I Come From
I come from birthday parties spent upstairs,
Sick, never getting better,
Puke-stained covers,
I come from lullabies sang from a bright star,
she the bright light, soothed me,
as I was springing up,
I come from torn, wrecked albums,
that smelt of dirt and smoke, edges grey and soft,
easy to bend,
I come from a split up family,
Knifes stabbed in backs, bullets made holes in skins and hearts, as tears were shared among families,
I come from Saturdays of fun and laughter,
creative minds put to one, as we made a mansion of forts,
I come from woofs and meows,
as tears stormed to mother, scratched and bites.
I come from cigarettes, and destroyed lungs,
puffs of white smoke in the breezy air.
What happened when you are little doesn't define you as a person, but it is a part of you and you can never get rid of your past. The scars from your bullets and cuts, people can still see them because they are permanently on your skin but the scars don't define you as a person. Your past is for memories and looking back upon, that is what I was trying to say in this poem. Your past isn't your identity because you change who you are, right now this second is who YOU are, that is YOUR identity. Don't let those scars define who you are because they are just scars now, nothing else. I used a metaphor in my poem, like when I say, “I come from lullabies sang from a bright star.” It wasn’t actually a bright start that sang to me it was my mother.
Thy Body Lies You are like a baby bird - tries to fly,
You try to fly away but keep falling,
Memories of photos thy body lies,
Eating away at you, scratching, biting,
Feeling as if winter is almost here,
Youth is still alive but that gets cut down,
Every time I think about my past year,
As I feel my leaves falling to the ground,
As a breeze enters my body, I wait,
for that day for all the mad pain to go,
I say my sorries and all my messed ups,
But the feeling still streams through, as I row,
After everything I do, I still love,
I am me, I have changed to fit my glove.
I am saying that even though your past may make you want to lay down and die, it is still your past and you change. When I say, “I have changed to fit my glove.” It means that now you are a changed person and now you are finally YOU. I lead up with how the person just wants to lie down and they feel sick and they hurt, but at the end they realize that they are different and its the past, they can’t do anything about it. This shows your identity because, you have changed to fit your glove and your identity is different now, and your not the same person as you use to be. I used a simile in my poem, like when I say, “You are like a baby bird - tries to fly.” So I used like in the sentence and it wasn't direct comparison so that didn't make it a metaphor.
Time Ticking
I come from minutes and seconds,
As time went by,
Hands breaking every second goes by,
I come from faces looking at me,
Annoyed, glared at,
Waiting for time to come,
I come from nights and days,
Spent alone, cold and lonely,
Waiting for someone to look at me.
The author/me that wrote this poem is saying about identity, is that people can help you make your identity. In the poem I use a clock to represent a kid in school, the first part, “as time goes by, hands breaking every second.” That is basically saying that knifes stabbed in backs because kids in school talked bad about each other. The next one, “i come from faces looking at me, annoyed, glared at, waiting for the time to go.” It means that the kid gets glared at and everyone is making fun of her, and she is waiting for the time to come for it to all go away, and for someone to look at her with love. The next one, “Nights and days, spent alone, cold, lonely, waiting for someone to look at me.” That means that she is so alone she doesn't have anyone to go too. And she is waiting for that one person to look at her with love, and happiness. This ties into identity because people can shape you.
Je t’aime ma belle He brighter than the sun,
Rescues me from the dark cloud above me,
Brings me to a fantasyland,
That only us can see,
Je t’aime ma belle,
He tells me every night,
Before I lay my head on feathers,
He my angel,
Never gives up on me,
Sticks by me at the worst,
A token of me,
Becomes a token of him,
My blanket,
Makes me warm,
When I got left out in the cold,
He,
My love.
In the poem it is saying that your love can be apart of your identity, because in a marriage, what is yours becomes theirs, whats theirs becomes yours. Like when I say, “A token of me, becomes a token of you.” A marriage or a relationship can be your identity because you are no longer alone. Je t’aime ma belle means I love you my beautiful. I used a metaphor in my poem, when I said, “He my angel.” He’s not actually my angel, he is a real person but he never gives up on me, which makes me feel like he is my angel.
 
dog. dog
Dog Dog. Cuddles dog
Care Care warm warm
Dog Dog Dog kind kind kind
Care Dog. dog. Bark bark bark
Dog Dog Laughs laughs bark
Barks warm warm laughs laughs
Dog cuddles cuddles dog kind warm warm warm kind kind
Cuddles cuddles cuddles dogs puppies puppies dogs
Puppies warm baby bark barks dog dog dog dog
Laughs laughs the dog runs the dog runs barks
The dog runs the dog runs the dog runs barks dog
Warm cuddles warm cuddles the dog runs barks
Happiness warm cuddles the dog runs the dog
The dog runs the dog runs the dog runs barks
Warm cuddles the dog runs the dog runs bark
The dog runs Blue skies,
The dog runs Days spent,
Cuddles Outside,
Warm kind Waiting
warm dog For the
Dog dog Right time
Dog barks Face your
Dog Fears and
Barks Challenges
I chose a dog for
My concrete poem
Because I find that dogs
Help people through
Tough times in life
Like when you don't make a
Sports team or do bad on a test you
Go home to your dog and cuddle them and
They always make you feel better and warm
Inside. Dogs are apart of your identity because
I think they can help you change who you are, so if
You did something bad, lots of times, Dogs can help
You get over it and change how you
View things, like if you need to have
More respect towards others, dogs
Can help you fight through things in
Life, and when you don't want to be
Alone they will make you less lonely. I believe that
Dogs can help define who you are. Dogs weren't made
To push you down they were made to build you back
Up. I made that poem in the dogs leg because
Dogs can help you face your fears and build
Up your self confidence. Normally when
People think of dogs they think of
Happiness, love, joy, laughs
Smiles and so many
Wonderful things. Dogs
Can help the society in
A way and change
The world into
Happiness.
It’s just a dream you keep alive by dreaming A balloon that wants to hit the ground and burst But which you keep afloat by thinking. The past is only a tail You keep dragging behind you Collecting dust and dirt Until it’s so heavy with bitterness and regret It stops you moving forward. You don’t have to sit there and watch While the scenes of your past play back The tragi-comedy of your life Simmering with hurt and envy Shuddering with embarrassment Stabbing yourself with pangs of regret. There is no past There are only memories of events And every memory is refracted through A hall of mental mirrors Until whatever once was true Dissipates and disappears Like vapour trails fading in the sky. So cut the tail, and cut the tale Turn the mental projector off Don’t strain your eyes trying to see through the fog When the panorama of the present stretches Clear and bright around you.
Why did you choose this? I love poems about the past, I don’t know what is about them but they make me almost want to listen to them and do what they say. Its almost as if it is my mother telling me not to worry about life and just keep moving forward. It almost gives me a warmth inside that I love more than anything.
What is happening? I think that it is saying that you can't let the past weigh you down and drag you across the floor. It is trying to tell you to learn and forget. It happened for a reason, and you learnt from it, so now forget what happened. I love how they used lines like, “the past is only a tail, you keep dragging behind you, collecting dust and dirt, until it is so heavy with bitterness and regret, it stops you from moving.” I think that is so accurate but they just didn't lay it out for you they uses a tail. “There is no past, there is only memories of events.” I think that is so true, people think that the past is HUGE and that it is so important. Really, its just a series of events and you aren't there anymore so you can't get so caught up in something where your not even there anymore.
What theme is it expressing? I think that it is saying that stop weighing yourself down because of what happened and that your identity isn't always what happened in the past. You have to learn and forget, and I believe that, that is what identity is, as time moves on your identity changes too.
The past is the past for a reason. That is where it is supposed to stay, But some cannot let it go. In their heads it eats away Until all their focus becomes The person that they used to be, The mistakes they made in their life. Oh, if only they could see That you cannot change what happened No matter how hard you try, No matter how much you think about it, No matter how much you cry. What happens in your lifetime Happens for reasons unknown, So you have to let the cards unfold Let your story be shown. Don't get wrapped up in the negative. Be happy with what you have been given. Live for today not tomorrow. Get up, get out, and start living, Because the past is the past for a reason. It's been and now it is gone, So stop trying to think of ways to fix it. It's done, it's unchangeable, move on.
Why did you choose this? I chose this poem because the title of the poem which is Changing the Past, that kind of made me question the poem and want to read it, because even if you want to change the past you can't and you have to live with what you did, good or bad. When I skimmed over this poem it made me want to write about it because of how touching it was to me as a young girl.
What is happening? It is saying that so many people get so caught up in the past and they try and try to fix it but they just can't because it already happened, and they can't do anything about it. I love when it says, “because the past is the past for a reason, its been and now its gone, so stop trying ways to fix it, its done, its unchangeable, move on.” Even reading this poem has made me think, because I have been thinking and hurting inside because of things that has happened in the past, and this poem has made me think that its okay,, and I just need to move on.
What theme is it expressing? I think that this is saying that your past doesn’t define you because people change, and your identity is who you are right now. I also think it is saying that people need to stop living in the past and start living in the present. This is also saying that your identity can change because as life goes on you change and your identity is YOU and if you change your identity has to change with you no matter what. I think it is just trying to tell people that it is ok and don't try to change what happened, “In their heads it eats away, until all their focus becomes, the person they use to be.” It says the person they USE to be, so you are not the same anymore don't let that define you.
It is appropriate that I sing The song of the feet The weight of the body And what the body chooses to bear Fall on me I trampled the American wilderness Forged frontier trails Outran the mob in Tulsa Got caught in Philadelphia And am still unreparated I soldiered on in Korea Jungled through Vietman sweated out Desert Storm Caved my way through Afghanistan Tunneled the World Trade Center And on the worst day of my life Walked behind JFK Shouldered MLK Stood embracing Sister Betty I wiggle my toes In the sands of time Trusting the touch that controls my motion Basking in the warmth of the embrace Day’s end offers with warm salty water It is appropriate I sing The praise of the feet I am a Black woman
Why did you choose this? There was something to the poem that just gives me this warmth and happiness. It makes me feel strong and happy.
What is happening? I think what is happening is that she is a black women that has gone to war and she has fought through tough times, I got that from, “On the worst day of my life, I walked behind JFK.” And I think that is representing of how strong she is to hold herself together and to fight for herself even through tough times.
What theme is it expressing? I think it is expressing that your identity isn't just what you look like or what race you are, its the things you do for the world like when the writer says, “I soldiered in on Korea, I trampled the American wilderness.” And I love how the writer says at the end, “I am a black women.” I think that it is saying that her identity is fighting for her country or for her family and that she is a strong independent women.
She just wants to be beautiful She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits She craves attention, she praises an image She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor Oh, she don't see the light that's shining Deeper than the eyes can find it Maybe we have made her blind So she tries to cover up her pain And cut her woes away 'Cause covergirls don't cry After their face is made But there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark You should know you're beautiful just the way you are And you don't have to change a thing The world could change its heart No scars to your beautiful We're stars and we're beautiful Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh And you don't have to change a thing The world could change its heart No scars to your beautiful We're stars and we're beautiful She has dreams to be an envy, so she's starving You know, "Covergirls eat nothing." She says, "Beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything." "What's a little bit of hunger?" "I can go a little while longer," she fades away So to all the girls that's hurting Let me be your mirror
Why did you choose this? I know the song, and the song Scars To Your Beautiful has a nice beat and a beautiful meaning. I also like her music because I think all her songs have a powerful meaning to them.
What is happening? In today’s world girls have to be thin and curvy to be beautiful, and that if young girls aren't like that they are in a dark bubble and it’s like they are depressed because they aren't beautiful like the other girls. This song is telling you that there is light in the dark for you. Society has made young girls blind because they can't see their own beauty anymore, like when she says, “maybe we have made her blind.” Young girls want to be that covergirl/model type, and the stereo type is that they don't cry, they don't eat, and she is trying to tell girls that beauty isn't just the outside of your body, there is your own unique beauty on the inside and outside, but YOU have to notice that and that others have to help you and they have to be your mirrors.
What theme is it expressing? I think that this song is saying that girls these days think that their identity is what they look like and what their body figure is. This song is saying that, “you should know you’re beautiful the way you are.” Girls want to change what they look like to fit the ‘right’ identity so the songs says, “you don't have to change a thing, the world can change its heart.” And that’s saying that the world is wrong and you are you and if they don't like who you are then they can change for you, don't change for them.
The room was suddenly rich and the great bay-window was Spawning snow and pink roses against it Soundlessly collateral and incompatible: World is suddener than we fancy it. World is crazier and more of it than we think, Incorrigibly plural. I peel and portion A tangerine and spit the pips and feel The drunkenness of things being various. And the fire flames with a bubbling sound for world Is more spiteful and gay than one supposes— On the tongue on the eyes on the ears in the palms of one's hands— There is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.
Why did you choose this?
I like the word choices this writer has chosen. I like how the words come together as one, when I read it for the first time it sounded beautiful.
What is happening?
I think this poem is saying that there is so much more to the world then we think, that there is so much more to discover, because there is new things each and everyday. Like when it says, “world is crazier and more of it than we think.” Or we don't treat the world as it is suppose to be, I think this is saying that people don't understand that we don't look at the world how we are suppose to because the world is so wonderful, it has all of our needs to survive like when the poem says, “world is suddener than we fancy it.” The ending is really nice because it really sums it up when it says, “there is more than glass between the snow and the huge roses.” I think it is representing that there is more to the world between the humans and the universe.
What theme is it expressing?
I think the poem is saying that people think their identity is just themselves but I think that the world has helped us make our identity like if we didn't have the planet then how do we know what our hobbies are or our passion and that is a HUGE part of our identity.
https://mrsmindfulness.com/forget-the-past-a-poem-by-steve-taylor/
https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/changing-the-past
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/90182/the-song-of-the-feet
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alessiacara/scarstoyourbeautiful.html
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/91395/snow-582b58513ffae