Sure Thing

First of all, I love this play! Back in high school my drama teacher asked us to put on a short play for class, my friend Dennis and I did this. (It was kind of rough but I think everyone still enjoyed it) Obviously, Bill and Betty are the classic people who find themselves sitting at a cafe table together. The play begins and Bill tries to have a sit at Betty's table while she is currently involved in a book by Faulkner. The bell sounds whenever the conversation goes south or does not turn out in the way the romantic reader would hope. Most likely this play was written as a comedy to make fun of the typical cafe scene. Different scenarios prove to the audience that not every single person in a cafe is either looking for love, friendship, a hook up or new acquaintance. Some real life situations are not the happy endings. The bell is probably the single most important prop within this scene. It is the tone that signals the audience to back up and move forward to a different outcome. This short scene is found amusing by many different types of audiences, mostly young adult. Perhaps the ages of the characters were chosen to relate to the best type of audience. All in all, the play was wonderful and funny, a great scene to lighten up the dull unrealistic cafe scene of reality.

The One Girl at the Boys' Party

Ok, this is definitely a confusing poem for me, at least in the sense that I can't fully grasp a significant hidden meaning behind the poem.

With that being stated, at the beginning of this poem Sharon Olds does a fabulous job of putting a specific scene in mind, the hot summer day at the local pool, probably for a child's birthday party, and the only girl (as obviously stated in the title). What I derive from the lines, is that this young girl, the speaker's daughter, is a very intelligent young lady. Sharon Olds constantly drops subtle (or not so subtle) hints about this child being the math wiz, "her math scores unfolding in the air", "Indivisible as a prime number," and "her ponytail will hang its pencil lead down her back." This young lady seems to be spending the entire party sidetracked on variables and calculations. She does enjoy herself, but not until the very end of the poem does this young lady realize the most significant proportion is that she is the ONLY girl and a boys' party.

Why is this important? Why did Sharon Olds right about a young lady at a boys' party, of all places a boys party? My best guess at these answers is this, she is becoming aware that there aren't just numbers and calculations, that there are boys, young men, all around her. Its a poem about the realization of young ladies that young men are attracted or aware of them. The child within the poem sees the "curves of their sexes, one each." It is a scary time but a time that is expected.

Again my disclaimer: So sorry if this is not the right interpretation of the poem; as ususal I did the best that I could.

Lonely Hearts

Written in 1986, Wendy Cope seems to have brought to life the email dating system long before its' time. "Can someone make my simple wish come true" the poem begins. Happiness is simple and most sought after in this life. Lack of happiness tends to turn the lonely times to desperate times. The biker, the gay vegetarian, the executive, the jewish lady, the libran all write their letters to Box 152 to have their wish come true. A wish that when granted brings them "happiness" ; gives them that significant other they've been looking for. Someone out there, living in north London, that would be willing to step out of the normal routine of things to date or sleep with or drink coffee with the individual writting a letter. Sometimes this act of desperation is hard for me to understand. I've never had a problem being alone. I'm secure enough in myself to understand that not every guy is going to fall for me. I've been in enough relationships to know that no one can completely fulfill my every wish. To ask for someone, a stranger, to make your wishes come true is completely irrational. It doesn't make sense. Who would do this? Apparently those writing to Box 152 have no hope of finding love or a partner on their own. They resort to mailing a complete stranger their information and photo and make themselves completely vulnerable to any and all perverts who prey on those types of individuals. Wendy Cope did a wonderful job of depicting the ways of desperate people, looking for an answer to their dreams.
I greatly enjoyed the poem, even though I do not completely understand the views of the characters within. I can imagine, and only imagine, how these characters must feel to lower themselves to such an action. I'm sorry if this blog is a little rough!!!
Thanks for reading!