the life and times of RC brown

I'm taking a class and we are studying poetry and these are two that I really liked.
Here's one for my girls...

Metaphor
by Sylvia Plath

I'm a riddle in nine syllables,
An elephant, a ponderous house,
A melon strolling on two tendrils.
O red fruit, ivory, fine timbers!
This loaf's big with its yeasty rising.
Money's new-minted in this fat purse.
I'm a means, a stage, a cow in calf.
I've eaten a bag of green apples,
Boarded the train there's no getting off.

The title has 9 letters, it's 9 lines long
each line is a metaphor about how it feels to be pregnant
and each line has 9 sylables.

And if you read it from the bottom line to the top
it perfectly describes how you feel during the stages of pregnancy.
Fun huh?

And this one for the boys...


Advice to My Son
by J. Peter Meinke(b.1932)

The trick is, to live your days
as if each one may be your last
(for they go fast,
and young men lose their lives
in strange and unimaginable ways)
but at the same time,
plan long range
(for they go slow;
if you survive the shattered windshield
and the bursting shell
you will arrive
at our approximation
here below of heaven or hell).

To be specific,
between the peony and the rose
plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
beauty is nectar
and nectar, in a desert,
saves–but the stomach craves stronger sustaenance
than the honied vine.
Therefore, marry a pretty girl
after seeing her mother;
Show your soul to one man,
work with another;
and always serve bread with your wine.
But son, always serve wine.

To me it means Live in the here and now and enjoy it,
but plan for the future.