Author: Brooke

Odds and Evens – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
2, 4, 14, 24
numbers that mean something to me, 
most of them not for any particular reason

i prefer evens to odds-- i always have
and you're about as even as it gets

if i had to attach a number to you, it would
be 14. maybe that's part of the reason why
i was first drawn to you. i can't explain
why i have to quantify everything with 
numbers, i just do.

i find a number to describe everyone
it's a good thing you're even and not 
odd.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was something a little odd that just popped into my head, and although I don’t actually describe everything/people with numbers, I really do prefer even to odd numbers 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Borrowed – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
yellow sheet on the ground
right next to the chinaberry tree
thrown aside in the heat of the moment
running away from history
sobbing and balled up on the ground
full off of nasty-looking, good tasting
catfish and fries
I couldn't breathe
so I laid there and waited

I hope you enjoyed this poem! The reason it’s so short is it was actually a little challenge using page 85 of Kiese Laymon’s Long Division. I took some portions of sentences from that page of the book and added in/edited a couple things to make this poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Valleys – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
the syllables get caught in my throat trying to 
slide off my tongue-- the word doesn't look
right when i type it out in a paper. 

v a l l e y s
forget these silly grammar rules of words ending in
Y and changing it to -ies

forget the word itself, forget the valleys (and the valleies)
where the heat traps itself in the air, where
the wind blows just a little bit harder

This was a short one, but I thought it was kinda fun since I focused in on a specific word. I technically live in a valley (valley is part of my city’s name!) so it’s just something I thought about using as the topic of a poem. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Picnic in the Park – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
a lazy afternoon, summertime starting to bloom
     a picnic basket holds down a checkered blanket
on the overgrown grass, shaded by an equally 
     overgrown oak tree. a middle-aged woman can

usually be seen complaining about the maintenance
     somewhere on the grounds. a slight breeze
blows by, leaving the leaves and weaker branches
     to sway in the air, almost suspended in 

movement for a few seconds each way. an attractive
     young couple opens the basket hungrily, to 
reveal sandwiches, fruits, and a bottle of champagne.
     the same middle-aged woman will pause her

complaining to lecture the couple on their 
    drinking in public, but they will laugh it off. they
pretend to stow the bottle away in the basket
    again until she leaves. the sun beats down on

your forehead. you continue to watch the
    couple enjoy their late lunch, as you are the
observer,
    like always

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It was a fun one to write. I could honestly write tons of poems about the different scenes and people I observe while taking my daily walks around my neighborhood park. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Books I’ve Read In Spring 2020

BrookeLeave a comment

Hello everyone!

Today I’m going to be going over all the books I’ve read in the past couple months. As I mentioned in a recent post, I’ve been keeping track of everything on Goodreads, which makes it much easier to make this post. If you’re interested in finding out what I’ve been reading and my opinions on each book, keep on scrolling.

  1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by John Tiffany – I don’t know how, but I was never really aware that this add-on to the Harry Potter series was a thing. I didn’t love everything about it (no spoilers here though) but I was happy to have anything added onto the series. In some ways, I think the series would’ve been fine without this add on, but I’ll take what I can get. I would love to see the actual play live someday. I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads.
  2. Child of the Moon by Jessica Semaan – My mom got this on Amazon as a whim and I read it after her. It falls under the umbrella of Instagram poetry, but since I write a decent amount of poetry in that style myself, I was still able to appreciate it. I also like work that relates to the moon/astrology so that was interesting for me. I rated it 3/5 on Goodreads.
  3. Almost Home by Madisen Kuhn – This was another book my mom ordered and I ended up reading. I thought the separation of the book into different rooms/parts of the house was clever, and I related to Kuhn’s sentiments about never really feeling at home, but I wasn’t particularly in love with any of the poems. Kuhn is another Instagram poet, so I’d avoid this if you don’t like that style. I rated it 3/5 on Goodreads.
  4. Lord of the Flies by William Golding – I read this for English class, and I really enjoyed it. I had actually been thinking a lot about the nature of man lately just because of everything going on in the world right now and our (our meaning society’s) reaction to it all. It was a short and easy read, and I was able to pick up on the symbolism in it. I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads.
  5. Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley – We were supposed to read this in my English class but it got cut from the distance learning curriculum. I had already bought it in advance, so I read it on my own. Although I know the message behind the story is important, it was very hard for me to get through despite it being a short read. I rated it 3/5 on Goodreads.
  6. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer – This is an outlier on this list since it’s a spiritual self-help book, but I still wanted to include it. It’s enlightening but still in the way of being hard to take action and follow the book’s advice in everyday life. I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads.
  7. Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson – LOVED this. It was suggested but not required reading for my writing workshop. It was a super fast read and honestly my dream book since it incorporated supernatural elements with an otherwise realistic fiction plot. I rated it 5/5 on Goodreads.
  8. I Can’t Talk About the Trees Without the Blood by Tiana Clark – This is a book of poetry that’s required reading for my writing workshop. Clark’s poems are moving and I think everyone should read this and support her as a talented Black poet. I rated it 5/5 on Goodreads.
  9. Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson – This is a book with multiple short stories, all somewhat different from one another. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Nothing to See Here, but I definitely do love Wilson’s work and hope to read more of it soon. I rated it 4/5 on Goodreads.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about the books I’ve read recently, and that this inspires you go to spend some time reading. Whether it’s an old favorite or something new, reading is always such a relaxing and nice pastime. Plus, it’s summer! Congrats to everyone who is finishing up/has just finished their school year. Stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke

Home – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
home is the place i have not yet traveled to, 
a place i hope to one day know

where i'm familiar and comfortable with
every inch of what i see, it being as much

a part of me as i am a part of it. home is not
a building, something contained to four walls

and a roof dangling over our heads. home is
a concept, a feeling, and an idea. 

you tell me your home is the mountains, 
where you can catch snowflakes on your tongue.

you're comforted by the isolation and nature
all around you, with white Christmases for the family.

i tell you my home is to be determined, possibly
in some far-off land, possibly with a tropical climate.

but you are also my home, so we will settle
into a cabin in the mountains, sledding down

hills and cuddling with cups of hot cocoa. home is
here, for now.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! As someone who wants to get out of her current suburban bubble after high school/college, I have no idea where I hope to call home later on in life. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

A Few Wishes Of Mine – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
horseback riding on the shoreline, waters
turning darker shades of blue as the sun goes down
and i'm left with the warm animal under me and
my thoughts of how beautiful life is

wandering with wanderlust across the globe,
from small towns along the Spanish coastline to 
climbing the Great Wall. on top of the world,
experiencing it all

nights out in the city talking to people i've never
met and people i'll never see again, a sticky 
warmth enveloping me in the darkness while
the occasional bright light shines my way

too many lives i want to live, too many places i 
want to see, and too many versions of myself
i want to be. one day i'll pack a bag, set out for
adventure, and see which one wins.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! There are so many things I would love to do in life and so many things that I hope to accomplish; it’s sometimes overwhelming, especially being young with most of my life ahead of me. For now, I’ll continue to daydream. 🙂 Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or if you have any writing challenges you’d like me to do in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

It’s Greener Now – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
fern green fields filled with lucky clovers await
ready to be rolled in and jumped on and matted down

by the stomping of young enthusiasm. the rain
came down and flooded through the dirt paths, but 

allowed for this growth of green beauty to take over. 
the hills roll on for miles, like words off my tongue

as i attempt to describe what i've just seen in this 
haven. it's impossible, so i bring you here to see for

yourself. my paradise becomes your paradise and we 
sit in the grass and talk and laugh because it's a place

out of a movie and we need to act accordingly.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! It’s definitely not based off of my personal experiences, although it is greener in southern California compared to when we had the drought a few years ago. However, I absolutely love seeing greenery and I hope to move to a place that’s not as hot and very green someday. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Looking For A Way Out – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
i ask my friends, don't you ever want to leave this place? 
i'm alone in many ways, this opinion being one of them

from the outside it's a paradise, a beautiful town in a 
beautiful state that draws tourists and transplants alike

but from the inside (my insides) it's a toxic bubble filled
with people that refused to grow up and get out themselves

a hike in the hills, a dip in the pool, a trip to the beach;
experiences that i cherish but that don't change my mind

i long for more. not in the materialistic way, in the way that
i want to feed my soul. i seek new landscapes and new skies,

new roads and new signs on the sides, new grocery stores
and new people watching. i'll latch onto anything as a reason

to leave that's drawing me elsewhere. to where? i don't know.
anywhere sounds desirable when you're looking for a 
 
way out.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! I feel like it sounds a little too cliché, but it comes from the heart. I literally grew up in my dad’s childhood home (my parents bought it from my grandparents but we’ve since moved) and neither of my parents has ever seriously lived anywhere that’s not in this county. I’m dying to experience new things and move onto new places, so I can’t wait for college, and I’m sure lots of other kids my age can relate. Please let me know if you have any feedback on this piece or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out. Stay safe and healthy.

Brooke

Next Time – Poem by Me

BrookeLeave a comment 
are you ready to move on
    i've never felt farther apart

i could yell a thousand reasons why we failed
    but we could both retort with a thousand why we should stay

and i don't want to stay but 
    you don't want to leave and it's hard for me to let go

i could tell myself that next time i'll stand up
    for myself and next time it will be different but

we both know that would be a lie. so i'll say
    goodbye, and next time i see you i'll say hello, how

are you doing? and next time my eyes land on 
    someone new, hopefully things will be different

and it won't be a lie.

I hope you enjoyed this piece! Please let me know if you have any feedback or any writing challenges you’d like me to try out in the near future. Make sure to stay safe and healthy out there.

Brooke