem would be different in the sense that it would first of all not be restricted to a structures as small as the poem and the story would therefore have a lot more detail. The story would have characters that you would probably know the name of, and the story would have some concrete descriptions of how it feels for the character(s) to fall in love, to be jealous and to go through a break-up. Also a novelist would not use metaphors as a poet does, because they have a lot more space to express their thoughts.

Letters between the last Duchess and Frá Pandolf

My dear Frá Pandolf                                                                                                 April 20 1561

I am eternally grateful for your beautiful painting of me, but now I must say that I fear for my life. I was joyful and happy but all the Duke does is being angry and jealous, and this takes away my smile. I fear what commands he will give out perhaps my smile will be forced away forever. Yes, my dear Frá Pandolf, I think he is going to kill me. How I don’t know perhaps by poison, perhaps with a dagger in my heart. He is jealous, so very jealous, he thinks I flirt and woo everyone, even the white mule! He is foolish this Duke of mine, but stupid is he not, for he suspects my fondness of you and your fondness of me, oh I hope he will never find out! Until now, I have been able to wave him off by saying that your compliments are just simple courtesy, but I see his jealousy turning worse! Besides the white mule, he thinks the servant who brings me cherries is flirting with me and I flirting with him, and I see the Duke turning angry. He thinks I am below him and that I should be grateful for that nine-hundred-year-old name of his, but alas how I wish my father never married me to this monster so he could have a duchess who he did not need to stoop for or he would find worthy of stooping for, if he could ever swallow his pride! Please meet me at our place my dear Pandolf and I hope everything will be okay!

Forever your Duchess

My dear Duchess                                                                                                       April 21 1561

Why did you not meet me at our special place? What has happened? It is that Duke of yours? Did he finally get enough of the games he thinks you play? Oh how I hope not, but I dread for your life my dear Duchess! Please let it not be true, please meet me at our place and let this hour be through! I will be strong in faith.

Yours forever Frá Pandolf

My dear Duchess                                                                                                       April 22 1561

Oh, what is the point of all this madness, I write to you but you are dead! Your suspicions were right! And that Duke! He killed you! Oh not with his bare hands, because he is to much a coward for that! Oh how I hate that even in death he stills decide your fate. Tugged away behind a curtain you are for no one to see but him and who he pleases! Today a marriage booker came to the castle. Oh how I dread the poor girl he going to marry next! Alas, right now he is probably showing my painting of your beautiful self to his next victim’s father. But he will not have the chance, I swear, to kill another of your kind! Because tonight at sunset, when the clock strikes ten and he is lying in his bed, I will sneak in and put a dagger in his heart like he had someone do to my dear duchess. But no coward I will be, because the deed will be done by me! I accept my fate and the consequences of what I have to do! I will meet you at our special place where I can forever be yours.

Frá Pandolf.

It’s fucking annoying

Sitting in the bus

A stranger takes the seat next to you

What’s with all the fuss?

She is tall and skinny

But take up space like a plus.

How funny is it

That the stranger can’t see

She needs to split

Or you will have a flip?

I sat by the window

With an elbow in my side,

Being annoyed

Oh I don’t know why.

Finally the bus comes to a stop.

She gets up

And my flip can flop.