My Poem-Constant

Constant

Constant

Constant worries

Text messages that everyone says they want.

I try to ignore

But it buzzes in my ear like an angry bee.

Phone calls lingering,

Sending chills up my spine.

After reading every line.

Tossing and turning

A small leaf

Falling.

Everyone says stay strong

You'll be fine.

But just like a colorful tree

Once bright and full of life, eventually dies

Losing its color

Losing its life

Losing all worth

It can only take so much.

The people that run around me, tearing at every limb

Taking everything I had to offer

Happiness

Confidence,

Why?

What am I worth now that everything is gone

Now that I am bare, like a fish without air

Struggling and gasping.

You sink fast

Anxiety pulling on your ankle

Quickly dragging you down

Deep and dark

The abyss

Constant.

How will I escape this nightmare that's never ending

Like a wire that’s always bending.

Never to be fixed.

Too far down it seems

Can't escape

It’s grip is too tight, clenching.

Not able to swim back to the surface, my heart wrenching.

Losing air, feeling constricted with every last breath.

Everything darkens.

I finally emerge.

Everyone now seems to notice

worries.

They all evaporate

Nothing left

Nothing but memories

Some worth to remember

Others good enough only to dissolve

Due to none to be resolved.

A poisoned tree doesn't grow back

You’ll just have to move on

Carry on

Constant

Pub #5

Option 1:

The song 1-800-273-8255 by Logic shares a common theme and tone with the poem The Comfort of Darkness by Galway Kinnell and a poem I wrote titled Constant. The common theme throughout the music and the poems is mental health awareness. The tone which is common throughout the music and poems would be a feeling of entrapment and melancholy. Both of the theme and tone play off of each other relaying the message of mental health awareness and get an understanding of how it feels to live with a mental illness.

The song 1-800-273-8255 conveys the message of depression and crippling anxiety. The line, "It's the very first breath, when your head's been drowning underwater" (Logic). This line gives the reader a sense of how it feels to have an anxiety attack when you can't catch your breath from hyperventilating. You feel trapped and like you were just holding your breath underwater for a long time. He then says, "It feel like my life ain't mine" which has a deep meaning to it. He is saying here that his life is being taken over by mental illness where he can not control it. Depression turns you into something that you are not basically controlling your life. The tone and theme portrayed here is also seen in the poem The Comfort of Darkness.

In the poem The Comfort of Darkness, the same theme and tone mentioned before is seen throughout Kinnell's piece. In the line, "an enormous wreck of a bird, closed on my heart in the darkness" is abstract but does a good job explaining a feeling of anxiety (Kinnell). The line symbolizes something big on your chest which can be the heaviness felt after not being able to catch your breath or from crying non stop for a long time. "Closed on my heart" describes the entrapment felt on your heart like its tightening up "in the darkness" which can be the depression and the feeling of melancholy (Kinnell). This line in particular definitely shows how the theme and tone stick out in order to touch the readers. This same feeling is expressed in my poem that I wrote.

The poem I wrote is titled Constant which is about mental health awareness and has a tone of melancholy as well as entrapment like the other pieces talked about above. In the line, "Like a fish without air", portrays how it feels to suffer with anxiety (Perez). The fish symbolizes a person and how the fish is having trouble breathing from being out of water which is their world in a way. This line reaches out to the reader to show the feeling of trying to catch your breath quickly but having trouble doing so. Another line which sticks out is, "Not able to swim back to the surface" which has a meaning of being sunken in an illusion which may have been created to escape all their problems in their head but not being able to reconnect to reality (Perez). Depression and anxiety changing who you are and your perception on life may take you out of your real world wanting to escape. This poem ties together the other two pieces in order to show how the tone and theme flow throughout all three literature pieces.

In conclusion, the theme of mental health awareness really gets expressed to the reader in all three pieces. The tone entrapment and melancholy as well as the theme of mental health awareness is an important topic in all three literature pieces as well as an existing issue in modern time. Mental health affects people worldwide and is a problem which needs awareness.

The Lion King

I Love this scene from The Lion King. Rafiki says to Simba, "Oh yes, the past can hurt. But from the way I see it, you can either run from it, or... learn from it"(The Lion King). He is saying that if something in the past created an obstacle in your life, you can either just run on with your life and not face the issue or learn from what happened in order to not let it happen again. People should face their obstacles in life and learn from any mistakes to not let it happen again. 

Gender Inequality Lecture

Gender inequality was a great lecture which I think many people took part in sharing their thoughts and opinions on this issue. This was seen in the story we read "Antigone" by Sophocles where women were looked as inferior in men. The women were not supposed to go against men or disobey the men even if they were right and the men were wrong. The whole conflict in "Antigone" was all caused by women inequality because Antigone wanted to bury her brother but was oppressed from male dominance. The society in Ancient Greece was completely male dominated with women having no say or ability to do much for themselves. This lecture also incorporated outside sources due to gender inequality still being a problem in modern day society like in Saudi Arabia which is discussed in Paper #1 located below the title of this blog. Gender inequality is a highly discussed topic and a serious issue which needs to end in modern day society.

Discussion Panel Lecture

While talking about the book "Antigone" by Sophocles we got into several groups and then talked on a discussion panel with our members just like they do on the news with experts. I liked this lecture because it helped me with my slight fear of talking in front of many people while front and center. Within our group we split up into two sides debating two different aspects of the antagonist Creon. We debated whether or not we thought Creon's anger was due to his power or because that's just the way he is as a character. This was a great debate which went naturally and did not sound like we had everything written down for us to speak. I really enjoyed "Antigone" so personally I think that having a good connection with the book helped me speak passionately and naturally while debating with my classmates. I would love to see more discussion panels in other classes just like the one we did in English 102 because it will help students learn to talk in front of people and help them learn to speak naturally while debating in groups.

Greek Burial Rites Lecture

The lecture on Greek burial rites was a very interesting lecture that I enjoyed learning about. We were reading "Antigone" by Sophocles which was taken place in ancient Greece. The conflict in the story was about a girl named Antigone and her sister Ismene wanting to give a proper burial to their brother Polyneices. Their uncle Creon who was the ruler at the time wanted Polyneices to be left on the street because he was looked at as a traitor but this was not acceptable to the sisters. The Greek Burial Rites state that those who die must be buried properly unless they would suffer and not be able to travel into the underworld. In order to enter the underworld, they must receive a proper burial which included placing a coin on their mouth. I learned that this coin was used to pay in order to cross over into the underworld and without this they were unable to cross over which left them suffering. This was a big burden for family members because they want their deceased to be happy and in peace. I never realized how different burials can be or were until this lecture. Greek burial rites was an important piece of giving the dead a good afterlife.