Autobiographical Poems

When the assignment for autobiographical poems was presented the first week, I was very interested but also a little nervous. I have been learning about myself in so many ways over the past few years and this is in part to classes like this one that force me to think alternatively. Well, alternatively in regards to my original thinking. I was not sure what to write, but I knew that I wanted to share all I knew about myself. I found it hard to narrow it down to what others might think are the most important aspects of myself. When I thought about it even more as I was writing, I reminded myself that it did not matter what someone else thought was important about me, but what I found important and telling about who I am that matters. I really enjoyed writing the poem and could have continued, but since I had a deadline, I had to stop. I truly enjoyed and felt privileged to hear my classmates' and instructor's poems. There were several surprising pieces of my classmates that I was unaware of.

After submitting my poem, I reflected on the process and what I was feeling as I wrote. As I wrote, I had to think about everything that I thought I was and even about what other people thought I was or was not. This poem was like a declaration of self. It was remarkably empowering. It helped me to think about what I wanted to share with others as well as areas where I could or want to improve or change.

One of the biggest obstacles I faced when writing this was which style to use. In another TE class, I was asked to write another autobiographical poem. However, this time the style was explicit. Thus, I was able to write a second poem that was actually completely different than my first one. I was much more impressed by my second poem than my first though. I did not post them in this blog because they are both 3 typed pages long, but if you are interested in reading them, message me and I will send them your way. My first poem presented my frustrations while my second one dug more into my past that has helped me to develop into who I am currently. I feel that both methods I have seen for structuring this assignment are useful. I think that if I were to use this with children, I would give an explicit style to work in, while allowing those that wanted to stray to do so as an extra part. I think that by having everyone complete the same style, everyone will be thinking similarly. Oh boy, now I'm not making any sense. I think I am trying to say that focusing on the same style will focus on the same aspects of each person but provide the opportunity to see the differences and similarities. For example, the first poem I wrote was the depiction of one side of a typical conversation. This focused on the questions I am asked all the time and some of the are just plain silly, but people ask them. The second poem was in the context of where I was from, and this I interpreted as childhood, as many of my classmates did based on the examples. Both of these poems expressed who I was, but in different ways and I think that is key for others. This writing helped me to feel empowered and as I have said I am not one that is typically thought of as underrepresented, although if you read my poems you will see that that is not necessarily true.

You might be asking yourself: What does all this have to do with our class themes? Well, I thought a great deal about my own diversity. I never really thought of myself in the "majority" standard when being labeled. But through our class discussions, I realized that I do fit in some places of that large category. I believe that the mixed feelings about self-exploration and positive feelings about expressing this written piece of myself that I had can be applicable to everyone. I thought about how to connect this assignment to other aspects of my life and how to use this to increase the multicultural understanding of others around me. I definitely fill the role of perpetual teacher and try to share everything I find value in and think is important to helping others develop, though sometimes it might not be appreciated. I believe that this assignment of writing and autobiographical poem would be beneficial for literally everyone to do. I believe that by writing about your own identity you start to think about that of others in relation to yourself. When you share these pieces you may be completely surprised and some of your unfounded assumptions may be erased and you will likely also find many commonalities that you never knew or even thought existed. I've actually sent both of these poems to some of my family members, particularly my stepfather, and have asked them to write their own. I hope to receive some interesting pieces. I will also be using this with several staffs that I am a part of in the Department of Residence Life, which will hopefully then be used on various floors across campus. Additionally, I feel that it is acceptable to explore children's literature written by children that is not published, such as in class work.

This connected when we read Bronx Masquerade. It was an amazing novel that explored the identities of several students through essentially autobiographical poems. Although the book was a work of fiction, each poem was well developed and different. If taken out of context, I think that many of those poems could have applied to the same person at different times in his or her life. This idea also indicates to me that writing a poem like this should be done more than once at different times.