Love Like Crazy by Lee Brice

They called them crazy when they started out
Said seventeen's too young to know what loves about
They've been together fifty-eight years now
That’s crazy

He brought home sixty-seven bucks a week
He bought a little 2 bedroom house on Maple Street
Where she blessed him with six more mouths to feed
Yea that’s crazy

Just ask him how he did it; he'll say pull up a seat
It'll only take a minute, to tell you everything
Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I Love You
Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common since
Never let your prayin' knees get lazy
And love like crazy

They called him crazy when he quit his job
Said them home computers, boy they'll never take off
He sold his one man shop to Microsoft
They paid like crazy

Just ask him how he made it
He'll tell you faith and sweat
And the heart of a faithful woman,
Who never let him forget

Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I Love You
Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common since
Never let your prayin knees get lazy
And love like crazy

Always treat your woman like a lady
Never get to old to call her baby
Never let your prayin knees get lazy
And love like crazy

They called him crazy when they started out
They've been together fifty-eight years now

Aint that crazy?

This week I kept looking through the poems, but I just didn't like any of them. So instead this week I decided to do a song. It's one of my favorites and it makes me think of my boy :) The first stanza always makes me think of my grandparents and how parents are always saying you don't know what love is at such a young age, but there are always those young people who live a life that forces them to mature much faster than their peers. I feel like I've had one of those years where I really realized that the world isn't going to be an easy place to live in and there are gonna be a lot worse things that could happen after high school, but there could also be a lot of better things. The second stanza makes me laugh a little because one day I'd like to have six kids too, but it also makes me think that each time I tell people that is what I want they think I'm crazy. I don't think anyone's dream is crazy. No one wants their dreams to be criticized or mocked, but it seems like that is all we can do in society today. It seems like when a person gets in the way of their own dream then they have to blame everyone else and then they have to try to ruin everyone's dream. The third stanza is saying that you should never get to big for your britches and you should never forget who you are. Don't let people influence you to do anything other than what you feel is best for you. They probably aren't looking out for the best things for you. I think the fourth stanza is saying that you have to take chances in life. "You will fail 100% of the times you don't try" is one of my favorite quotes. I feel like people should live life like there is nothing to lose. People should never judge others by the chances they take in their lives. At least they were willing to try and let faith do some work for them. "Never let your prayin' knees get lazy" makes me think that you should never feel too proud to admit defeat and you should never be too right to admit you can be wrong and you should absolutely, positively, undoubtedly never be too close to give up. I absolutely love this song and I think it is a lot more than just a love song to me. In my eyes it's a life song. It's a lesson I think everyone will learn one day. They may learn it quickly or at a young age or at ninety years old or it may take years to learn, but everyone deserves to feel like they deserve their dreams. They should feel like it's okay to ask for help and it's okay to take a chance and it's always okay to pass something up when your gut tells you to.

Introduction to Poetry

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.  

After we read this poem again in class I realized that I have started beating poems again and trying to get meanings out of them. It is like looking at a slide in class when the teacher just lets you look at them. You feel it. You enjoy it. You don't feel the need to analyze it. There may be questions that cross your mind when you look at it. When reading a poem you should always enjoy it and instead of trying to create feelings you think should be there you should try to focus on the feelings you get when you read it. I have been beating poems with a hose and I really started to like poetry a lot after I realized how enjoyable it was, but I have been starting to enjoy it less. I really like how this poem makes things personal. Like when you walk into a friend's room and you don't know where things are but when you just take a second to think it is easy to find what you are looking for. I think I might need to keep referring back to this poem when I start beating other poems again.

Reading Myself

"As I read this poem, I picture an artist. In order for this artist to bring about his art, he must focus on things or subjects that he is passionate about. He is not an artist who can write and epic from the gentle and fleeting feelings that arise from smelling a flower or stubbing a toe. He knows all of the technical aspects or the art of writing by heart. Despite his knowing the technical aspects of writing to a level of mastery, he has never been able to create something of great importance to be contributed to what he has memorized. Thus far, he has only been able to create works that, although they are good according to the rules of writing, they do not breathe; none of his work is alive; his works are all “wax flowers.” Yet, without this base of works that are correct according to the rules of writing as a foundation, no great piece of original work can be born from this artist. The hope of the artist is to give birth to the work that will live long enough to be enjoyed by others even after the artist himself has died." by autumnweldon. This is a blog I read on line because I wasn't sure if anyone was thinking anything similar to me. It is like people who have the technical knowledge of doing things, but they never feel like they are doing something good. It is never quality because it is never real. It doesn't live with emotion which is why I think he only made it to the smaller hills of Parnassus. The things he does are technically good, but they are not emotionally satisfying. This is like writing for me. I know technically how to make it "good" writing, but it is never going to be like Cormac McCarthy or Zora Neale Hurston because I don't know how to write well. I am not a borne writer even though I try. I like this poem a lot. I think everyone can relate in some way to this and everyone knows that inadequate feeling and that feeling of disappointment.