Neutering Exercise (Spring 2005)
Neutralizing Exercises have been posted in the order in which they were received. 
In several cases, original formatting has been lost, and texts get a little messy.   Sorry!

-Emily Dickinson, Poem 199 (Christi Healan)
-Wordsworth, "The Idiot Boy" (tsupon21@comcast.net)
-Countee Cullen, "Yet Do I Marvel" (Heather Glover)
-Sylvia Plath, "Tulips" (Pamela Melton)
-Shakespeare, excerpt from King Henry V (Arthur Tanney)
-E. A. Poe, "The Raven" (Shelley Rhodes)

-Jim Morrison, "Ghost Song" (Oakley Julian)
-Bruce Springsteen, "Thunder Road" (Kirstin Mullis)
-Elizabeth Bishop, "One Art" (Alicia Ferrell)
-Avril Lavigne, "I'm with You" (Robtheringwraith@aol.com)
-The Pixies, "Nimrod's Son" (Patrice Beavers)

-"Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Kasey Ray)
-Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress" (Katie Sanders)
-Incubus, "Drive" (Dee Dee Coursey)

-John Keats, "Ode to a Nightingale" (Chris McCormick)
-REO Speedwagon, "Can't Fight This Feeling" (Kelley Sanders)
-Shakespeare, Sonnet 18 (Jolene Burge)
-William Blake, "The Tyger" (Chris Shirley)
-Darrell Orrell, "Baptism" (Ariana Siennick)

Chris McCormick 

About a Bird: Selected Stanzas from Ode to a Nightingale

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
    My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
    One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
    But being too happy in thine happiness, -
        That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
                In some melodious plot
    Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
        Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

I am depressed, I also feel lazy and apathetic

  It feels like I drank a poison

Or did some heroin

  Now I cant remember

I do not desire your happy life

  How can you be so happy though

     That you, a simple bird that lives in some trees,

        Can sing with

  The dark forest around you

     With carefree grace

Darkling I listen; and, for many a time
    I have been half in love with easeful Death,
Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme,
    To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to die,
    To cease upon the midnight with no pain,
        While thou art pouring forth thy soul abroad
                In such an ecstasy!
    Still wouldst thou sing, and I have ears in vain -
        To thy high requiem become a sod.

In darkness I listen; and, for a long time

  I have thought that dieing would be easier

I have been inspired to think of death poetically

  I whisper;

Now it seems that dieing is the best option

  A painless death while sleeping would be ideal

    While you, a bird of the night, sing your song

          With joy

Would you sing if my ears could not listen

  To your song, as I lay dead

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell
    To toll me back from thee to my sole self!
Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well
    As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.
Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades
    Past the near meadows, over the still stream,
        Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep
                In the next valley-glades:
    Was it a vision, or a waking dream?
        Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?

The thought of loneliness wakes me

  From my daydream escape to reality

Goodbye! I can not escape reality forever

  Despite the belief that reality can be escaped

Goodbye! Goodbye! I am sad to leave this escape

  I leave the meadows, streams

     Hills

       And valleys of the bird’s life, now hidden:

  Was it a prophesy, or a hallucination?

     I can no longer hear the that music: - Do I wake or sleep?
_____________________________________

____________________

Kelley Sanders

Can't Fight This Feeling - REO Speedwagon

I can't fight this feeling any longer

And yet I'm still afraid to let it flow

What started out as friendship has grown stronger

I only wish I had the strength to let it show

I tell myself that I can't hold out forever

I said there is no reason for my fear

'Cause I feel so secure when we're together

You give my life direction, you make everything so

clear

And even as I wander,

I'm keeping you in sight

You're a candle in the window

On a cold, dark winter's night

And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might

And I can't fight this feeling anymore

I've forgotten what I started fighting for

It's time to bring this ship into the shore

And throw away the oars forever

'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore

I've forgotten what I started fighting for

And if I have to crawl upon the floor,

Come crashing through your door,

Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore

My life has been such a whirlwind since I saw you

I've been running around in circles in my mind

And it always seems that I'm following you, girl,

Cause you take me to the places that alone I'd never

find

And even as I wander,

I'm keeping you in sight

You're a candle in the window

On a cold, dark winter's night

And I'm getting closer than I ever thought I might

And I can't fight this feeling anymore

I've forgotten what I started fighting for

It's time to bring this ship into the shore

And throw away the oars forever

'Cause I can't fight this feeling anymore

I've forgotten what I started fighting for

And if I have to crawl upon the floor,

Come crashing through your door,

Baby, I can't fight this feeling anymore

Neutered Version by. Kelley Sanders

I can't dismiss the feeling that I love you any longer

But I am afraid to love you

What started out as friendship has grown into love

I wish I had the strength to show you I love you

I tell myself that I can't ignore love forever

I said there is no reason for my fear of love

Cause I feel so complete when we are together

You give my life meaning and make it all make sense

Even as I go

I am keeping you in my thoughts

You are the answer

When everything is down and confused

And I am getting closer to you than I ever thought I

could

I can't dismiss the feeling that I love you any longer

I have forgotten why I am so against love

It is time for me to love you

And get rid of my fears

Cause I can't dismiss that that I love you any longer

I have forgotten why I am so against love

And what ever I have to do

Even if it means getting hurt

Girl I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

My life has been filled with good feelings since I saw

you

I have been thinking thoughts of you in my mind

And it always seems that I am thinking of you girl

Cause you make me feel feelings that I have never felt

before

And even as I go

I am keeping you in my mind

You are the answer

When everything is dark and confused

And I am getting closer to you that I ever thought I

could

And I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

I have forgotten why I am against love

It is time to love you

And get rid of my fears

Cause I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

I have forgotten why I am afraid of love

And whatever I have to do

Even if it means getting hurt

Girl I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

Cause I can't dismiss that that I love you any longer

I have forgotton why I am so against love

And what ever I have to do

Even if it means getting hurt

Girl I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

My life has been filled with good feelings since I saw

you

I have been thinking thoughts of you in my mind

And it always seems that I am thinking of you girl

Cause you make me feel feelings that I have never felt

before

And even as I go

I am keeping you in my mind

You are the answer

When everything is dark and confused

And I am getting closer to you that I ever thought I

could

And I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

I have forgotton why I am against love

It is time to love you

and get rid of my fears

Cause I can't dismiss that I love you anymore

I have forgotton why I am afraid of love

And whatever I have to do

Even if it means getting hurt

Girl I can't dismiss that I love you anymore
_____________________________________

Jolene Burge 

Shakespeare

Sonnet 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

You are not like a nice day

because you are better.

The wind blows away the flowers

and summer is short.

Summer can get hot

and clouds block the sun.

Pretty things eventually become ugly

accidentally or because of fate.

You will always be beautiful

and you will not get ugly.

Your legacy will last after you are dead

because I wrote this poem about you.

As long as someone reads this poem

you will be remembered.
_____________________________________

Chris Shirley

THE TYGER (from Songs Of Experience)

By William Blake

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art.
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?  

Literal Neutering-The Tiger

Tiger with bright eyes

In a dark forest

What god

Would have the ability to make you?

Where/in what heaven

Were your eyes created?

How could God be so arrogant/confident to create you?

How could God (being good and godly) dare to touch fire?

What strength and what intricacy

Could create you/your heart?

When you were created,

What Godly power was set into motion?

In what smithy were you made?

In what hellish place did you gain consciousness?

What smithy tools could have been used to make you? What powerful entity

Would have the courage to touch you?

When the angels rebelled,

And cried,

Did God smile to see the tiger?

Did the same being who made the lamb also make the tiger?

Tiger with bright eyes

In a dark forest,

What god

Would have the courage to make you? 

Metaphysical Neutering- “God is Great Because He Had the Courage to Create Evil/Experience/Free Will”

Tyger, bright with evil/experience

In hell/the hellish places of earth/the hellish places in the soul of man,

What God,

Would have the ability to create something so horrible as evil/experience/free will?

In what far away heavens/place of good,

Did your evil/experienced eyes exist?

How arrogant was God to create evil/experience/free will?

How arrogant was God to embrace evil/experience/free will?

And what strength and intricacy of God,

 Could create your evil/experienced heart/the evil/experience of mankind’s heart/free will?

And when you were born/when evil/experience was born,

What dreadful/powerful creative force put into motion free will/evil/experience?

What powerful smithy tools of creation were used to create you? (smithy imagery used to show the endurance and strength needed for such a task)

In what hell/hellish place on earth/ hellish place in mankind’s soul was your intelligence/evil/experience/free will created?

What base could be used on which to forge you? (again evoking smithy imagery for the same reasons listed above) What dreadful/powerful creative force could contain you/evil/experience,

And would have the courage to embrace such evil/experience/free will?

When evil/experience/free will was created, which also created the ability for man to turn his back on God in favor of evil, which in turn led to a revolt in heaven,

And the angels cried for losing their place of favorite, despite their perfection, to the seemingly inferior humans,

Was God pleased?

Did the same creator who was capable of making angles/good/innocence/love also make free will/evil/experience/fear?

Tyger, bright with evil/experience

In hell/the hellish places of earth/the hellish places in the soul of man,

What God,

Would have the courage to create something so horrible as evil/experience/free will?

__________________

Ariana Siennick

~ Original Poem ~ 

Darrell Orrell  
Baptism

A caterpillar is he who stumbles

Into that sanctuary
To be molded and mended while reason sleeps

And awake to find himself different, quite different
Than when he entered

Beauty now supercedes his previous countenance
For he is a creature of divine spirit now

Transformed by holy glory

Saved and repented of his ugly past

Angel's wings he bears                                                 
To flutter here to there                                                  
Among the heavenly flowers
Of his new inhabitance
Only to be snatched up
And eaten by an abominable frog

~ Neutered Version ~ 

The Purification

A caterpillar is a clumsy bug

That makes a cocoon

Morphing instinctively

He comes out completely changed

From being a caterpillar

He’s prettier than he was before

Because now he’s enlightened

God changed him

He’ll never be a caterpillar again

He now has wings

To travel from one place to another

In the mist of pretty flowers

Surrounding his new home

Ironically caught

An ugly frog ate him

Neutering Exercise (2005) begins here.