round THREE=Stephen Leslie

When  I first saw the Haibun I thought that it was the little paragraph at the very end. I soon realized it wasn't and read through it. When i got to the end I didn't think that it was very good. It didn't sound like poetry to me. Then I went back and read it slowly, paying attention to the breaks and pauses, the punctuation and the lack of punctuation and I felt a rythm. What I noticed most was the way that the lines cut off, like this
"...speaking only when
necessary..."
It ads pauses and rests like in music, those are the things we hear and feel in poetry. i also liked the description he used. The best example of this I found was "....Cold black Granite walls..." I thought this a perfect  of what the vietnam memorial was like (I've been there). It makes them ominous and describes them physically.

We watch as the clouds unfold in the summer sky, rolling and unrolling
by an invisable wind. As we stand there I realize that I have nothing to remember
or to be troubled with. I remember none of my problems. Every day now was a
Never ending guessing game of "Whats Next?" We had no plans
because thats the way we liked it. This was not the earth we knew this was
an earth of our own making, our own crafting and it was in every sense compltely perfect and
green and free.

We have nothing to worry about. No problems to cloud our minds just the
air and grass and the never ending daydream that is our reality.

Adventures now
untold and unlimited
This won't end.

I thought that our speaker today was great. She kept the class interested and engaged very well. Her stories were very interesting. The whole time she was talking I thought to myself "Wow, I want to do something like this when I grow up." She certainly had a bunch of stories to tell and a load of advice to give. Not only about writing but also about her travels. She made me feel that getting to know what you want to write about is just as important as being a good writer. Those two things go hand in hand. I really enjoyed hearing Dr. Smith talk about her travels and give advice. This advice i could connect with because I do plan to travel my whole life, much in the way that she does. And could you imagine getting paid to do that? 1/10 speaker=*****