Journal 5 from Megan

Mr. LeVine,

             I really enjoy your sense of humor. Your poems and stories enthrall me and leaves me wanting to hear more. In your interview you spoke about how death doesn't stop you. That there is certain things about death that frighten you, like the death of a child or love one. I feel the same way. No parent should have to bury their child. Personally, I could not picture that for myself, I would fall apart. Death itself terrifies me. I am studying to be a nurse/ultra sound tech and I will be dealing with death. I have only dealt with death once in my immediate family and with that only experience I don't know how I will handle death of varied ages and loved ones. I don't even think I could tell someone that their child/ loved one didn't make it. But, since this is my dream job I will have to learn to accept the naturally of death. My death? I'm not gonna lie, I think about it. There are days I accept the fear and days I deny I will ever die. The fear of death will not stop me from my dream job or from my living my life because death doesn't have a date so we must live while we can.
          In your interview you spoke about how you had a dream about your friend calling you and you directing him to all these sights he wouldn't be able to afford and when you awoke you thought of yourself as an asshole. You said you found this dream superstitious and took a week off work to lay in bed and write poems. I don't understand what you were superstitious about? You worried that you weren't making enough money and felt like you needed to write to make money? Or were you worried your friend was coming? The poems you wrote over and over that week were about the friend and the dream in different aspects. Would you please explain this further?
         There was two poems that really stuck out to me, The Theory of Prosody and M. Degas Teaches Art And Science At Durfee Intermediate School- Detroit, 1942. I can relate to both of these poems, but my most favorite was The Theory of Prosody. I love this poem because I personally have two cats. You described them perfectly in this poem (even though the cat has nothing to do with prosody). The line- "When Nelle was in her prime she used to sit behind me as I wrote." My cats, both, try to squeeze themselves behind me while I do anything with paper or the computer. If I have papers lying around, they will lay on them. If I set my pen down, I will find it knocked on the floor. Sometimes when I write the cats will pat my hand because they wish I would pet them. I also am comforted by my cats, they will lay in between my laptop and my stomach or in bed they will both lay by my chest. This poem was my favorite because even though the poem's title is about prosody, the relationship between a writer and their cat is perfectly executed.
       Thank you for sharing your poems and stories with us. They will forever be read and told to many.

With Regards,


Megan Wittkopf