Day by day things don't seem to change, but when you look back everything is different. I've changed so much in just this last year wehn I look at everything in perspective, but really it felt like the same stuff on a different day. I like to think of these changes in your life as the seasons in a year, starting with spring and ending as cold as the winter's chill. I'm between spring and summer. When I was in kindergarten, I wore a pair of 11 1/2 teenage mutant ninja turtle shoes, now it's the same number in men's chucks. A lot of childish thoughts when I was younger, now bigger things are on my mind. The eggs came crashing down when I was with the wrong crowd, now I choose my friends wisely.

My physical features show that I am not a kid but not a man. This proves my struggle between spring and summer. I stand 5' 9", about 160, so you know i'm not a small child. My little mustache is slowly coming in displaying manhood. By this age, I dress to impress unlike my younger days just wearing anything besides my birthday suit. On the other hand, some of my babyface characteristics ultimately prove I am not a man yet.

If you could be inside my head, you would know about my summer thoughts. Plans for my future, financial struggles, and school work are constantly bubbling in my brain but i can get easily distracted sometimes. Some spring thought usually involve finding things I can do to have fun and girls. Overall my thoughts balance out keeping me torn between spring and summer.

Friends from the past shaped me socially for the future. They helped me realize what was wrong and right through experiencing it. The childish immature things I used to do was obviously not right. Most of the time the things I was doing wasn't childish, it was just wrong. In the story "Marigolds" by Mari Evans, the main character Lizabeth is faced with the same situation. Be a kid and have fun at any expense or grow up. Like her, it took me having to do something bad to move on to the future. Those were very good friends thought because I would not be the strong person I am today if I didn't know them. Still I am a little more careful choosing my friends now a days.

You now can see why I am still torn between spring and summer. My physical features show that I'm a big boy now. My thoughts are not ones of a child, most of the time. The crowd I put myself in now are better than the ones from the past even though I still have the urge to do some of my old actions. Now that my verdict is in, why don't you go find out what season you are in.

"For Poets" Al Young

"Stay Beautiful". These two words dragged me into this poem, lets see if it does the same for you. "For Poets" by Al Young can go down as one of my favorite poems ever. A few things I enjoyed about this poem was the sharp organization, uplifting inspirational aspects, and how it portrays life.

Organization acts as the blueprint to a good poem. One can feel how the poet felt while writing this poem by the way a poem reads. The amount of words in the poem might show one of a few things. It can show that he didnt want to go too deep into the poem or that it didnt take many words to get the point across. Structure provides a feel for the rhythm in which it should sound. Punctuation can also give the reader the rhythm and how it reads.

Inspiration in a poem can be the deciding factor in whether it is a good poem or a great poem. After reading "For Poets" several times, I can definitely tell that this poem inspires people, a good job of it at that. Not only does this poem give someone inspiration to go out and do things, it also gives examples of what not to do. "Breathe in trees","Knock out mountains", these words of inspiration express through hyperboles. "Dont stay underground too long" plays as a warning.

Life. This poem expresses many things in life. Non-living and living objects show human activity. "Dont turn into a mole, or a worm, or a root, or a stone". Both living and non-living yet they express the same thing. This poem elaborates on a specific lifestyle. Stay yourself, but dont become boring. Get out there, experiment, let yourself be known. "Dont forget to fly". This lifestyle fulfills my taste of a good. The life of this poem and the life I want to live, seem like one.

So like I said before, the organization, inspiration, and the life of this poem really tickle my fancy. When I see how the poem is organized it reads itself to me. Inspiration makes me want to go out and do something before I'm even done reading it. The way this poem describes life, will be like how I want to live my life. Maybe if you read this poem sometime it will open up your eyes and give you a new perspective on life.