Into the Unknown Going down the stairs Heading out the house Making sure no one is out and about Can’t wait to go outside Into the unknown
On the fishing boat with sister Ready to make the trade A fisherman’s clothes for a stained dress I stare with transfixed eyes as he strips off his clothes however he doesn’t have any shoes And in turn we give him the tattered dress
I leave my villa excited like never before Finally my dreams are materializing However a beggar boy approaches me He’s obviously not pleased and is annoyed He throws me against a wall And, unflinching, demands that I never return in his begging area He shouts it as if; if I would stay any longer the world would end
I leave the beggar boy and continue walking Suddenly a jolt of pain goes through my foot It feels like I was just shot in the leg I am intrigued to find out that I have a huge splinter in my foot the size of a tree I wish the fisher boy had given me a pair of shoes
I head to the Jewish ghetto I hear they have to help people as part of their religion I see a well and limp over to it as if it was my only hope of survival I refresh my injured foot in the well Only to find myself being watched by a solemn eyed boy holding a bucket
Oh no, I had just dirtied the well! Now the boy won’t have clean drinking water! This has been such an adventure into the unknown
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Ann Cloos
4/17/2010 02:05:44 am
The Wind of Freedom
A door between two worlds The banging of the wind An urgent call A hand Softer than silk Trembling of fear Touching the golden handle
Sunlight is tickling my face The wind of freedom Brushing the misty clouds The water Rushing in the canals Wild and free The pungent odour of fish People as far as I can see A world better than a dream
Wings seem to cover my arms Flying higher than the sky A raucous voice Ripping me out of my dreams A beggar boy His skin darker than the night His eyes filled with rancour My mind transfixed of fear A heavy stone blocking my thoughts
A breeze Pushing against the stone My legs Moving faster and faster My sisters’ teasing laughers ringing through my head I can’t give up A wave of hope flowing through my body
An incessant pain Exploding under my foot A splinter A barrier to liberty All alone in this world I thought was mine The need of shoes Stumbling through the scruffy streets Will I ever come home again?
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Charles
4/17/2010 10:58:43 pm
Cooped up in her life, Confined by nobility, Femininity restrains her, Alone in a crowded palazzo.
Intrigued by the map, Fervent to escape, Outside the palace, She is transfixed.
A constant yearning, There's no alternative, But to find her disguise, In fisherboy clothing, Venice awaits.
Her incessant dreams, Materialize around her, With no shoes on she feels unprotected, On the harsh, hot, cobbled streets.
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Maddie Browne
4/18/2010 03:33:18 am
The grass is always greener on the other side
I step out onto the encrusted streets My pampered, yielding feet Feel a sting of independence wave over them The grass is always greener
I smell the tantalizing fragment of fresh fish It reaches my nose with compassion The odour intoxicates me with interest The grass is always greener
The taste of the delicious sizzling halibut Slithers serenely down my throat Devouring it greedily I am intrigued by this new world The grass is always greener
The invigorating feeling of freedom Blows against my silky, lavished hair Like the soothing bath I take every morning but better The grass is always greener
The sight of the solemn pious women Giving money to the illegitimate child on the road Fills my selfish heart with enchantment The grass is always greener
The sound of the incessant raucous yelling The bawdy market traders impatient to sell their catch Fills my aching spirit with angels The grass is always greener
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Isabel Billig
4/19/2010 05:34:28 am
To be a boy
I thought of my brothers The envy I had Of their unlimited freedom If I was one of them I would do what I wanted The idea of changing Transfixed my mind
My sister Paolina Hatched A plan For me to become a boy The plan was to trade A fisherman’s clothes for my old dress The day of the trade approached I received a baggy shirt and shabby pants But no shoes or bereta I was forced to go barefoot Like a poor boy on his way home from work
I mingled through The Venetian crowd Eavesdropping like a hawk On the Italian conversation A mischievous boy Snuck behind me Consistently questioning My relent to answer Resulted in a spit in the face A splinter penetrated my skin My limp ended up leading me To an unknown place
I entered what I thought Was the Jewish Ghetto Across my shoulder I saw the shadow of A Jewish man He claimed he could treat my foot To his house we headed His strange rituals Door knocking, Spoons and Kosher Made me intrigued We made an exchange A shoes and a hat I was to return tomorrow To give something back
On my way home I reflected on this day As the sun smiled to me I realized The life I could have If my gender was changed The freedom The better future And the love of my father
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Saskia Stomph
4/19/2010 11:46:49 pm
A Journey into the Forbidden
The momentous joy, The sun that shone like the brightest star, A journey into the forbidden, The danger and beyond
The swap for clothes, The raucous busyness of the streets of Venice, The splinter that ached, like a rat tearing my skin apart, A journey into the forbidden
The pious Jews, The intriguing ghetto, The spoon that shone like a brilliant piece of art, A journey into the forbidden
The dirtying of the water, The cap & shoes, The choice and freedom as a fisherboy, A journey into the forbidden
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Molly Vickers
4/20/2010 01:35:04 am
Mocking Outer World
My tender white feet step briefly and cautiously onto the rough pavements of the Grand Canal Carts and stands overcrowd the compact city My senses enliven urging my intrigued body to continue walking,
My anxiety deepens as a tough young boy Swaggers towards me The whole town seems to hold still holding its breath His face stern and cold Pushed against the wall sensing his rancor spat upon in disgust I bear the humiliation, I look on transfixed His scorn and hatred hang in the air, laughing
I quicken my pace And race through the eerie alleys The freedom is intoxicating like a cold shower One small wooden splinter interrupts my euphoria leaving me unable to think I can only crouch in a corner and suffer
I am a constricted, restrained, pampered creature Unsettled, discontented like a caged nightingale Waiting to be freed Plagued by the incessant quest for adventure
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Isabelle Scheideler
4/20/2010 03:08:50 am
Donata’s require for shoes
A momentous moment in my life, Walking down the streets of lovely Venice, The city where I lived my whole life.
The first time walking through this street, Scrupulously listening to the sounds, Hearing for the first time in my nonchalant life.
All these people not having alabaster skin, Some are stoic, some are polite, Walking barefoot like a horse without horseshoes.
Stopping with a solemn face and a shrill scream, Having a contorted splinter in my foot, How can other people survive without requesting shoes?
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Julius Schroeter
4/20/2010 03:33:45 am
Everything is new, The smell, The noise, The sights.
She has pain, Pain from a splinter, She has to humble, A long way.
She finds a well, To clean her foot, But someone sees her, The stranger stands there transfixed, And she gets scared.
A Jewish man, Comes out, And carries her, Like a little baby, Into his house.
When she waits, In the kitchen, All alone, In this home.
She sees, Some impeccable spoons, She picks one up, Then puts it down again.
A girl comes in, As if she would have eavesdropped her, And screams at her, As if she was a bad dog, She looks extremely solemn.
The man comes, He looks mad, Mad as a bull, But speaks softly.
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Shreyam Jalan
4/21/2010 02:18:18 am
Donata’s Day Out
Donata, an adventurous little girl An odd weed in a garden of flowers Locked up in a house, like a tiny mouse A mind like a maze, with a bright face
Donata, a child with 11 siblings A girl who despises the convent A girl envious of married women Someone destined to live an intriguing life
The daring little girl, wanting to explore Solemnly stepping out, in the world of men Steadily passing by the dark alleys Encountering raucous beggar boys on the way
Speaking to Jews in the Ghetto Inside a stoic house as opposed to the streets Adventures as such are rare for a noble girl Even so, she goes out again and again
Explanation: This poem is about Donata’s first adventure outside her palazzo. The first literacy device is “An odd weed in a garden of flowers” which is a simile. I picked this because I thought that Donata was a noble girl who was different from other noble women by a huge scale, even daring to go outside her palazzo. Another literacy device is “Locked up in a house, like a tiny mouse” a metaphor. I used this because I wanted to show, like in chapter 3, that women are not treated as well as men. The part about the mouse describes how insignificant noble females seem in the Venetian Society. The part about her being locked up in the house shows how noble women in the Venetian Society are not allowed to leave their palazzo. “A mind like a maze,” is also a metaphor. This shows that Donata’s mind was complex and she was intelligent. I think her mind was complex because she left the palazzo in secret and for her pleasure but she ended up hurting her twin, Laura, and had to create a dangerous plan to stop her marriage and get Laura married instead. I think she is intelligent because her plan was quite clever and because she did very well in her tutorial. The last example is “Inside a stoic house as opposed to the streets” which is a metaphor. This compares the house of Noé, which is not as noisy and loud as the streets of Venice, where people are shouting. There are six vocabulary words from the Daughter of Venice list, each of which is in bold and stands out from the rest of the poem.
I thought maybe I should just post the explanation too.
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Nicholas Lhoest
4/21/2010 08:48:53 pm
Who is that Person? Who is that boy walking through the streets? A city that he obviously doesn’t know Hesitantly looking as scared as a mouse Will he ever find his way? This is going to be a momentous adventure
Walking, wandering, and wavering The boy stumbles and pain materializes His toe looked contorted and gross This is truly a bump in his adventure Can he continue with the journey?
As if lost as sea, The boy looks through the waves of people One pious man acts like a life saver Takes him aboard to safety in his home
At the home all seem new and scary The unselfish boy helps with his toe All fine and better now The pious boy became Donata’s friend
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Emilia Thordardottir
4/22/2010 02:48:57 am
Strange World
I am standing here alone, Contorted, Barefoot and unprotected, Don‘t recall on what to do, I try to be nonchalant, But when I look under the bottom my foot transfixed, I see a splinter, which is as tough as a nail.
I find a well close by, Where I clean my foot, But then I end up in a Jewish place, Where a kind boy got the sharp splinter out, Where everything is so different from our home, So much noise, So many people, The crowded street is like a fast flowing river, with an abundant amount of fish.
I mess up the spoons, And according to the Jews, Misplacing spoons is as awful.
When I got home, I was scared of people finding out I left the house, To go downtown, And I even ended up in a different place in Venice, As different as an elephant and mouse, A Jewish neighborhood.
What a momentous day, I was dressed as a boy, With my hair tied back and tucked in my fisherman shirt, Barefoot.
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Sara Sacco
4/23/2010 06:08:09 pm
An opened door Leading me to many experiences Not considering the consequences As I take one step forwards
Hiding no fear Transfixed by the whole new world Predicting no bawdyness While absorbed in my own dreams
Intrigued by the habitants From a different point of view Ache started to occure As I try to endure the pain
Morbidly, making, many faces As a reaction for my pain The people stare at me in wonder « where does this kid come from ? »
I promise I won’t give up This is the time of my dream Like pop corn on the stove I hop till I arrive home
Not having time to turn a corner Sufficated by my sisters Willing to know my adventure And for me to reveal my experience
Like a momentous event Everyone listens admiring Appealed by my new adventure They ask, « will you ever go back ? »
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Garrett Kipe
4/24/2010 11:41:42 pm
Donata’s adventure poem: Unknown Alleys By Garrett Kipe
There is a mystery disguised within Venice Many alley ways untouched Envious of my brother who travels these paths everyday No more will my soul feel sore from sorrow and my face look solemn From never visiting the many alleys of Venice For I have created a masquerade and a plan to conceal My secret This will be a momentous occasion
A fisher boy is who I’ve met A fair exchange of garments is made between us two, and no regrets Now the trade is done… I have no shoes Liberation from the confines and contortion My feet were forced to endure whilst trapped by my retched heels
Now out into Venice I go New sights everywhere One over there Another here As if they were a new light shining bright upon my skin Not too dark, not too light for my alabaster skin controls my secret
As I stand unflinching to the hustle and bustle that Surrounds me, I am in intrigued by this new alley that Is before me My curiousness brought me here, and now it will take me down This alley, but as I wander down the path only more questions Arise inside my brain
Ouch! A splinter invades my thoughts and pierces my foot Like a nail that is driven into one’s eye The pain tingles up my spine, step after step, further and further Until I meet a Jew, Noé With his kindness and the splinter out I bring chaos with my gratitude when mixing up the “kosherness” of utensil at his table Before I leave he gives me A pair of zoccoli … and then I’m off Yet with that I now have questions, many more questions…
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Kristin Engel
4/26/2010 04:33:52 am
Poem “A whole new culture just behind the walls“
A whole new culture just behind the walls, people screaming, sun shining on her alabaster skin, not knowing where to go, eavesdropping on private conversations, transfixed by the shining glass.
A sudden pain, a chocked scream she tumbles, barely manages to gain her balance back, she leans on a wall trying to gain hold
Too late she notices the dark shadow appearing, noticing her impeccable white skin, questioning her origin
An agressive hiss, fear driving through her whole body, not knowing what he will do next, a racous warning that makes her blood run cold
Her feet running away, only wanting to get our of the sight of the beggar boy who looks at her with a furious gaze
Calmy she gets carried over to the careless looking house, the door begged her to open it, the dark window shining such a thousand jewels
She opens the door, a whole new culture, all in front of her, the house of a Jew
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John Heinrich
4/26/2010 04:45:46 am
A venture into the unknown
Faltering down disheveled alleys Perishing into the unknown world Like a single raindrop draining into a labyrinth of canals
Contorted emotions An incessant pain traveling through her body Blissful to see a man wearing a kippah, a savior
Scrupulously caring her on his back Welcomed without warning Donata, unsecured but stoic
Deficient in the Jewish culture Remorseful about her mistakes After he had helped her
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Hannah Charlton
4/26/2010 08:10:37 pm
Hannah Charlton Alone in the streets
I wanted to escape consequently I was forbidden, I snuck out and found tattered and worn clothing, I tucked my braid into my hat, Finally I set of on my adventure,
The cold stone pressing against my feet, I always wondered how it would feel to be out all alone, It was an interesting yet a new experience, I forgot how good it feels to be free,
Not being nagged by my mother all the time, I walked alone confidently Even though I had a pain in my stomach that says “go home”, I tried to ignore it in the end I gave in,
Sneaking back into the house was the hard bit, My brothers stood there having a deep conversation, So deep they didn’t even see me, I got back into my room and took a sigh of relief, What was I? A fisher boy
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Mackenzie Austin
4/26/2010 08:11:26 pm
A Secret to Keep. Mackenzie Austin
Down the stairs I sneak silently Too exited to sleep I tip toe with a secret Hidden on yet beneath
Caught by my brother I bribe a hush Continue my journey Transfixed on the light moving towards me
I reach my hide out Change in silence As quiet as a mouse My first step onto freedom
Intriguing rock on my bare feet Spit on my check Warning of a beggar Kindness of a pious Jew
I rush back home With so much to tell Where to start Such a momentous adventure
I must go out again To pay that kind Jew But what of my secret I can’t keep it forever
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KHUMAYUN SHADIEV
4/27/2010 03:30:38 am
Donata is a girl in a really rich family She has a four brother and many sisters She eavesdrops on her parents and is impeccably smart She wants to escape to explore mostly all the time
She met an intriguing young man The man’s name was Noa and she envied him allot The man was very pious and followed his religion very strictly She met him on her momentous first day outside
Further more she got a job at the local printing press factory She was really happy and had a lot of dignity on the way home Her parents were dumb as rocks and did not notice anything
Donata and Laura go to a tutor and get taught like their oldest brothers Donata’s sisters cover for her from the inside while she goes outside and has a great time This is how they go along
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Johannes Herforth
4/27/2010 04:34:34 am
Escape from the inside world.
Inside, so always the same Locked up like in a convent Her skin’s complexion like alabaster Curious to see the real world.
Outside, so always mysterious Unfettered sunlight and raucous laughter Darkened alleys that never get shined on So excited to step into the unknown.
Splinters that is what hurts! The sharp, stinging wood sticking in like an arrow in a target Poor Donata limping, somewhere Hebrew singing Will she find help in the Ghetto?
Cold water numbing her pain A kind man helping her Taking her, carrying her back to his house Looking at her foot, squeezing successfully, so thankful.
Getting home, the hardest thing to do Going back to always the same But with a pair of zoccoli and a yarmulke Sneaking back home, being careful of everyone.
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Natalia Almeida
5/2/2010 03:31:23 am
Unprotected
Under the raucous screams of desperate fishermen Between the markets, I’m trying to escape I’m barefoot I’m scared
Incessant voices confuse me like a maze I see lights and smell intriguing smells I’ve never done before Someone is talking to me I feel puzzled “I am not a beggar” I say, “I’m not one of you” My conscience accuses me Should I have done that?
I’m trying my best to keep me safe Not to get caught Or cut my self But the streets are cruel, the people are cruel
I make a mistake, a terrible one I step on the wood, and now I’ve got a splinter I’m in pain and alone But I don’t feel rancorous I’m sure of what I’m doing But now my foot hurts like a gunshot
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