Entry #1 – “My Childhood Days” – I am From
I am from scraped knees,
Fallen bicycles and ripped shirts
I am from short hair With a straight bang
And my two missing front teeth
I am from the sound of the dogs barking
Tall grass in the compound
And the rocks that cut through the air
Heading straight for the dog
I am from the July days in the pool
Splashing water with a swim ring around my waist
And running under the sprinklers
On a midsummer day
I am from Tom and Jerry in the mornings
To the green lush park
And the childhood laugher
Until the time I went to bed
I am from the hot summer nights
With the screeches of cicadas echoing through the air
As the countless mosquitoes surrounded me
Waiting to take a delicious bite
I am from dreaming to grow up
As soon as possible
And now wishing that
I could go back to my childhood days
Entry #2 – “What do I live for?” – Free Verse
I wonder
Why do I live
What is the point of living?
What do I live for?
I don’t have a passion
I don’t have a value
I don’t have a dream
So what do I live for?
I go to school
I learn
I do homework
I eat, I sleep
And the cycle goes on and on
Some people say that they want to grow up
To be a teacher
To be a lawyer
To be an actor
To be a doctor
Or so their parents say
I, don’t have a dream
I can’t find something interesting enough for me to do
Or something that I cannot live without
I have tried many things
music, sports, literature, art
so much things
Yet none of them are important enough to me
So what shall I do?
What do I live for?
My parents want me to be a good person when I grow up
That means
Go to a good college
Get a good job
Have children
Raise children
Yet the children will just turn out the way that I am now
They’ll go to school
Learn
Do homework
Eat, sleep
The cycle goes on
On and on for generations
I find no point in that!
Nothing interests me
Because I have nothing to live for
But for now
I’m living for the sake of my parents
They have done so much to raise me
Put in so much effort
To give me a house, clothing, food
Send me to school
So that I can get a good education
And grow up to be a good person
Have children and be happy
So even though I still can’t find the meaning of life
I will go on with this dull and endless cycle
For the sake of my parents and all those people that care about me
Until I find something that I will live for
And maybe that’s why we live
To find something that we can live for
Then live for it.
Teacher Comments:
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Personal Change
This is one of my favorite poems this year. It really evokes nostalgia in me. You do a good job of balancing the personal and the universal.
This free verse feels more like a slam poem that lives on paper only. As you know. That’s not what slams are for. It is well-written, but it lacks poetic devices.