I am still in the Summer

Summer time is the hottest season of the year. Pools, summer flings, walks in through the park, vacations, and the bright sun shining in through the window when waking up in the morning. Along with the humidity and mothers telling their children to get a job. To me, it means so much more than that. Maturity, reasonably, adulthood, age and conscience are all the things that describe me in this season.

Reasonability has been put upon me since I was a young child. Chores were in my path as soon as I turned six, which in my parent’s eyes I was a big girl. I had to make sure my room was clean, wash the dishes if there is any in the sink, watch my younger brother and make sure I have great hygiene. Trust was always in me when it came to my parents. Now I have a more responsibilities on the way. I will soon be a mother, which puts more things on my plate. I am in the summer time of my life.

Once I think about my life I feel embarrassed. I see now that I have a conscience and feel bad about the things I used to do when I was younger. I remember stealing toys from the tot store because my mom said I could not have it. I just wanted attention and did not know how to say it. Now that I see what I have done I am more thoughtful and respectful; in which I treat others the way I would like to be treated.

I personally think I am very mature for my age. I am fifteen years old and I stay in the house by myself, cook my own food, and I deal with problems people my age should not be dealing with and I am very strong. People come to me for advice and I have the strength to go to people for help when I need it. I have been through so much and seen so many things that I am used to bad things happening and not even flinching. Sometimes I feel like a twenty-one year old rather than a fifteen year old. Like in the story “Marigold”, Lizabeth was in the spring inn the beginning of the story but in the middle of it she start realizing she had a conscience from the event of her and her friends singing the song to Mrs. Lotte about her finding a penny. I remember seeing myself there back in my lifetime when I was younger. I never really cared about what people felt like when I was saying mean things about them. But then one day I was picking on e some girl in school with my friends and I felt bad at the end of that day. From then on I promised my self that I would never pick on anyone again.

In conclusion, I am in the summer time of life. I am reasonable, mature and respectful which proves that I am in a new season. There are still some days when I go back to my spring days but I remember the times when I once felt bad about doing something. Or things I have been through, in the end it was all worth it. You had to go through a trail before you see the light.

What will I make?

Sleep, tiredness, strechmarks, gas, bull and congrats are all the things we go through.

Mothers’ happy but the age makes her upset, but we still hope that someday it will be a better day.

Worrying about what will happen and if everything will be o.k.

Planning for the future and praying that there will be someone there to help.

We are the only ones who see the good side of creating a new life.

I will make a better life for my son. There will be nothing he can’t have.

I will make myself finish school and still be there for him.

I will make a career and still follow my dreams, even though I have a son.

I will make a home for him and our future will be bright.

That is what I will make….

"The Whipping"

“The old woman across the way is whipping the boy again”. Have you ever said this to yourself when you hear the screams and cries of a young child getting their punishment? Robert Hayden will have you take a second look with this excruciating poem, “The Whipping”. Punishment and pain that a young boy goes through. Connections in the poem seem strange until you look at it in another state of mind. Narrator Robert Hayden experiences pain from the past thoughts and will have you think is that really what that young boy deserved.

First reason why I loved this poem is the powerful punishment that the young boy undergoes. According to the poem, “she strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy till the stick breaks”. Which means that the old woman puts terror in the young boy by putting a stick to his skin. Wrongful doing does not occur on the boy side beats the young boy through a state of pain. The old woman experienced, “_exhausted, purged”, pain that showed she was passionate about the topic.

Another reason this poem caught my attention are the connections that questioned my reading. Narrator Robert understands and has many to do with this poem. He brought up, “Words could bring, the face that I no longer knew or loved”; which meant to me that he too was touched by the poem. The boy does not necessarily say that he is related to the old woman but by the looks of it, the way he treated the boy it showed love.

Last reason why this poem has touched me is because the personal affect on the characters and myself. “My head gripped in bony vise of knees, the writhing struggle to wrench free, the blows, the fear worse than blows that hateful”. This quote from the poem shows that the narrator felt somewhat of the same pain the boy was feeling; there is a possibly that the narrator also experienced beatings as a child. Personal feelings that I had were pain, sadness, and fear that I once experienced when I seen a period in my life like this. Once I saw a woman beating her child in the supermarket because he was crying too loud. This poem brought me back to this scene, and it also brought the narrator back to a certain part of his life.

In conclusion, “The Whipping” was very painful, and full of violence that got my attention. Punishment and questions were the main reasons why I continued to read this poem. Rhyme and the way I felt personal connection also consumed me. Robert Hayden is a truly powerful poet, I am happy I read this poem and I recommend everyone to read this. Especially if you have ever been whipped.