Date

5-2023

Document Type

Capstone Project (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Humanities & Communication

Major

Humanities and Communication

First Advisor

Gladys Cabadas

Abstract

This reflective essay displays the super thematic theme that's clearly present on this project. It is at least eight poems, and you cannot dispute that claim. This project clearly was made to satisfy those college requirements, but I will admit that its theme is merely the theme of Stone. It is a sample of my perception, a slippery path that directs readers into my creative process and brisk way of thinking. If you ever get confused about what you’re reading, just remember, it all falls under the theme of stone; the rock without surface, clearly with depth. It’s a theme that clearly doesn’t give a rats tail about opinions, and that must be original right? Or am I just sounding insecure. I would ask more questions about it but oh my, I don't care.

When it comes to the aesthetics, I was going for a collection of poems that really shows off my quirky ideas and nonsensical ways of communicating. There ain’t much to the format with these poems, except for a few. My Human Zoo Blues was based off of a Captain Beefheart song called China Pig, kinda obvious when you compare the lyrics. Truck Drivin’ Man was based on a Ghazal assignment I had in one of my past poetry classes, but I decided to make it questions cause why not, I assume it would make it harder for people to read. The medley of poems that are supposed to go into one another (it should be obvious) come from the idea of musical medleys, which I do enjoy during a live performance. Everything else is just a dude wanting to paint with words. They’re as powerful as you make them to be.

I assume my audience is mainly my family members, my friends, and those who come across this muddy collection of honesty. I’m honestly just trying to mess around with the rules and grammar of poetry, while also attempting to sound lame as hell (heck) within those boundaries. My work is intended to inspire and to make you break out in dance. I hope it can leave them as confused as when I was finalizing the final draft. If I felt too confident in it, I would’ve pulled it from the project right away. I just wanna provoke the minds of peeps who have no opinion for poetry, and give them a good reason not to ever read poetry, by reminding them how much bad poetry is out there! No but in all honesty, I just wanna make poems that aren’t so down and depressing. Most of the time I hear poets say that their trauma got them into writing poetry, and it’s evident within their work. This gives me a depressing eye sore whenever I read about someone’s daddy issues (no judgment to them however). I want to make poems that sound like they have some grand meaning, but I also want a passing grade. So imagine this reflects every being of my soul, every experience that’s left a crude tear in my eye, and some smoke in my lungs.

My process was pretty simple:

  1. Get an idea for a poem

  2. Dance around with it for a couple of months

  3. Finish it when it’s not finished

  4. “Hey that’ll look great on my capstone project!”

It’s pretty simple stuff really. I tried to remove the cringiest poems from my final draft, but I left some in there just to humble myself. I don’t want too many people thinking I actually know what I memorize, even memories can be yoinked around and exaggerated. When it comes to solving my creative problems, I usually have to let that headache pass before a concise answer forms in my brain, and half of the time, that answer is, “Ah I’ll just leave it up for interpretation.” Quite riveting ain’t it?

My project anchors a strong understanding of Feminist Theory, which carefully analyzes gender inequality, and other forms of discrimination. At least eight of these poems carefully reflect my perception of feminist theory growing around my beliefs and my environment. Discussing a wide range of topics that may seem baffling to the common giraffe, but I shape my work to be an amusing yet odd understanding of the theory at hand, while trying to have fun with it. I also wrestle with what I believe is my identity, or at least, what trends I follow that make me seem like an individual.

Capstone class was alright, but oh boy, would I not want to retake this course again.

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