Nightlight

Abstract

This is an anthology of poems written from 2016 to 2020 mapping my journey through college. These poems are either murals or manifestations of things that exceeded their stay in my head. The words are poets, artists, teachers, friends, and family possessing my hand and speaking in my voice. My poetry is how I process the world. Some people talk their thoughts out loud and others beat punching bags to satisfy a primal urge for release. I write poems. The goal of this anthology is to communicate identities. Ones that may be familiar and others that may be less so. It spans identities of thought, ideology, relationships, spirituality, and personal development. This collection is like Dumbledore’s Pensieve—this is to say that other than their source, these poems share very little with each other. They lack continuity of form but not necessarily of meaning. In their own ways, each is true, in both content and medium, to my worldview. Some poems articulate ideas best on the page—in Times New Roman and center aligned. Others naturally take on shapes. Some poems float off of the page entirely and onto stages. Not because they are any more important but are in a way special. They need to be nurtured and molded by performance before I can give them away. Some poems whisper and others whine, but never when they aren’t supposed to. Everything here is intentional. This is my Nightlight. May it keep away your monsters too.