Trumpetfalcon• Show poetry

My Mom wrote me this essay when I was younger, and I think that she has described my life beautifully. So now, I share it with you:




My daughter asked me if we have ever been to a dinosaur museum. I had to answer, "No, we haven't." She looked at me with amazement. For you see . . . she's 8 years old.

My daughter, I am sorry that I have neglected your education of dinosaurs. You've had a very unusual life. We've been around. A bit of life here, a bit of life there.

I'm sure since you are currently 8 years old, you don't remeber everything you've done. May I take a moment to remind you? First of all, you came to live with us when you were only 6 months old. You came from the land of Korea, to your new home of the United States. What a joy you have made our lives. You braved a 19 hour flight and arrived with a smile on your face. This is where we started to love you.

You've lost teeth, learned to swim and skate, to ride a bike. You've dressed up like butterflies, clowns, and best of all . . . 'lions.'

You've grown up and seen your Dad dress-up in many uniforms. The uniform of the day, the one he wears as he plays his trumpet, or the one he wears when he looks like a monster when he practices for nuclear disasters. But better yet, the best, is when he wears shorts and t-shirt when he has a tickle contest with his family.

You've seen Buffalo in the Rocky's and caressed the skin of manatees as you swan next to them. You've fed the pigeons of Venice and you've fed the geese of Lake Superior. Watched ducks as they crossed a hotel lobby - just like they owned the place. You've watched Japanese Onkekoza Demon Drummmers in the garden after school.

You've learned how to speak a wonderful Italian Ciao, a compassionate German Gasundite, and learned how to count in Spanish. You've ridden the Gondolas of Venice, gone up high to Hitlar's Eagle Nest, and down low to underground German Salt Mines. You've watched the chalk artist of Salzburg, toured the passion play theatre in Obergergaue, swam in the pools of Innsbruck where the Olympics were once held. You walked the path to the Ice Cave in Austria only to fall asleep while inside and I had to carry you all the way out.

You have skied the Rocky Mountains, and played with sheep as you hiked the Austrian Alps. You've been on top of volcanoes, puffin ashes up into the sky.

You've swam in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, and spring fed waters of Florida.

You've climbed into caves of New Mexico, Tennessee, and thje lava tubes of Sicily.

You've seen the castles of kings, the homes of lumberjacks, and teepees of the American Indian.

You've ridden the trains of Europe, steam engines of the Rocky Mountains, visited Viking ships while in port, and have watched space shuttles launch into the future.

You've played in the snow of Minnesota, and visited the streets of music in New Orleans.

You've roamed around Roman Coliseums, Greek Ampitheatres and Gymnasiums that are thousands of years old.

You've made a plastic snowman for Christmas in 80 degree weather, then made a real one the next year with real snow and 20 degrees.

You've touched the Liberty Bell, where the United States of America began.

You have seen us move from one place to another. You have touched the lives and hands of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. The many friendships you have made along the way, the many people you have met.

I am sorry honey, no . . . we haven't been to a dinosaur museum yet. Our lives have been busy these last few years.

Where would you like to go today?

Love, Mommy

~ Jaci Borden, 1993 ~



Well, that's the first eight years of my life I'll let you get on with my poems now Happy reading!

PS ~ My AIM sn is also trumpetfalcon, my MSN sn as well. Send me a message - I'd love to hear fom you

PPS ~ My birthday is 14 February and my adoption anniversary is 11 September


Oh, and YesYouCan wrote me this wonderful acrostic:

T rumpetfalcon have a Happy Birthday February 14
R eally enjoy a Happy Valentines Day too
U nforgettable day bringing many smiles to you
M aking it the Happiest Birthday and Valentines Day yet
P eople remembering you in the most special ways
E xceeding your expectations in every way
T rue love in your heart lifting your spirit way so high
F illing your thoughts and soul with love so completely
A fterglow smile across your face when bedtime comes
L asting all through the night dancing within your dreams
C ompletely fantastic in every possible way
O pening your eyes in Happy excitement on your Birthday
N ow I'll be the first to wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

And Agazeley, another dear AP friend, sent me this one:

T hanks for being my new friend
R eal fun swapping notes
U nder twenty with such an adult brain !
M y Goodness
P oetry genius at such a tender age
E nvy you enormously with so much ahead of you
T rumpet
F alcon ?
A rmageddon in a Pandora’s box if you ask me. . .
L OL – I wonder what is behind that nondeplume
C learly somebody that likes to blow her own horn . . .
O h! By the way - Many Happy Returns for Tomorrow
N ever let it be said that I forgot you on Valentines day !!!

Just now in, one from dear friend Fern:

T otally awesome
R eally cool
U nderstanding
M wa
P ersonally
E ntertaining everyone
T oday

F orever
A nd always
L ovely
C onstantly wonderful and
O pen
N ever mean


These crack me up
Actual Analogies and Metaphors Found in High School Essays


1. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it. (Joseph Romm, Washington)

2. She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again. (Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station)

3. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't. (Russell Beland, Springfield)

4. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup. (Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring)

5. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30. (Roy Ashley, Washington)

6. Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze. (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)

7. Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center. (Russell Beland, Springfield)

8. Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access Tlw.quid55328.comaaakk/c
h@ung but gets Tlw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake (Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills)

9. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever. (Unknown)

10. He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree. (Jack Bross, Chevy Chase)

11. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease. (Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring)

12. Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like "Second Tall Man." (Russell Beland, Springfield)

13. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. (Jennifer Hart, Arlington)

14. The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr. Pepper can. (Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.)

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth (Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.)

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met. (Russell Beland, Springfield)

17. The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play. (Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria)

18. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free (Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)

19. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

20. She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

21. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

22. He was as tall as a 6'3" tree.

23. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.

24. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

25. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

26. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant and she was the East River.

27. Even in his last years, Grandpappy had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

28. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

29. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

30. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

31. "Oh, Jason, take me!" she panted, her breasts heaving like a college freshman on $1-a-beer night.

32. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame. Maybe from stepping on land mine or something.

33. The ballerina rose gracefully en pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

34. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

35. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

36. She was as easy as the TV Guide crossword.

37. Her eyes were like limpid pools, only they had forgotten to put in any pH cleanser.

38. She walked into my office like a centipede with 98 missing legs.

39. It hurt the way your tongue hurts after you accidentally staple it to the wall.

40. The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon.


HOW TO WRITE GOOD - by Victor L Visco
My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:
1.Always avoid alliteration.
2.Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3.Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
4.Employ the vernacular.
5.Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6.Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7.It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8.Contractions aren't necessary.
9.Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10.One should never generalize.
11.Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12.Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13.Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14.Profanity sucks.
15.Be more or less specific.
16.Understatement is always best.
17.Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18.One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19.Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20.The passive voice is to be avoided.
21.Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22.Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23.Who needs rhetorical questions?