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“I”

TATIANA BURGESS

My poem “I” was inspired by another poem called “Loose Woman” by Sandra Cisneros. It represents Rise Speak Change because it talks about how I changed from what I was, a person who could not speak up.

I am a tree

with a hard bark

I stay still while the colors on my leaves change

They change more often than the other trees do

Other trees change with the seasons

I change with the day

People always try to cut me down

Some have succeeded, but I just grew right back

I am strong

I am an empty box

People see no use for my emptiness

but I was not always empty

I had to have had something inside of me before I got this empty, right?

He took all that was left

He lied and said it was forever

when it was just temporary

Our love was not love

It was just all in my head

So now

I am just an empty box

Maybe being empty is for the better

Empty = no emotions

I had to sacrifice emotions to become stronger

I am stronger

I am a butterfly

I used to be cooped up in my mind

thinking about my emotions over that boy, my family, my school

That is when I decided to cut off my emotions

Thinking about everyone but myself made me spazz

Over time, when I lost my emotions

I liberated my mind and became a butterfly

I became stronger

I am a

teenager

a jokester

a hugger

happy, sad, joyful, mad, angry

too emotional, according to others

They do not know what I have been through

Regardless

I stayed strong through it all