last blog

Over the past two years, I’ve found my home. Now, I’m not going to be mushy, but I do think that my last blog post here at MSA should be a recap of my time here and what I’ve learned. I want to talk about some of my favorite pieces of writing I never would’ve known about had I not come here, along with some of my favorite works of my own.

Starting off, I want to talk about Girl by Jamaica Kincaid.

Girl is a short story set in the second person, representing a conversation between a mother and daughter. This story depicts societal expectations and the relationships between mothers and daughters in such a creative way, using a tutorial form as a way to protect the daughter and shield her from societal judgement and bias.

Next, one of my own works, sphynx.

I wrote sphynx as a triptych poem. Inspired by the threefold form of the most well-known sphinx riddles, I decided to put my own spin on it. The original riddle goes like this: “In the morning I walk on four legs, in the afternoon I walk on two, and in the evening I walk on three. What am I?” In the original greek myth, Oedipus answered “Man, we crawl as a babe, stand on two feet as adults, and must use a cane as elders.” I was very interested in how this threefold could apply to emotions and time of day, and based my poem on that. Here it is below.

this morning I am anger. i have opened up the insides of an oracle to hear the cries of my people. i crack apart the digital ribcage to gnaw on the bleeding heart prostrating itself in efforts for more oxygen, begging me for more time even as the beats run out. her sand is slipping through the hourglass of my hips. stuck between my toes, it becomes significant as i tread the forever desert.

this afternoon, i am sadness. left with little limerence to spare for the love of my life, I crumble. limestone pillars cannot bear the weight of my insecurity and lack of affection. cannot hold the broken body, bare and bloody, begging to be mine. bring his love to me and let me feast, lap up every lisp and wisp of passion, cosmic feline drinking up the moon.

tonight, I am joy. when the final lamplight dims, my face will split open, and the asteroids of my teeth will travel all the worlds inaccessible to rockets. my body will aflame and burst apart, the stardust of my soul splintering off like the split seam of a tree being.

When I applied to MSA, I was told there was no way I could make it, but I’m graduating in under a month’s time, and I’m so happy that I got to be here right now.