Poems from Final Project

Listed below are the poems I have written on my final 3D project for this class. I'm posting this in case any of my writing is illegible or the written words are damaged to the point of it being unreadable.

Rose

What did the rose do to become so critically acclaimed?

It saturates gardens, dresses, jewelry

It douses novels, poetry, and letters in its sweet perfume

Placing its petals gently across the streets of our towns

Not asking for attention or devotion

But rather having it thrust upon them for nothing more than being beautiful

Is there no love for tiger lilies and their freckled lips?

Or bluebells, which pour endlessly across hills in the spring

Dancing and singing to the world in endless ecstasy

What about carnations, and their wild frenzy of petals?

What have these flowers done to go unnoticed?

What more can they do to be loved?

Is it the sharpness of roses that excite us?

Their thorns glisten against the rich maroons of the flower

Threatening blood if you grasp on too tightly

Why would we prefer this flower if we know the risk that comes with it?

Is the flower beautiful enough to prefer against one softer, kinder?

Why is its beauty so entrancing that we will spend hundreds just to grasp them in our hands?

We have the options of hundreds of flowers

Bursting from the ground, inviting us to bask in their soft and gentle joy

And yet we veer to the one that threatens us the most

The dramatic, bold flourish of red that taunts us with its beauty

Promising lust, adventure, and tireless romance

The one that lures us in with empty promises of splendor

Leaving us with nothing but stinging cuts on our fingers

Star

A falling star is a first kiss, diving deeper each moment you find one, feeling luckier with each passing second, never knowing if it will be your last

Frog

I don’t understand you

Your long, spindly legs stretch so far yet you tuck them neatly underneath you

Your mouth occupies the majority of your body yet you speak with only your throat

You live your life in water yet you cannot breathe submerged

You use your eyes to swallow your food as well as to see

You seem so vulnerable

Your eardrums attached to your head like earmuffs

Your eyes bulging far too wide with no way to protect them

Your way of eating is chaotic, based on estimation and luck

You breathe through your skin, the only thing covering more area than your mouth

Your design seems so flawed

You cannot fight

You can only jump, praying there is water nearby to escape to

How have you gone this long?

How have have outlived the dinosaurs?

How have you escaped demise from the human race?

It seems impossible to me that you are not only alive

But that there are billions just like you in the world

Existing just as you do

In a body I can only describe as baffling

Living a life more confusing than my own

I’d wish you luck in your life

Though I feel as though it’s needless

Because the world is built against you

It gave you too much mouth and not enough neck

And a way of life that just seems flawed

Yet you not only exist, you thrive

I commend you, I really do

And wish you the best

Because the best is not what you have been given

Elephant

Thud

Your footsteps shake the very ground you walk on

You hold so much power and strength

You have the capacity to destroy everything around you

Why do you never use it?

Thud

The world has killed your family and friends

We’ve taken your tusks and worn them as jewelry

We’ve put you in cages and exploited your majesty

The world has abused your gentle grace

Thud

They say that you’re very intelligent

That your memory is far better than even mine

That you can recognize yourself in the mirror

So wouldn’t you know what we’ve done to you?

Thud

You radiate calm and patience

Never needing to rush or to panic

Despite the dwindling world around you

I hope you never know that fear

Thud

We don’t have the right to keep you captive

Or try to take your life for ourselves

We have barely earned the privilege of seeing you at all

Or hearing your footsteps quake across the earth

Thud

Dragon

One night in fifth grade I sat at my kitchen table

A pencil in hand, inspiration coursing through me, I went to work

I tried desperately to materialize this image in my head

It’s not working

Why isn’t it working?

I can see what I want in my head, why isn’t it working?

I snap the tip of the pencil and rip through the page

Furious at the world and at myself

I can’t draw this dragon on the first try? Fine!

I’ll never draw dragons again.

In seventh grade I sat in my art class

My skill at the time gave me an undeserved superiority complex

I thought I could draw anything

Until my teacher showed me the drawings he made

The pages were riddled with fantastical creatures

Unicorns, centaurs, fairies, dragons-

Dragons.

Jesus, how can he draw dragons like that?

How did he figure out their heads?

Why can’t I make something like that?

I’m almost 13 and I still don’t know!

I should know how to draw dragons by now

Yanno what? No!

I just wasn’t meant to draw dragons

I will never, EVER draw dragons again.

Late spring of my senior year, I sit in my room

Homework complete, I relaxed at my desk

Absently doodling on a scrap of notebook paper

I think of all the moments of rage over this stupid little creature

And sketch out a dragon once more

Curled into a ball, spiked tail curled around him in peace

Little tendrils of smoke puff gently from his nose

With a warm sense of pride I examine this drawing

This creature I spent hours raging over

And breathe a sigh of relief

It only took me like, 8 years,

But I finally figured out how to draw dragons

The following year, around the same time, I sit in my dorm

Beaming at my own excitement for my final project

Origami! Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?

I mull over every creature and creation I’m capable of folding together

I find a tutorial of an origami dragon and grin

God, these things used to drive me crazy

I pull out a sheet of paper and get to work

Squash folds, petal folds, crimp folds… inverted reverse folds?

Wait wait HOW do you do that?

Oh my god, I ripped the paper again

Why is this so hard?

I crumple and the paper and pout

I really need to stop trying to make dragons.

Boat

It’s early

The water is glass

It balances delicately across the horizon

We hold our breath and drift across its surface

Afraid that any noise would shatter it into pieces

A mourning dove soothes the water with its soft cooing

The landscape is painted with deep greens and pale pinks

I used to be so afraid of you

Of your seemingly endless depth

Of whatever lurks below coming to take me away

But on this little boat I know I’m safe

And I know that whatever exists below wants nothing more than peace

So we will try to stay quiet for you

Other boats drift past as hesitantly as ours

We wave and nod, careful not to disturb you

Though we both know that this soft lullaby will not last

Someone will decide the lake is theirs to have

And slash the water open with their violent motors

The mourning doves will close their songbooks

The fish will stir and begin their busy day

And more boats and motors will come to ruin it all

The waves will rise and grow angry

Until many won’t be able to swim anymore

But for now we will hold our breath a little longer

Savoring every quiet little moment we have

And we’ll watch the pink turn to blue

And feel the air lose its chill

And just

Float