For my creative project, I wrote short poems about different ways each unit discussed identity/ the human experience and the idea of controlling the narrative. Identity is a concept so fundamental to how we view ourselves/society, so across each unit, this theme was interpreted in different ways. In many ways, elites in society are given control of the narrative and these poems allow individuals to regain control of their unique experiences. Furthermore, identity determines the characteristics of who we are/why we act in the ways we do, so each of these poems examines different ways to view racial, religious, and gendered identities. Everyone wants to be able to speak their unqiue truths, so these poems explore that concept.
Unit 1 short poem:
Who am I?
The very question runs
Through my mind
It revolves around
The blocks that society has built
Constraining, restricting, limiting
Me
To who I can be.
Unit 2:
It reigns true
That a word can have many meanings
The words that I write
Can be interpreted in many different ways
It just depends
Who
Is there to say what I
Really mean
This is the power
The power
Of those
Who
Gets to put words into my mouth.
Unit 3:
A leg, an arm, a skull
A large pile
Piled high
Yet
I feel almost nothing.
Nothing at all.
Why is this?
I ask myself
Why?
Do I feel nothing for the pain that surrounds me
The body, all mangled
Strewn on the ground
Why can I no longer feel their pain?
Unit 4:
The bible says
That one man
Must
Submit
To the other
But
If this is the truth
Then why are all men created equal in the eyes of god?
Black, white, brown
Why does society
Allow
There to be divides?
It is never
Okay
To let anyone be treated differently?
Must it take a
Revolution
To allow us to be the same?
Unit 5:
How do I show to others that I am important? That I exist?
I speak; yet no one listens
I scream; yet no one listens
I march; heads turn
Yet
My body is not enough; blood
In the streets: PERFORMANCE
How is this fair?
I just want to be heard; recognized as human.
Unit 6:
My art is as good as yours. Is it not?
I am a part of the movement as much as you are.
Why am I not recognized?
Why does no one care?
I am a person, yet not seen as equal
Forgotten by society
My work is sometimes attributed to a man.
I thought we were better than this.
I plead with others
Please
Remember me; remember my story
But
They look right past me; through me
As if
I am not worth being placed within the
Narrative
I try to show
Unit 7:
Sometimes i like to write what i feel
The poetry makes us who we truly are
It is our identity
Yet
When i write my truth
Blood spills
Ropes around my neck
Iron to remember my name
Unit 8:
If i justify killing the innocent, what does that make
Me
A killer as well? Guilty?
I am proud of who i am
Yet
The bars hold me back.
Bombs in the streets
Fires
Buildings crumble to the ground
Flowers on a grave
On my grave?
My words are my imprisonment.
I am punished for speaking my truth
Death.
