Fiction/Poetry

This was published in the March issue of Teenink.
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It’s a long ride home, and Bus 72 always rolls at the same pace.
An unpleasant odor seeps from the man sitting to my left, who is dressed in tatters and mutters threats under his breath. “Boy, if you don’t shut up …”

Read the rest through this link:
http://www.teenink.com/Fiction/article/17115/Bus-72/

Hey people first i want to say thanks to Jordan who replied to to my recent blog in music about to rising artist Imogen Heap so, Thanks Jordan.
K this time i would like talk about a very truthful poem called “Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost( in my opinion the greatest poet ever).
Let me first start by reciting the poem to you who read the blog

Nothing Gold Can Stay
Natures first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf a flower
But only sow an hour
Then leaves subside to leaf
So Eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down today
Nothing gold can stay

It is a truely beautiful poem with loads of meaning. It is clear to many what it means but some may not be able to see it. the poem stands for the way every thing good and true seems to dwindle away before we notice. How good things are only masking hidden disasters. How, as said in the poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

Robert Frost, a poet who was very aware of the world and its trouble, wrote this poem in the midst of his depression which he suffered from for a great deal of his life. He wrote many phenominal poems which really get to you and hit home. His poem make such an impact because they are so real.
i would like to recite another poem by R. Frost called,” Stopping in the Woods On a Snowy Evening”

Whos woods are these
i think i know
his house is in the garden
though
he will not see me stopping here
to watch his woods fill up with snow
my little horse must think it queer
to stop without a farm house near
he gives his harness bells a shake
to ask if there is some mistake
the woods are lovely dark and deep
but i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep
and miles to go before i sleep
( im sorry i missed a few lines)

this poem has a very serious message but i wanna see if you guys & gals can figure it out yourself if you think you know email me and i tell you if your right. but…….
Untill Next Time,
Justus Attanasio

Wow! I am so happy to be your Fiction/Poetry aficionado and blog moderator. I will be posting advice and news pertaining to the poetry and fiction world weekly and responding to all of your questions and ideas. First, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Brittany and I am a junior now senior in high school in South Florida. I have been writing for most of life, beginning with early story scribbles and pseudo-novels in composition notebooks. I love cats, cupcakes, and cultures (not of pathogens, but world cultures. haha). I juggle my life of poetry and school with running my non-profit foundation, A Spring of Hope, www.aspringofhope.org, which, right next to creative writing, is my world. Other than that, I strive to be funny and the best person I can be. Let’s get on with the show…Being a young writer is fairly frustrating. It seems as though the world is unfit for us inexperienced and blooming young authors. Yet, there are hundreds-if not millions- of opportunities for our talents to get recognized and our work to get published. Of course you know of the wonderful publication, Teen Ink, which published my creative non-fiction earlier this year. I encourage all of you to submit your fiction and poetry to Teen Ink. The people who run the publication are so kind and welcoming. Teen Ink is certainly a wonderful place for teens to get their work out there. In addition to Teen Ink, you should check out this website, http://www.newpages.com/npguides/young_authors_guide.htm. It lists dozens of publications that welcome teens. Do not be shy, even if you are unsure of your work. If you love your work, you owe it to it that you try to bring it to the world! Getting published as a teenager can be such a rewarding and beneficial experience. You can learn the process of getting published far before college and your professional writing career begins. Here are a few things you should do after scouting for publications…

1. Write a Cover Letter: A cover letter is a brief biographical statement usually consisting of “Dear Editor, I am a student [other thing you might want to say]. I am submitting [title of work] to be considered for publication. Thank you for your time, [Name]” I learned from a past journalism teacher that cover letters cannot help you, but they certainly can hurt you. Do not try to explain your work or give too much information about yourself. The more concise it is, the better. When submitting your work to a publication, include the cover letter with your work. 

2. Purchase the Publication or Look at Archives of the Published Work: It is important you know what sort of work the journal publishes. If you feel that your work really fits their normal batch, the editors will probably prefer your work over another work that seems out of place next to their selected works.

3. Don’t Get Let Down: Some publications are particular and you may receive “rejection” letters from a publication in the mail. Don’t be discouraged. I have gotten the letters, and they are not fun, but I realized that I have many (many) years ahead of me to improve my writing and get published elsewhere. Remember that you took the initiative to get published, and it is time to get back on the horse again.

Good luck submitting!

As young writers, we are all pretty much obliged to not be very good. Why is that? Those dreaded numbers called age. Kids have infinitely less experiences than adults and consequently, far less to write about. Practice makes perfect, you so can’t do much except write every day. But a cool way to flip forward the clocks, is to read… a lot. Don’t read some romance novel or another diary of some sad girl in high school, but read some things that are WAY over your head. My English teacher has given us samples of dozens of different authors. Some pieces stick to me, others do not. An idiosyncrasy of mine is to obsess over new authors introduced to me, (every week this happens… it’s a cyclical thing) and a few weeks ago I was introduced to Steven Pinker and Loren Eiseley’s works. I believed reading books I wouldn’t normally read would give me more to write about, and make my topics more mature and interesting. So I ordered two books, “The Stuff of Thought,” by Steven Pinker and “The Star Thrower,” by Loren Eiseley. Pinker is a brilliant professor and a master of linguistics. He is not a creative writer, but his informative book is all about why we say what we say, write what we write. I predict this book to have a positive impact on my writing as why I choose certain words over others will become more apparent to me. More aware of my immediate vocabulary and style, I can better improve upon my writing. Eiseley was an anthropologist and surprisingly a beautiful poet. His vast knowledge of science and ecology has greatly impacted his prose, giving him a unique style, and an intelligent tone. Ray Bradbury proclaimed that his work changed his life. I hope his unique combination of science and creative writing will impact me in the same way anthropology impacted his writing.

Sometimes there are just two types of people in this literary world: ones who hate esoteric (hard to comprehend) language, and those who thrive on it. Whether or not you are the latter, I must say sometimes complicated or strange words have positive effects on your writing. I have always loved words, but incorporating them into my daily speech and prose has been a difficult thing to do. Recently, I have come across new ways to discover excellent and odd words that have wriggled their way into my vocabulary and helped me write more eloquently. For Christmas this past year, my mother bought me “Rare Words” by Jan and Hallie Leighton. Okay, I understand I am a total nerd for recommending a word book, but this little compilation of odd words is simply a gold mind worth recognition. Truly, this is a poet’s feast, filled with colorful adjectives and bizarrely specific nouns. I took a whiff of this book and was instantly inspired. This book and “word of the day” from dictionary.com have really enhanced my vocabulary (and simultaneously made me a ridiculous nerd) So my advice to you all is this: want to write well? Then use descriptive words. You can better capture your audience’s mind, providing them with vibrant images. “Rare Words” isn’t always the best place to find such words as most of them are so arcane you will probably never hear of them your entire life, but books like it and “word of the day,” can seriously assist in bettering your style of writing. As for my style of writing, I’ve been told I have mastered sprezzatura* in terms of writing.

* n. the art of doing a difficult thing so gracefully that it looks easy.