Through the following poems, I hope to explore myself, both for my own good and for those reading them. I started writing these poems simply because they were assigned, but they became an excellent catalyst for delving into my spirit and mind. If only I were better at writing poetry and didn’t make it sound so trite, I would be able to better express what I feel.

I see within myself a duality, almost a split in my personality. A friend of mine who knew a bit about astrology was surprised to find that I am the only Aquarius-Pisces cusp she’s ever known, and that duality is a characteristic of that cusp. Rather than striking a balance between my creative and analytical, rational and romantic, sides, I instead experience them at different times. This is something I’ve explored a bit in the past, through both graphical art and writing.

Nature has always been an important aspect of my personality and life. Through nature I see the true beauty and complexity of this world. As such, much of my expression in these poems is infused with views of nature.

I’d like to apologize in advance for the quality of these poems. You’ll note that they’re all pretty close to 15 lines long; I didn’t intend it that way, but some just ended themselves at that length. The minimalistic number of poems, however, was intentional: I like writing bad poetry about as much as I expect people to like reading it.

Poems 1 and 5 are about my relationship and view on nature. I tried to be descriptive rather than explain in these poems, both to make them interesting and to imitate Whitman’s style. Poem 2 is about love, as the extreme overuse of the word ought to indicate. In addition to the questions in the packet, this topic was a good choice for me because I was prompted to consider my views on the subject more closely after a recent conversation with my dad. Poems 3 and 4 are simply general surveys of my beliefs and personality, respectively. Their respective aims are quite sweeping, and so they give fewer specifics than would perhaps be expected. Over all, these poems give a decent picture of my personality and views, and I hope they are, at the least, intriguing.