Ideas (half-baked) which used to glow
With an inner promise of beauty
When turned around and placed
With their feet on the ground
Dissolved into the dust of the brain
Tossed into the gutter, with rain pattering
against their feeble souls, their ink washed away
And running down the drain
Scrapped and thrown to the side like wrapping paper
on Christmas Afternoon
Undercooked thoughts
Have a dreadful fate.
“I was tricked!” screamed the tree
As the wind squealed and screamed,
Dragging its new leaves in an unseen bag
He scattered the lot and soon forgot
About the Beech screaming bloody murder behind.
And onto the next, to plunder and vex the great big Oaks,
And the Aspens and especially the Maples
And old Mr. Wind swept up his collection and got out his paint.
It was a nice clear solution, and he spread it on the cowering leaves backs.
And they turned rusty red and burnt orange and sad
And eventually crumbled to dust.
And that was was when Wind began to laugh and spin
And raged the whole world over
But when Summer’s rays, broke through the haze,
It started all over again.
For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
Audrey Hepburn
Strips of summer
Raining down
Like pictures from a photo booth
Fragments of tarnished memories
Long bike rides
Even longer trips in the car
Pool noodles and inner tubes
And the bonfire at the beach
Reading books
And growing gardens
Crazy pyrotechnics
Long green grass
And lazy days….
Memories smothered in summer haze.
Fresh, clean
A new sheet of paper
To reboot, recharge, replay
New is empty,
Sometimes full
New year,
New month,
New day.
Quiet and waiting
Eager to begin
With a scent not unlike
The first day of school.
Purple, plump
Back of the game board
How pleasant to sit
Under a plum tree
Rotund, casual
Pits aplenty
In the slow
Summer hours
Petite, patient, perfect
Absolutely plummy
This golden afternoon.
What a backwards world!
We’d rise to our dreams
And plunge back down,
Away from the strange land,
To find ourselves back in our head
At the alarm clock’s call
Waking down in the middle of the night
Is always quite awful;
Kicked out of Cloud Nine
Because our hosting bed was complaining.
Insomniacs must be very down-to-earth,
And deep-sleepers are likely heavy dreamers,
Eager to escape.
County fairs
And carousels
Saturday morning cartoons
Old chocolate shops
Ferris wheels
Once in a blue moon
Baby faces
And old bikes
Grandma's favorite dress
The best year of school
And good books
Are nostalgia, more or less.
Sand soaks, seeps between
Summer-sunned toes as I walk
Up the sunlit beach
ψ
Seagull paradise
Dashing after food, swifter
Than my surprised hand
ψ
The moon and the waves
Crescents above and below
Nature intertwined.
Katniss Everdeen lives in District 12, a poor community controlled by the Capitol. It was founded from the ruins of North America, somewhere near the Appalachians. Every year, one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 is chosen to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death between 24 tributes. All citizens are required to view it and it is used as a tool to remind them to never rebel against the Capitol. And when Katniss’ little sister, Prim, is forced to join the Games, Katniss volunteers to go for her.
But you probably know all that anyway.
I guess I’ll start with the characters. Katniss is a strong-willed, loyal, brave, strong, resourceful person, someone perfect for the Games. I loved hearing the story through her eyes, because she is analytical and calculating, yet can express plenty of emotion. It is the perfect way to view an unknown world.
Peeta is kind, also loyal, charismatic, and a bit soft, having grown up in the richer section of District 12. Because he was also selected for the Games, Katniss views him as someone to avoid due to the fact that they’ll just have to kill each other eventually. but eventually their feelings for each other grow.
Of course, Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, Portia, and the rest of the crew are all loveable, and in some cases ridiculous, and Effie and the design team really add to the comfortable, cushioned, luxurious, ridiculous way of Capitol life.
Rue and Prim are very similar, yet different, and I love them both. Prim is the basis for the whole story, and is very delicate and sensitive, but very small and quick and overall has the same stature and aura as Rue. However, Rue is a little more resourceful and brave, eager for a challenge, and is one of my favorite characters in the book.
Now onto the setting.
Panem is a land of contrasts. You have the Capitol, where people are drowning in luxury, very self-centered, and rather ridiculous, in appearance and demeanor. Then you experience the districts, especially the poorer ones, where people die every day from starvation and disease, and they are completely controlled by the Capitol.
The government and reasoning behind it is very cruel, but well explained. And the arena settings are very interesting and all the creatures and plants in them are cool to read about.
The plot was very well done and I found it very hard to put this book down, and the pacing was practically perfect. In a very high-speed story, I still felt that it was in-depth. I guess Suzanne Collins just knows which spots to hit.
The word choice made the story feel sharp and analytical, yet I still fell that depth that allows me to know background. The writing was just excellent, and in many scenes I felt like I was watching it like a movie in my head.
Some questions about the book: 1. Are the only people in the world in North America, or are there other continents? 2. If there are other continents, are there people on them? 3. If there are not other continents, is North America just between the Rockies and Appalachians that the Capitol stretches between, or is the more land. 4. Also, do you have to be born in the Capitol and have a lot of ancestors living there to not be counted into the Games?
Anyway, very addicting, and I can’t wait to reread Catching Fire!
littlewordworm 