Czeslaw Milosz My Creative Project

My creative project is a poem inspired by Second Space by Czeslaw Milosz, specifically, the poem ‘Classmate’. I discovered my idea in class as I thought of what Milosz was experiencing while writing his poem. I’ve never written a poem, besides maybe in early grade school, so I asked a couple of English majors for help in making sure my poem was structured. I also chose a location for this poem that reflected Milosz’s poem. My poem is a reflection of life inspired by Milosz.
To write the poem, I decided the best location would be the graveyard. ‘Classmate seemed very reflective of life with lines such as: “Does the dream mean I desired her?/ Or just felt pity for her former body?” & “She should have been buried at Rossa…” (13) I don’t think there there is a better place to reflect on living than among the dead. The cemeteries respectful silence offered a great setting for focus and reflection.
I didn’t know how to write a poem so I called my two friends, who both have English degrees, to

I started by sitting in a spot and using my senses to know what was around me. The first thing I noticed was M-60 being very loud and distracting from a peaceful environment. With that, the noise coming from SAU was also distracting as some type of sports game must’ve been happening. Every few minutes their would be an outburst of cheering that made me lose some thoughts. Around me were tombstones that had markings on the top showing religious significance, but not in the way i've experienced at a visit to Arlington Cemetery. Many tombstones had a hand pointing upwards. The ribbons above the hands, possibly explaining its significance, were too worn to read. Other tombstones, weren’t legible, the weather taking the memory of a person away with each year, similar to life. Looking around, it seemed we lost our personhood after death, leaving only our name and date of death carved into