TACOS
Lettuce and meat sauce
In a soft tortilla wrap
IT’S TACO TIME YA’LL

PUMPKIN SOUP
John was such a droop
He didn’t know anything about food
Until he tried my fabulous pumpkin soup
That soup put him in a good mood
It sent him into a crazy loop

My third poem is about tacos and what they are made up of. I made the poem sound like T.V commercial. I hoped that it would stimulate you and make you hungry. My last line reveals what I am talking about in the first and second lines, tacos. The night I wrote the poem I had eaten spaghetti and while eating I was thinking about my poems. My mind wandered around the subject of the meat sauce, I could not think of a haiku about spaghetti so instead I wrote my poem about tacos. Tacos were the first thing that I thought of that also were made from mince meat. My fourth poem was also inspired by my dinner. I felt sick of writing haikus so I attempted to write a short rhyming poem. I picked up words around me and tried to think of other words that rhymed with them. I finally came across pumpkin soup (which was what I was eating), I found other words that rhymed with soup and wrote this poem.

HUMANS
Birds fly with the wind
Fish swim for hours on end
What do humans do?

SPIDERS
Hairy all over
8 black eyes 8 gruesome legs
Give me the willies

My first poem “Humans” is a comparison between different animals and humans. It shows that humans are not as superior to animals as we act. It also shows that animals are as primitive as we think. My second poem is called “Spiders” and it is about spiders and fear of them. This poem is directed at my mum and sister who have a fear of spiders. They both agreed that it was the spiders’ hairy legs that made it so scary. I included this into my poem in lines one and two; my third line expresses their fear. The use of the word eight twice in my second line is called alliteration. The willies is another word for shivers meaning it makes you scared and nervous.

JACK THE MODERN DAY RIPPER

Night time
About 8:30
So many people in the streets
So many to choose from

Knife in my hands
Long and sharp
Perfect for killing
Feels sweaty in my palm

I swiftly step back into the shadows
A police car drives by
That was close
My knife slipping with more sweat

I glance out
There it is
My victim
A lone pedestrian, even better
A tourist

I lunge
The knife slips
I curse loudly and slink back to the alley-way
And I wait

Wait for another victim
I can’t wait anymore
I must kill
But I take a pill
And a swig of wine
And I sleep
And never wake up
In my mind I know why
Jack killed me

~Vinh Vu~

This is my first attempted at (sort of) slam poetry. It is mainly free-verse but I have incorporated one rhyming line. I base it on the old English legend of Jack the Ripper and place him in the streets of Brooklyn, New York. In the first half of the poem I use more imagery and in the second half it’s more like I’m telling a story. In the last stanza I use the word ‘and’ a lot because I felt that it brings more suspense to the poem.

In the last stanza the pill that he takes is a suicide pill and I use the word ‘and’ a lot because I felt that it brings more suspense to the poem. My last line is a bit confusing because it is his thoughts in third person. He killed himself because he longed to kill someone. (He is a crazy person if you haven’t figured that out).

I got the idea from my poem after reading a random internet page about Jack the Ripper (not Wikipedia) and decided to see how he’d cope in the present day with drugs and alcohol.

The Night Sky

My back to the ground,
hands behind my head;
starring up the night sky,
using the grass as a bed.

I stare up to see a black blanket,
filled with minute glowing dots;
I hear the sound of an owl,
and a horse carriage as it trots

why stay inside?
when there is this outside;
its infinite space,
yet nowhere to hide.

My back to my bed,
hands behind my head;
starring up to the ceiling,
"What a dream" I said.

“The Night Sky” is a 4 paragraphed poem and it rhymes – the pattern is as follows: a b c b, (the second and fourth line rhyme but the first and third don’t). The poem talks about someone who’s in a relaxed mood sleeping somewhere quiet, away from the stressful city life – and is observing the night sky and all its wonders, as (s)he studies the sky, (s)he ponders about the emptiness of space, “its infinite space, yet nowhere to hide.” And while (s)he thinks about this, (s)he is still listening to his/her surroundings “I hear the sound of an owl, and a horse carriage as it trots.” Meaning (s)he is hasn’t lost themselves to their mind and that (s)he isn’t in a busy, OR isolated place – but somewhere in between, there is still people out there but quiet enough to hear the sound an owl makes.

The last four lines are relating back to the first four lines, but a change of scenario – the first paragraph opens as a person is lying on the floor looking upwards to the sky, the last paragraphs ends as the same person is lying in the bed looking upwards to their bedroom ceiling. The ending is sort of a cliché, but it fits into the poem. In the third paragraph I mentioned “why stay inside? When there is this outside.”, I talk about how now people aren’t as outgoing and stay inside watching T.V, or playing computer games.

Evil Penguin

Running for my life,
I look behind - there it is...
An Evil Penguin!

This poem is a haiku (which follows the pattern of '5 syllables', '7 syllables', and then '5syllables'). It is a short poem, the poem can be read and thought of simple or complex. The simple reflection can be that it's meant to be funny, that an evil penguin is chasing you (I mean, comeon! An Evil Penguin? Ha ha). The complex reflection can be thought of you or someone trying to run away from something, that is evil, but appears not-so-evil.

The Darkness

Running through the forest
My bare feet hitting the floor
As fast as I can run
But the darkness closes around

I try to get away
But the branches stop my path
Grabbing at my body
And holding me towards the dark

Closing around me, swallowing me
I disappear into its mouth
And I am forever lost
Forever in the dark

This poem is about a dream I once had where I kept on running and something was chasing me but I did not know what. I ran but I could not get away.