The poem “When Strangers Dictate Your Calm” by Naomi Hon is about the speaker attending a friend’s party but failing to enjoy themself due to their Social Anxiety. Hon uses imagery to let the reader visualize the mental process of the speaker and to let the reader experience anxiety as shown in these lines: Walk in. Avoid Eye Contact. Keep your head up. Left, right. Left, right. Don’t draw attention. Sit.(11-17) Lines 11-17 gives the reader a visual of the poet entering a room to look for an empty seat, and then proceeding to walk toward the seat all while trying to act confident. However, on the inside the poet is struggling to make it to the seat without appearing odd or fearful. Naomi Hon portrays a sense of fear in the mind of the reader as the poet makes way toward the seat. The poem “When Strangers Dictate Your Calm” by Naomi Hon is relevant to my life because I experience what the poet writes about. Everyday I worry about how I walk, talk, …show more content…
I can only be who I really am when I am home alone and in my room. My parents have always questioned me why I act differently when I’m outside versus at home. If I told them I feel anxious or paranoid, they’ll just say I’m shy. I can never tell them because they refuse to understand. There were so many times when my parents that it’s not just me being shy, but something else. Each time they would either ignore me, say to stop saying I have something, or just deny what I said entirely. At that point I start to become angry them but mostly at myself. I feel pathetic as I can’t be the same way I am at home in public. The poem had resonated with me as I read it. I could never find a poem or any piece of literature that accurately portrayed my feelings. Usually other works would gingerly touch the surface of how I felt, but this poem is an accurate representation of me and how my mind races at social