Author: Rudy Francisco

Something Salient: I like how he talks about how a dangerous weapon can become a musical instrument. I also enjoy how he talks about how things can change and how a gun can make everyone in the crowd will move but that music does the same thing and how every person gets to chose how they fight each battle that may appear in their lives.

"And at nine years old I transform into things I've never been before

-An astronaut floating in space

-A hummingbird buzzing in place

-A beam of August light, floating through the leaves"

Kaye compares this as a way to show how children used to play, venturing their active creativity. However, at this time, the rise of the internet has altered how children and teens perceive due to the stimulation of social media, as they lack motivation to go out and enjoy being a human.

- Makaylah

One thing that stood out to me in the poem was its apparent subject of reliance, and that we (everything on this planet) all have to learn to share what we’re given. “Barbed wire pulled out of the mouth…spikes used in warfare and fencing.” I believe that this is pointing to the cruel nature that some resort to when someone or something comes into contact with their property, getting so attached or obsessed with it that violence is resorted to in the wrong scenario.

Rudy Francisco

The main message you get from this poem is you are never given something you can not handle and spending your day complaining about small things is seeing the glass have empty when others are losing their lives or losing their loved ones while you are sitting here complaining about your job or traffic, we all go through tough times but need to remember we are only given things that we can handle no one said it will be easy.

This poem stuck out to me because she mentions how some things in life can't be fixed. She states how there is hurt, that can not be fixed by band aids or poetry.

-Cy B

Matthew S