Green Eyes She had green eyes Like the sea.

When you looked into them Their depth provoked within you A profound sense of the world. As the answers to the universe Rose to the surface You saw a reflection of yourself in the waves. She was an everyday beauty The kind that crept up on you With each passing moment. Her heart was as big as the ocean And like uncharted waters It was claimed by no man. It rested untouched Within the vault of her chest. It had not been stolen by some pirate Or damaged by some careless sailor. Men fond over her But in secrecy Unsure of their inner desire That flickered like a flame But washed away with the sea.

Green Eyes: Revision Two She had green eyes Like the sea. When you looked into them Their depth provoked within you A profound sense of the universe. You are a pirate Sailing uncharted waters Searching for a pulsing island to claim, One whose trees grow From the rubies that nurture below And crops that harvest gold. You look to the water In hope that the answers Will rise to the surface But instead you see a reflection of yourself In the surface of the waves.

Green Eyes: Revision Three The sea dressed in the color green Like that of the one he loved. He was a pirate And his love was reserved for The open sea, Sailing uncharted waters, Searching for an island pulsing With ruby nourished trees And emerald skylines. Every spring, The crops would grow gold. He looks at the water In hopes that mermaids Would rise to the surface And singing songs of sirens joy Would guide him to this land. But instead, the calm sea remains steady, Mirroring only his reflection In the surface of the waves.

Green Eyes: Revision Four His love was the sea And she dressed herself in green And with blocks of wooden panels he stroked her back with his oar. Sailing uncharted waters, His swashbuckling instincts Searched for an island that pulsed With emerald nourished trees And sapphire skylines. Every spring the land Would harvest its crops of gold. He looked into the water And saw only a reflection of himself. No sign of mermaids to guide him or sing songs of sirens joy. Bubbling below revealed, A giant creature whose orange-yellow skin Surfaced the water, raising above the ships mast Before crashing his tentacles on the fragile body of the ship. Powerless to her command, The pirate sank into the belly of the sea Swallowed into the heart of the abyss Claimed by the one he meant to claim.

Green Eyes: Revision Five She dressed herself in green And with blocks of wooden panels He stroked her back with his oar. Sailing these uncharted waters for his own, His swashbuckling instincts searched for An island that pulsed In emerald nourished trees, Sapphire skylines, And crops of gold. Looking at how the water reflected himself He saw a ripple and a sudden rise of bubbles from below. A giant creature, whose long body stretched out and surfaced the deep. Protruded its orange-yellow tentacles that rose above the ships mast Before crashing onto its fragile body. Powerless to her fury, The pirate was swallowed Into the belly of the sea, Claimed by the love he meant to claim.

Green Eyes was another poem that I wrote in my German cinema class randomly at the beginning of the semester. I had stuffed it between the pages of my notes and came across it again when searching for the poems that I would want to compile into my website. Reading it, I immediately was able to point out the issues of abstractions and poems that werent rooted or based on anything concrete. The poem was based on metaphor and stock images and I saw the poem as an opportunity to create something really interesting out of it. I thought about it and began to ponder what it would be like if the female being discussed in the poem was actually the ocean and the man was a pirate. I began to explore this idea and began thinking of several different ways that I could take the poem. In my first revision I compared the sea to the pirates love and in the fourth revision transitioned it to being about the sea and the pirate, who encounters a giant sea creature that destroys his boat. Maybe my revision went in this direction because I secretly wish that I was a pirate (random fact, yes I know, but nevertheless true) but perhaps its because Ive recently been looking over epic poems of many different cultures such as Greek mythology and wanted to incorporate that kind of feeling into my poem. While I recognize that this could be a bit of a stretch by talking about mermaids and giants squid, I thought it would be an interesting and different turn of pace, especially when considering how boring and overdone the original poem was. In relating the form and structure of the poem to content, I made the lines of the poem in general stretch out longer as the creatures tentacles rise from out of the surface of the water. With each passing line, the line is laid out longer than that of the one before it, and it is not until the beast crashes and destroys the boat, that the lines become short again. This is to represent the small boat, now crushed into nothing and the animals tentacle no longer being outstretched. In the last stanza the lines are very short to represent the life now cut short by the sea and her merciless subjects that linger and live in the darkening deep. In the future it would be fun to explore more epic poems and attempt to write contemporary versions of them like the poem recited in class, Ozymandias. I think there is something so alluring about the possibilities and directions that the poem could take and it would be fun to explore these options even further. Even in condensing it, to see how the poem stood with only the bare minimum information and imagery needed, there was still this sense of writing about a fresh and new subject that made it exciting and thrilling despite the fact that the this poem actually is not rooted in truth.