I have forced myself

to contradict myself in
order to avoid
conforming to my own
taste.
-Marcel Duchamp

The imaginary is
what tends to
become real.
-Andr Breton

For my surrealist book, I

created a Dada poem.
Dadaists fueled their
creativity and writings by
cutting out words of a
magazine and randomly
place them on paper.
Eventually, the words turn
into poem stanzas and there
you have a Dada poem!

Surrealist art typically

involved a juxtaposition of
two images. Often times the
arts purpose is to reveal
thoughts of the unconscious
mind and even times be
mind playing to the eye. My
collage is cut outs from a
magazine of what I liked.

Ode to...

The beginnings of Surrealism birthed out of

Paris, France around the 1920s. Soon after,
Latin Americans were influenced by what
was happening in Europe and started
creating more works of art and writings.
Pablo Neruda wrote a book full of poems to
things that he gave an ode to. For example,
he wrote an ode to his socks. Students in
class mimicked is ode poems and wrote an
ode to any object. The poems are
purposefully supposed to be exaggerated
and descriptive. In the next slide, youll find
my ode to chapstick.

Ode to the Burts Bees Chapstick

Your pure ingredients
The hybrid leaves of peppermint
The natural wax from bees
All compacted
In your high-beam yellow
plastic body
Your cap opens
And the sounds mimic like lip
puckers
Close
Open
Close open
Your creamy texture
Assists the cracks along my lips

And they flourish

In a swimming pool
of hydration
Its you
Who is apart of my everday
Fitting meticulously
In my black bag
That blocks you from the sun
Your minty smell,
Matte complexion
Lingers
As it gently rests upon
The rims of my lips

After creating our ode to a common thing poem in English, we were asked
to create our common thing in Art class. The image above is a bigger version
of my burts bees chapstick that I created with paper mache and paint.

Awakenings by Robert Desnos

It's strange how you wake sometimes in the middle of the

Of the mysterious door of bodies

night in the middle of sleep someone has knocked on a

Even if he's only left us for a few minutes

door

at the troublesome moment when we put out the light

And in the extraordinary city of midnight of half-waking

What does he become then

and half-memory heavy gates clang from street to street

Where does he wander? does he suffer?

Who is this nocturnal visitor with an unknown face

Is this the origin of ghosts?

what does he seek what does he spy

the origin of dreams?

Is he a poor man demanding bread and shelter

the birth of regrets?

Is he a thief is he a bird

No longer knock at my door visitor

Is he a reflection of ourselves in the mirror

There's no room on my hearth or in my heart

Back from a transparent abyss

For the old images of myself

Trying to re-enter us

Perhaps you recognize me

Then he realizes that we've changed

I'll never know how do you recognize yourself

that the key no longer turns in the lock

We read another famous Surrealist poem by Robert Desnos. The first time
you read it, I had a hard time trying to wrap an image around what the
author is trying to get across. However, in the next slide, you will find my
analysis of the poem.

Awakenings Analysis

Katrina Sayavanh
The speaker in Robert Desnos poem Awakenings is reluctant to face the self he is when he sleeps
because he is unsure whether this self is good or evil. The speaker personifies the ideas and thoughts
he has while sleeping by referring them to a single being, a nocturnal visitor and seeks something
mysterious. He wonders about the nature of this visitor, noting his uncertainty with repeated questions
about whether he is a weaker figure in need of shelter or something more sinister, like a thief. It
becomes apparent that the encounters of the visitor has come to his sleep multiple times, as indicated
when the speaker explains, back from a transparent abyss trying to re-enter us. However, further
down the poem, the speaker comes to terms with the notion that hes realized the visitor and himself
have both changed. The fact that the key no longer turns the lock indicates this visitor no longer
serves his purpose of good or evil, because the speaker is now realizing that what they had in relation
to each other, was in the past. It is clear through the end of the poem, the speaker wishes to get rid of
this visitor, or essentially, the self he is in his darker, unexplainable moments. He says, theres no
room on my hearth or in my heart which is significant to him trying to rid himself of the person that he
used to be. Robert Desnos poem could be looked at many different ways. Yet, the overall image that
readers can hypothesize is the message to let yourself free from the experiences in the past that drain
you.