California is running out of water. Yet according to California water usages, this desert uses more water than any other state in America. Why is that? Its because this place is a natural desert where people water their lawns, grow their plants, wash their cars, and waste lots of water. Something needs to be done about this and fast, time is running out and this problem is growing, not shrinking.

One thing that is wasting a lot of water in California is Nestle’s water bottling. In Sacramento, Nestle is buying and bottling water from California. This bought water needs to stay in California. Ever since 2010 the plant has been producing bottles of water to sell. Whats weird is that not all the water stays in this state. Why take water from a state in a drought and sell it away? I don’t know but it angers others who are now protesting for their water. In the company’s defense, Nestle says 80% of the bottles stay in California and the amount of water  they bought isn’t a big number (less than 1%) (sacbee.com). Still, that water needs to stay in this drying desert little amount or not.

A bigger problem in California is agriculture. According to the Washington Post, around 80% of California’s water goes to agriculture. Because of that, this state is a lead producer of almonds, milk, and grapes. Unfortunately, things like almond trees require a lot of water. Eight percent of all of California’s water supplies go to almonds (almonds.com). Abcnews.go.com says that almonds in this desert consume 1.1 trillion gallons of water a year. Something needs to change. This non-native plant takes up too much water. Agriculture can’t be sustained if it’s going to leach from what little water California has left. Some say that CA needs to keep growing almonds and other plants because many of the countries food supplies rely on California’s produce because 99% of all almonds in America are from California. Still, I believe that there should be a cut on how much water can go to this parched state’s agriculture.

California is drying up. There is not a long future ahead because the LA times says “We have 12 to 18 months left of water supply”. That’s not long, not long at all. That is of course how much time California has left if the state expends water like it does now. Conserving water is the only option or we face water depletion. What’s cool is that you can do things to help. One thing is not to buy water bottles that came Nestle’s factory in Sacramento, another is to not water plants. What plants that can live here can live here but what can’t shouldn’t. Also, you take shorter showers and buy less water draining foods. These are things that can help California from drying up into some raisin of a state.

Inspired by American Gothic

The lady

on the left half of the picture

staring directly at

the mans neck

he stands

shoulder in front of her

unaware that his wife is a vampire

still, he holds his Melon-spearing fork

in front of him

protecting his house and wife behind

from the packing peanuts of doom

he isn’t worried

even if he knew his wife was a vampire

it won’t matter because

this is his final stand

he won’t let and packing peanuts by without a fight

unfortunately, his wife is getting hungry

she will eat him

unless he finds out

That she is wearing

SPF 1000000

“We die soon”; that is the ending line in the poem “We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks. That line brings a question why would anyone say, we die soon? Discovering the poetic elements in this helped me understand why these sentences and techniques were used.

The identification of these elements gave me the power of its message. I perceived this message as a warning. A warning to the young reader about not ending up like the seven at the golden shovel. Now I know what not to do.

There were three main literary devices used in the poem. This includes repetition, alliteration, and assonance. Repetition was used through the entire poem. Every sentence had “We” in the beginning. An example is ” We real cool/We left school”. Using the word “we” before every line gives the poem a steady rhythm.

Another contribution to the rhythm was assonance. Assonance, very similar to rhyming, was incorporated throughout the writing. “We real cool/We left school”; cool and school have repeating vowel sounds. The same with “late and straight”. Assonance in many of the lines evens out the pace of the poem and makes it catchy.

The third and final element was alliteration. In my opinion, it was the least helpful element in the poem. It was there, but not everywhere. “Lurk late…strike straight” didn’t add to much of anything except more catchiness. This might have been different if alliteration was in the whole poem.

Gwendolyn Brooks, the writer of the poem must have had some inspiration. I assume that because she focuses on such specific things, they aren’t general ideas. I can infer that she got her inspiration from some people she must have seen out of school. They must have showed her all she needed for her poem throughout their body languages and faces. They must have had the look saying “we are soooo cool”. Thinking about these ideas has helped me understand the poem and its message. I can now enjoy the poem now that I understand.

Understanding the poetic elements got me to understand the theme and message. Thanks to going over the uncertain parts and themes of the poem, I am enlightened and I have no more questions.