Word Count 1704<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Write up: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For our major paper project we decided to write a \u201cFound Poem\u201d. We wrote a collection of shorter poems that travel through the life of an individual with mental disabilities. We tried to express as many mental disabilities as we could to portray the different types of mental disabilities and the variety of symptoms. We focused mainly on depression and anxiety. As 2 people who have dealt with mental disabilities, this assignment means a lot to us. It was nice to be able to express some of the emotions we feel in a poetic way, while connecting to our readings this semester. However we don\u2019t claim to know the extent of each disability, we just want to highlight some of the struggles. We also wanted to highlight the lack of visibility of these people in our society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For our poems we mostly wrote\nthem from our own point of views, but we incorporated lines and pieces of works\nthat we have read this semester in 384. We did this by first breaking up our\npoems into 7 parts. Each poem represents 10 years of a person\u2019s life. \u00a0For\nexample, our first poem is from the perspective of a child less than 10 years\nold, and our last poem is from the point of view of an older individual, around\n70 years old. We then looked through the syllabus and pulled out the works we felt\nwould be a good fit for each poem. After that, we read all of the works and\npulled out the lines we felt matched what emotions we were trying to express.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first poem is a\nrepresentation of a child with anxiety and phobia of the darkness. We tried to\nshow that even young children can develop severe mental illnesses. There is no\nsuch thing as being \u2018too young\u2019 to be anxious and that\u2019s the main point in this\npoem. The child experiences hearing voices in his head when in the dark. The\nline from Symptoms, by Laurie Clements\nLambeth, \u201cThe cure is rest, they tell me\u201d represents that most adults don;t\nunderstand mental disabilities in children and tell them to \u2018just go to sleep\u2019\nor \u2018stop being scared\u2019. Adults sometimes don\u2019t understand that these feelings\nare things the child cannot control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For poem\n2, we focused exclusively on depression. Depression is such a common issue in\nteens and young adults. We felt it was important to highlight this. The speaker talks about\nfeeling disconnected from the world and always feeling alone. There are many\ndifferent reasons an individual could feel this way, but the most important\npiece we wanted to discuss was how many people have these feelings. As a society\nwe need to check in on each other more, make sure our friends, family,\ncolleagues, coworkers and neighbors are doing okay. A simple \u201chow are you\ntoday?\u201d could go a very long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poem 3 is\ndifferent from the first two, in the sense that it focuses more heavily on\nphysical disabilities than the others before it. We did this to show that an\nindividual with any mental disabilities can have any physical disabilities and\nvice versa. We wanted to portray that all individuals are different. Some\npeople take a physical disability and put a positive spin on it. While others,\nsuch as the speaker of poem 3, have a more negative view on having a\ndisability. Poem 3 shows a person who has a terminal illness that is wearing\ntheir body away. The media tends to show disabilities as romanticized and\nbeautiful when that is not always the case, as we learned from the talk we had\nin class with Donaldson. We chose to spin this poem in a different direction to\ncontinue the variety of disabilities that an individual could be faced with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 4th\npoem talks about the struggles of acceptance when society puts a norm into a\nperson\u2019s appearance. Or how even the medical field doubts you, instead of\nlifting you. The fifth poem is a tribute to deaf people. We live in a world\nwhere we constantly expect more from them, like reading lips or writing in our\ngrammatical way. Society does not take the time to learn even a basis of ASL or\nunderstand how hard it is to read lips when you don\u2019t even know the sounds\ncoming out to begin with. It goes back to the idea that as an ablest society,\nwe don\u2019t adhere to the needs of the few, we only care about the many. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the final poem, we went with a very disconnected speaker. We wanted to step inside someone\u2019s head who was diagnosed and suffering from dementia. We drew from personal experiences of being beside the hospital bed and not understanding why they couldn\u2019t remember something as simple as someone\u2019s name. We wanted the reader throughout these poems to feel a connection in some way to the speaker in any form, be it connecting with the speaker\u2019s hardships or seeing the speaker in the people around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poems:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poem 1: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wake up, I\u2019m always up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I feel sleepy, I\u2019m always sleepy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard the voices again <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They make me sleepy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe cure is rest<\/em>, they tell me.\u201d \u2013 Symptoms<\/p>\n\n\n\n They keep me awake<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are really creepy<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are dark, like a cloudy sky in my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They make me scared<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody listens to me, but I listen to them<\/p>\n\n\n\n They hurt me inside<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nobody listens to me<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy time is not mine\u201d \u2013 Crip Time<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poem 2:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is this falling apart?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it just me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every day I fight the storms in my head<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe thinks of the 4a.m. loneliness that have folded her up like\ndeath\u201d -The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window<\/p>\n\n\n\n I feel sleepy, I\u2019m always awake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Simple things are not so simple anymore<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was simple enough to imagine\nit might be so.\u201d -The Birthmark<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conversation is difficult<\/p>\n\n\n\n I can\u2019t get through a single one,<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s like nobody cares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stomach turns upside down, I want some\ninteraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am alone. The world is quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t need advice. I need companionship<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn moody sadness, on the giddy\nbrink\u201d- 70<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me I\u2019m an \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 inspiration<\/em>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nthat\u2019s not what I want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me I\u2019m \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 strong<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nthat\u2019s not what I want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me it\u2019s okay to be \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 different<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nwhy do I have to be different at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me it\u2019s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 never\ngoing to go away<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nwhy did it ever have to come at all?<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me it\u2019s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 okay\nto be in pain<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nI don\u2019t feel any pain at all<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\ntell me it\u2019ll be a few months<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nwhy can\u2019t it be now?<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\nmay not live long. When you know it\u2019s something wrong with you and you may not\nlive long, well then\u2026\u201d \u2013 Good Country People<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nthen\u2026 don\u2019t call me an inspiration<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nthen\u2026 don\u2019t call me strong<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nthen\u2026 don\u2019t tell me I\u2019m different<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nthen\u2026 don\u2019t tell me it\u2019ll be okay<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell\nme I\u2019m free to go<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tell\nme it\u2019s okay to be done<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Poem\n4: <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas not particularly born this way<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas predestined to lose my arm<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas just leaning on the excavator<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas just leaning when it hit the power lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwas in an ambulance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nsaid to my wife I may not wake up<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nsaid I may lose my legs<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nsaid I may lose my hands<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nsaid I\u2019d never drive again<\/p>\n\n\n\n They\nsaid things that were wrong<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ndid wake up<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nlost some toes, who needs those<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nlost an arm, and some tattoos<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ncan still drive my stick shift<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am\nliving their lies<\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nfor some reason people look at me funny<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nI don\u2019t have my prosthetic arm on<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nif for some reason I need it to be out in public<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nif I need it to complete me<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nif I am incomplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nif that body they tried so hard to fix, straighten was simply mine. \u2013 What You\nMourn<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poem 5:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am not incapable of walking if I\nam deaf Poem 6: <\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nI was in the war I saw the most horrifying things a man could imagine<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ncried tears of joy placing myself back in her arms on the day of liberation<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who\nwas she again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ncan\u2019t seem to remember, it\u2019s on the tip of my tongue<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyway,<\/p>\n\n\n\n When\nI was in the war I saw the most horrifying things a man could imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ella,\nno, Anna, no, Delilah!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How\nare the kids? Are they behaving for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did\nDavey like his baseball glove I got him for Christmas?<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\ndo you mean your name is Charles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nlook just like my Davey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dammit!\nThey keep putting this thing in my arm!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\nhurts, I just want to go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sue\ncan make her bread rolls<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ncan smell the yeast as it raises the bread in the oven<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\ncan smell the sweet perfume she dabbed on her wrists and behind her ears<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nyes, her name is Sue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My\nwife\u2019s name is Sue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She\nwas the prettiest thing that walked through the doors of my daddy\u2019s drug store.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just\nlet me go home! I just want to go home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m\nnot causing a scene you are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\nwatch me though you are discreet. I must be something to see.\u201d \u2013 Obviously<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sue\nisn\u2019t dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\naren\u2019t my children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who\nare you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who\nam I?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Word Count 1704 Write up: For our major paper project we decided to write a \u201cFound Poem\u201d. We wrote a collection of shorter poems that travel through the life of an individual with mental disabilities. We tried to express as many mental disabilities as we could to portray the different types of mental disabilities and … Continue reading “Major Project Rebecca Hinson and Stephanie Rizzo”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papJgd-mj","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1386,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1383\/revisions\/1386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.chris-foss.net\/dislit19\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPoem 3: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cLike Helen Keller?\u201d They ask.
\nNo, like me, like the people I went to school with
\ncause my parents couldn\u2019t wait till I was normal enough
\nto associate with them
\nHelen Keller is to blame. \u2013 Deaf Blind: Three Squared Cinquain
\n
\nI learned how to speak without words
\nIt is the others who don\u2019t know how to talk to me
\nIt is like dancing with your hands, even if I can\u2019t hear the music
\nI am not unable to hear
\nthe word is not a hearing world
\nIt is a world of sight
\nand touch
\nand taste
\nI am not limited by one sense
\nThe world is limitless in that sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n