Poem Response Essay

The idea behind my poem emerged from a simple thought. I began by brainstorming ideas to free write in my journal. I attempted a few topics but one proved to be most successful: the idea of my positive friend amounting to more than me. Specifically, this individual and I are equally smart, talented, and kind. However, we are polar opposites in the sense that she is the happiest, most optimistic person I have ever met. She always manages to find the joy within each moment, and she exudes her positivity onto everyone she meets. I, on the other hand, am the epitome of a pessimist. Only on rare occasions do I find myself as happy and bubbly as she is. I always see the worst in every aspect of life, and at the end of the day, I am truly envious

I began to record my thoughts as they came to me. I didn’t bother to develop a rhyme scheme initially, for I was simply too eager to get all of my ideas down before I could forget them. However, after researching other pieces, I decided to implement rhymes into my poem. I loved the way rhyming poems sounded like a song: the way they flowed through your mind and echoed in your thoughts. Turning my lines into rhymes was not as difficult as I had anticipated. A useful resource I came across was a website called RhymeZone. In this site, you can type in any word and it will provide you with other words that rhyme with it. I would scan through the examples until my creativity struck me. I continued this process until my entire poem rhymed. I found myself falling in love with it so much more, for it embodied such an insignificant thought and transformed it into something

I went home that very night to think up some brilliant idea to expand on in my writing. After analyzing multiple sources and annotating various works, I realized that poetry cannot just be an eager thought splatted on a page. There has to be meaning behind it: real, true meaning that belongs to you. So I scrapped my poem and took more time to sort through my visions. Finally, I came across the concept of the sun and the moon. Whilst writing, I made certain to avoid any cliches that are seen too often in poetry. I worried that my poem would simply be unoriginal or dull. At the same time, however, I did not want to write about an idea so far out there that no reader on this universe would understand it. Simply put, I did not want to sound insane through my poetry. Additional fear arises in the mention of sharing my poem aloud to the class. My anxiety makes it nearly impossible to share my work with others, fearing judgement, laughter, or criticism. I am fragile, and I let little things bother me. Hearing even the slighted bit of a chuckle would send me into tears. Even now, I find myself shaking simply due to the thought of reading my personal poem in front of the class. What if I stumble on my words? What if I make eye contact with them? What if they don’t understand my poem? What if all of their projects are better than mine? What if they really do think I’m insane? There are so