In her mind, there is no such thing
as a stranger. Her heart is big,
arms are bigger.
Those who visit, are family.
She's quiet. Reserved.
Not many people know her,
oh but when they meet her,
they are blessed.
She's beautiful.
Like a winter rose, snow
on the ground.
She's like a purple sky
when the sun comes,
bringing new life to everything
it shines on.
The more you know, the
more you need her. The
more you love, the more you
see her heart. She's a shining star,
she's beautiful like that.
She's proud of where she's from,
waving her country's flag for all to see.
When the church bells ring, her friends
gather. They sip on lemonade and sneak
out to the baseball fields. Strike 3...
You're out! Oh but she smiles.
Nothing can bring her down.
She looks into the distance.
She sees the children playing,
she can hear them laughing.
Her life was simple, happy, perfect.
But in the blink of an eye, it was over.
She stands tall. Now everyone knows
her name.
She's on the front page of the paper.
She's crying. Her clock stands still.
But she refuses to break.
She's beautiful.
Like a winter rose, snow
on the ground.
She's like a purple sky
when the sun comes,
bringing new life to everything
it shines on.
Ever since I was born, my family has moved all over the place. Each time my dad got a new job offer, we would pick up and leave. I'm originally from Illinois, I was moved to Mexico City, back to Illinois, to Connecticut, to Northern Kentucky, and now Richmond Kentucky. So, home is hard to clarify for me. I know, you all have heard of Sandy Hook, Connecticut. Hard to believe right? Well, that's where I spent seven years of my life growing up. It's where my childhood lies and where some of my greatest memories were made. Sandy Hook was the suburb of Newtown. To all of us who lived there, both places were technically the same thing. In my poem, I refer to both locations. For example, "waving her country's flag..." refers to the flag pole in the center of Newtown. You could see it for miles and it was basically the 'trademark' of Newtown. But when I jump to saying "...and sneak out to the baseball fields", this refers to the baseball fields that were actually on the Sandy Hook Elementary grounds. If by now you haven't made the connection, from "she looks into the distance.." to the very last line of the poem, I'm referring to 12/14/12, one of the most heart wrenching things I have ever felt in my life. If you haven't read about the aftermath already, all of Newtown/Sandy Hook has been able to move past this tragedy and stay positive as a community. This is why I repeated the last section, because the sun did rise again after that day and it brought a new beginning to those affected.
Wow I never knew that you where from sandy hook. It's so sad to think that something so bad could have happened in a place that sounds so beautiful and peaceful. The way you switched the tone from such a happy mood to an agonizing somber tone just completely stopped me in my tracks. Hopefully we can someday prevent tragedies like this from happening around the world. This is something that an elementary school kid should never have to worry about but unfortunately has been getting more and more prevalent over the years.
ReplyDeleteMarisa,
ReplyDeleteThe structure you chose for your personification of Sandy Hook allowed us to first get to know her as someone warm and friendly, but relatively unknown, before the onslaught of media attention in the aftermath of the violent shootings there. The first line, "In her mind, there's no such thing as a stranger," is a great opening that takes us to the heart of the persona that you've crafted. The later transitional moment when everyone suddenly knows her name and she's on the front page of every paper draws our attention to the ways that knowledge of places and people can shift rapidly, suddenly showing up on everyone radar/map or disappearing from it. Good work!