I AM ME Davis Williams Poetry Anthology
Introduction My name was known before I was born. My father, grandfather, and great grandfather impressed upon my soul that hard work and self sacrifice bring an honest man. I am the fourth of my lineage, the oldest son, and the middle child - a boy caught between an older sister and younger brother. The identity of twelve-year-old Bart David Williams IV is maturing and ever-developing through the paths laid before me, and those that I have not traveled but long to explore. Yet, as I began to grow and understand more, I also came to understand that I would always be caught under the shadow of my older sister, Amy Kate. That is why my theme of personal identity meant so much to me. I know exactly how Jacqueline Woodson feels! Once I decided to consider the theme of personal identity, I searched for poems that addressed that theme in brown girl dreaming, the Internet, and Issue. That led me to discovering how Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost had pondered the question of individual identity before me, and how that had inspired some of their most personal poetry. Looking back on that “literature search� experience, I sometimes wish that I had chosen an easier theme. However, through my reading, I learned that identity formation is the result of making choices, and that sometimes those choices may produce feelings of uncertainty. In The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost suggests that forging a truly satisfying individual identity is a lifelong process. Not only that, but Frost’s poem also taught me that living a happy life involves making careful choices and freeing yourself of feelings of doubt or regret once you make a defining decision in your life. While reading, brown girl dreaming, I felt a personal connection with the poet based on our mutual desire to differentiate ourselves from others and to create our own unique identities. Then, after reading Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, I realized that this is a universal theme. I arranged my poems in my Anthology by placing my personal poetry after my brown girl dreaming poetry selections, in the middle of my book, because I think I may be approaching the middle of my journey to discover who I am as an individual. I have not yet arrived at the "fork in the road" in my life. However, I have come to the point where I feel that I need to determine my own personal identity and follow a unique, carefully chosen path that may not be the same path as my sister, father, grandfather, or great-grandfather.
“the other woodson” By Jacqueline Woodson
Even though so many people think my sister and I are twins, I am the other Woodson, following behind her each year into the same classroom she had the year before. Each teacher smiles when they call my name. Woodson, they say. You must be Odella’s sister. Then they nod slowly, over and over again, call me Odella. Say,
I’m sorry! You look so much like her and she is SO brilliant! then wait for the brilliance to light up the classroom. Wait for my arm to fly into the air with every answer. Wait for my pencil to move quickly through the too-easy math problems on the mimeographed sheet. Wait for me to stand before class, easily reading words even high school students stumble over. And they keep waiting. And waiting and waiting and waiting until one day, they walk into the classroom, almost call me Odel-then stop remember that I am the other Woodson and begin searching for brilliance at another desk.
“reading” By Jacqueline Woodson
I am not my sister. Words from the books curl around each year make little sense until I read them again and again, the story settling into memory. Too slow the teacher says. Read faster. Too babyish, the teacher says. Read older. But I don’t want to read faster or older or Any way else that might Make the story disappear too quickly from where it’s settling inside my brain, slowly becoming a part of me. A story I will remember long after I’ve read it for the second, third, tenth, hundredth time.
“Where I Am From� By Davis Williams I am from the South
From food and baking cookies I am from the ice in the freezer (White, shiny, it tasted like water) I am from the rosebuds The giant Oak Whose trunk I remember as if my own I am from ice cream sundaes From Ben and Jerry's and scary movies I am from the O My Gosh From the Whatever and the I got it! From turn it up, to be quiet I am from, He watches over you With His Holy Word And ten chapters with questions left unanswered I am from bacon on Christmas From candy on Halloween From Grandpa's ring he left behind From good memories Sifting and settling in the dust I am from the past and the present
I am Me
“Names” By Davis Williams
A single name Could mean anything Anything but, our true identity For that We have to discover - ourselves Names are supposed to define us Tell people who we are Yet, they don't explain us They don't tell what we can do What we could do, if given the chance Like an eclipse, They can shadow us Cover us Prevent us from showing the world What we are Yet, like the full moon’s glow Our identity lifted by invisible strings Its voice strong and clear Ringing above the silence Showing the world Who we are What we are What we could be
I’m Nobody! Who Are You? By Emily Dickinson
I’m Nobody! Who Are You? Are you – Nobody – too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell! they’d advertise - you know!
How dreary - to be – Somebody! How public – like a Frog – To tell one’s name – the livelong June – To an admiring Bog!
Analysis of “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”
“The Road Not Taken” By Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and II took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
This last stanza of Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is indeed one of the most recited and inspiring lines of American poetry. Through this simple, natural imagery, Frost exposes the critical importance of forging one’s own personal identity. The main message of this poem is that we must choose our own path to follow in life; the experiences we open ourselves to will carve our identity. To communicate this theme of the personal journey to self-identity, Robert Frost uses a fork in the road as a simple metaphor for making our own individual, defining choices in life. This is a highly effective poetic device that suggests an easily relatable experience. We can take Road 1 or Road 2, and, while traveling the road of life, we can choose experience A or B. Frost places the reader at this decision point immediately as the poem opens with the lines “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both.” When reading these words, it is easy to envision oneself standing in the woods gazing at these paths that seem so alike. The two lines not only convey the struggle in making good personal decisions, they reveal the challenges and anxiety one may feel while grappling in life with wanting everything that life has to offer. These words produce a clear picture of the fork in the road representing life’s significant choices, as we set our personal journey and identity-path in motion. After making our choices, as “way leads onto way,” we are sometimes left with the question - “what if.” Another example of this same “fork in the road” metaphor appears in the last stanza, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” Again, this stanza expresses the image of two paths going in quite different and rather uncertain directions, leaving the reader contemplating the journey and its effect on developing self-identity through life’s experiences, opportunities, and relationships. Our journey in life and development of personal identity may not come from one specific path taken or one single decision made as Frost has suggested, yet those defining moments make us who we ultimately become.