Homeward Bound and Philo 101

Homeward Bound: I love how you incorporated Baltimore as the main focus of this poem. Your poem is blunt and honest and I really like that. Rather than focusing on the positives, you focused solely on the negatives which proved to be both realistic and relatable. Although I generally do not like rhyming in poetry, I really enjoyed the free flowing urban beat your poem had. I feel like this poem could inspire people to rise up above what they have known or seen and better themselves. The line "Thriving on history, bleeding newfound culture" particularly stuck with me because Baltimore does have a very distinct history which is slowly being forgotten as opposed to revived. Overall I thought this poem was nicely done with a few exceptions. I feel that the line "right down to the nitty-gritty this is what we call Charm City" could have been removed in the second stanza and replaced by something else. I feel that this line is a powerful one and by using it only in the last stanza, it would provide a solid ending to a poem that speaks volumes.

Philo 101: After I read this poem I completely connected with it. I feel that everyone would be able to connect with this because it represents feelings that many have when they are in a committed relationship. I feel that you perfectly illustrated the idea of having a "wandering eye" and dealing with these feelings. You presented a very introspective aspect and made your own thoughts very audible to the reader. I think that being able to connect with the reader shows talent which most do not possess. I love how you ended this poem because it illustrates how we sometimes blame others for the way we feel, but in turn it is a result of our own curiosity. Although this poem was short (which I don't think is a bad thing because so are all of mine!) it was concise and obvious which I enjoyed because sometimes trying to decode the meaning of things can just be tiring. I feel that you could have reworded the phrase "or should my face reflect that of your features", it felt a little awkward in comparison to the rest of the poem, but other than that I thought it was great.