Who’s to refuse them a taste of the basin we’re drinking from?
A flock of birds who know the worth of unbound beaks
and the soft soil that grows when the sun kisses its cheek
American dream
So close so far
yet those with the greatest reach can’t get no sleep, worlds apart
We flee the phoenixes when they’re just trying to reach the stars
Someday we’ll fly together
But tonight we’ll have to brave this weather
But it won’t last forever
So let us pray for the better
Maybe it’s the beat of unfamiliar drums
You can’t find something to eat
we don’t have enough
we profess answers to questions yet we never turn our heads when our cheek is struck
They are just as much as we
Seeking asylum from the violence
The plight of flying kites to counter pilots, nevermind it
We all bleed as one, tomorrow we may see the sun
We all different beans in the same pot
Blowing steam and licking fingers clean
Different seams in the same tapestry
Extended family
It’s time to forget the language of anguish
Tomorrow’s a new canvas it’s time to paint it
Tomorrow’s a new canvas let’s paint it
Oh, the morrow’s a new canvas let’s paint it
I believe some of the most effective of music and poetry are the simplest yet the most emotionally charged. I aimed to embody a certain feeling of uncertainty, confusion, and hope without the use of convoluted music or literary devices. A 2 5 1 chord progression paired with a soft rhyme is what I thought would work the best for what I aimed to achieve.
This is a poem representing the relationship between immigrants and those who are afraid of them and/or are apprehensive to the idea of people different to them. The poem focuses on the the misunderstandings and fears that xenophobes hold in their heart, the fear that keeps them blinded from the fact that immigrants are struggling to survive in this world, just like them. The perspective isn’t concrete because I want to emphasize that there is no “we and them”, we are all in the same. The lines surrounding perspective become blurred until there is no distinction between immigrant and non-immigrant.
The first part of the poem compares immigrants to flocking birds, all who appreciate the soil, water and the freedom of unbound beaks in the new land they’re in. I was inspired by my interview partner because her family came to the United States to escape the authoritarian government of China. The poem then focuses more on the natives, Americans in this case. The American dream is best reached by those who are already citizens of the United States, yet they’re constantly bothered, irritated and even angered by immigrants.They might even feel threatened, as though the immigrants could diminish their quality of life and keeping them from living the true American dream of prosperity and harmony. These groups of people “flee the phoenixes” out of fear, unaware that the immigrants are the phoenixes, which are harbingers of happiness and symbols of unity in Chinese folklore. The perspective changes to the xenophobes and the hypocrisy of their actions, especially since the United States is predominantly Christian yet the ideals of Christianity are often twisted to suit personal vendettas as opposed to loving thy neighbor and treating others with compassion. The last part of the poem connects the idea of unity. Unity was unattainable in the first stanza of the poem because the fearful natives “flee the phoenixes”. However, by comparing everyone in the world as different beans in the same pot, an attempt of unity is made. We’re all so varied in our outward appearance and in the texture on the inside, which makes each one of our souls, if you will, unique. We all have our low moments of anger and greed because we’re all human. But it’s time to put all the misery and hate behind us and start a new canvas. A new canvas that waits for the first brush of tomorrow. That is what the stanza hopes for. It no longer embodies any one group of people, but rather the emotion of hope.
Originally I had written the music to accompany this poem with a lot of Chinese influence, which would be carried out by the cello. However, I couldn’t properly record the cello with the appropriate microphone so the sound would end up being very harsh. So I instead opted for a much more repetitive and simple tune using just my voice and the guitar. I first felt as though I had done my interview partner a great injustice. Where would she and her story be in this poem? Besides the reference to the Chinese phoenix, was she forgotten? Of course not. Instead of putting her in the music, I put her in the poem itself. She wears a very young and jubilant demeanor, one that dazzles with optimism and hope. So I wrote the second stanza with her in mind. In that stanza I married the idea for a better future regarding immigrants and nonimmigrants with her sense of optimism. That’s what she gave this poem.
Victoria Lynn Garsow is just one person among many who have come out as being bisexual
Ignoring that you think you might be gay does not make the feeling go away (00:43)
Courage is something Victoria has had to develop because she has faced discrimination for trying to be herself
Today, people like Victoria still face hatred just for being different from the norm
Openly admitting who you really are is not easy for a lot of people including Victoria
Reacting in a positive way when someone tells you they are bi helps them know it is not something to be ashamed of
Integrity: what we lose when we forget to think of the consequences of our actions towards others
Adjusting to the way people think of you was not something that came easy to Victoria because she felt she had to present herself in a certain way
Lots of people Victoria states, do not act out of anger towards homosexuality but out of ignorance (19:03)
Yelling derogatory terms at someone makes them scared to express who they really are (9:08)
Negligence is common with people in positions of authority if they do not as Victoria stated,”think and act with empathy towards other people” (20:42)
Not only can Victoria’s story apply to other people trying to come out but to anyone facing adversity
Gossiping about other people’s differences, like sexuality, is still wrong even if it is not said straight to their face (12:22)
Accepting the fact that you cannot control who you love is like accepting the fact that you cannot control what people think of you (17:39)
Realizing that a relationship with God does not depend on your sexuality is something Victoria has come to understand (5:30)
Standing on a stage, as Victoria does, in a theater production helps her embrace her individuality
Ostracizing has occurred in societies that refuse to accept others for who they are but when stories like Victoria’s are told it makes it that much harder for people like her to be excluded
Whenever you meet someone like Victoria she is an example of how one rock can create a ripple effect
Portrait of Victoria Lynn Garsow holding a butterfly, Kansas City, May 2018. All Rights Reserved.
I interviewed my roommate Victoria Garsow on February 28th, 2019, in the apartment in which we live. Victoria is different from me in the fact that she is bisexual. She is a freshman theater major here at UMKC and an aspiring high school theater teacher. She was born in Belton, Missouri and is currently eighteen years old. Victoria states that she grew up in a very conservative family but that they were really supportive when she came out as bisexual. In writing this poem I wanted to highlight how certain people are not accepted in this world because of certain differences. I used Victoria’s full name to make my acrostic poem to show that the people who are affected by discrimination are regular people and have a name just like any other person. I have only known Victoria a little under eight months. I am very appreciative of this interview because we have grown closer because of it and now I understand more of what she has been through. Before talking with her I really did not know what people went through when they came out as bisexual. My poem is not just inspired by Victoria’s story but by all individuals who face discrimination on a daily basis.
Another influence that I had while writing this poem was Alain Resnais’s 1955 film Night and Fog. My poem relates to the film because Alain Resnais wanted to make a film with a theme that could be applied to other situations not just those within the Holocaust. For my poem, I too wanted a theme that could be applied to not only one individual but to society as a whole.
Some of the words that I used in my poem were from the interview that I conducted with Victoria. I included the word ignoring because when Victoria first started having feelings for a girl, she tried to ignore them. She acted like the feelings were not there but that obviously did not make them go away. The word ignorance is used because when I asked what advice Victoria would give someone in a similar situation she said, “I would say have patience because whenever people act out with things such as being angry at homosexuality, I feel like they aren’t actually acting out of anger but out of ignorance.” (19:03) Some people have certain thoughts without even knowing why and they simply do not understand someone that is different from them. In my interview, I asked Victoria to describe a specific incident in which she felt unsafe or unwelcome at some point in her life because of being bisexual. She described a time when a guy in her high school was yelling derogatory terms at her as she was walking down the hallway, and that is why I included that in my poem (9:08). I used the word gossiping because Victoria has worried and still does occasionally about people talking bad about her behind her back. She stated this: “What if people are thinking mean things, they just aren’t saying them?” (12:22) Obviously, that is a justified comment because we are all at fault for talking about someone behind their back at some point in our lives although that does not make it right. One of my favorite things that Victoria stated in the interview was, “I always thought that yeah you can control who you love but yeah no you can’t control who you love.” (17:39) The reason I like this quote so much and why I put it in my poem is because it is such a true statement for any individual whether they are gay or straight. When talking about homosexuality, someone’s relationship with God is something that gets brought up. A lot of the time people who are gay are not welcomed by their religion because that religion does not accept them. Victoria faced this issue and says, “So, I kind of struggled with my image there, where I was like have I lost my faith, or am I not a Christian anymore because I am gay? Which that is not true because you can still be a Christian and have feelings for someone of the same sex.” (5:30)
The last thing I would like to explain is when I put in the word negligence. I asked Victoria if she believed society could become more tolerant. She is talking about political figures when she states, “I feel like if we do get other people in power that genuinely love America and genuinely love everybody as a whole, who think and act with empathy towards other people then hopefully we will become more tolerant.” (20:42) This answer is very important because when it comes to people in power making decisions out of hate instead of having love for everyone this is what is leading America in the wrong direction. It would be very sad and disappointing after all the progress that has taken place with people accepting individuals in the LGBTQ community for someone in power to come along and take all that away.
As I have stated before I have not known Victoria that long, but I can say that we have become such amazing friends in this short amount of time. Based on my participant observation while living with her, I have realized that she is truly one of the nicest, funniest, caring, and most accepting people I have ever met.
This cage does not have walls Nor a ceiling, nor a floor But fingers and toes And nobody knows Between my ears I'm fighting a war.
Sometimes I can't look at myself I won't stand in front of the mirror If I do I'm left reeling And can't shake the feeling That my identity isn't so clear.
Some people do not believe me They won't call me by the right name They tease and they taunt me Do they know that it haunts me That they think my gender's a false claim.
I feel like there's no one behind me My rights are not well protected And all I can do is pray That my liberties aren't taken away By the people who have been elected.
We don't have good representation We're rarely portrayed in a good light. In the media we're shown as a joke Or a hooker out having a smoke Few networks will show our true plight.
I wish people would let us be Why should you be upset or even care About what I wear and how I present If it is to no one's detriment So before you judge, or flash me a glare
Please think about how you would feel If you were on my side of the deal.
Daniel Zender, Painting, Kansas City, 2012, All Rights Reserved.
For this project I interviewed my friend, Parker Perrin, at my house on February 28th, 2019. Parker is a trans boy who attends Staley High School in North Kansas City. He enjoys theatre, music, as well as his bird, Hamlet. Parker has known he was trans since he was 12 years old. However, he was not able to come out until recently. Even then, he has only been able to come out to friends and not his family. Trans people are a minority in the United States that are both brought up all the time and simultaneously not talked about at all. In other words, while trans issues have been featured in more news recently, they are usually being talked about without trans people being part of the conversation. This one-sided argument results in an ignorant society that is not actually able to see trans issues from a trans person’s perspective. Even doing this assignment I feel as if I walk a very thin line, because it’s important to let minorities speak, and not speak for them. Even when it is well intended, allies often speak over or for the very minority they are trying to defend or advocate for.
This poem is from the point of view of a trans person because I felt that would be the most effective way to evoke compassion and understanding in the audience. However, since I am not a member of this community, and haven’t experienced these things, I tried to be more general to avoid misrepresenting the thoughts and feelings of people in the trans community. Gender dysphoria is the feeling that your body and body parts do not match the gender that you identify with. Trans people often experience dysphoria. Dysphoria can lead to a deep-set discomfort and self-confidence issues that can make it hard to look at themselves or think about how other people see them. In my poem I tried to describe this feeling in the first and second stanza. In the third stanza I talk about the general disrespect that members of the trans community deal with on a daily basis. In my interview with Parker, he talked about how every negative reaction and instance where he is misidentified weighs on him and hurts his self-confidence. In the fourth stanza I talk about the fact that trans people are not protected by their government. In recent years trans people have had their rights threatened and even taken away by our current administration several times. During my interview with Parker, one issue that was brought to my attention is the social stigma that surrounds trans people. Throughout popular media, trans people are shown as sex workers, predators, and are incorrectly portrayed as people who are simply pretending to be a member of the opposite sex. I reference this in the fifth stanza of the poem. These harmful stereotypes create a large problem with how society views the trans community, and people then use these stereotypes to validate their own hateful prejudices. When these harmful stereotypes and gross misunderstandings are perpetuated in our society, it desensitizes us to the issue and makes possessing negative thoughts about the trans community seem more acceptable. This is evidenced by the fact that in our current government, many officials, including our president, actively take away trans rights, such as the right to serve their country. Even in our home town of Kansas City, several sitting council members outwardly oppose the LGBT community. I talk about this political tension and violation of rights and freedoms in the fourth stanza of the poem.
In interviewing Parker, I gained a deeper insight into the problems and feelings experienced by members of the trans community and learned a lot from this about how to be an ally. The trans community is one that needs to be given a platform on which to speak and present their thoughts and feelings, so that our society can grow and become more accepting of other people’s lives and experiences.
Kind of like cutting off your legs just to see if you’re capable
You strip a little piece of dignity
From the small number of people who have any clarity
You pour a little price into curiosity
Slap a name on it for the people who live within the causal luminosity
They say to be one with others
But how do we coexist without having the same Mother
The moon and the son
They rotate like two linear buns
The universe spins on the same frequency
Even if we don’t speak the same currency
If you bounce the moon off it’s timeline
Is the sun sitting there waiting to see if the time’s right?
One sets as the other one rises
Its all about how they handle each other’s vices
You have one language that’s just sugar and spices
And one language that’s all high rises
That’s how it feels to be an outcast
“All things in this world die”
According to someone who claims that they don’t hide
Shifting paths, living in masks
Do you walk or do you run?
Are you the moon or are you the sun?
Artist Rendition:
Author unknown, illustration of the moon and sun, downloaded on April 1, 2019, All rights reserved.
My narrative poem addressed some things from my point of view which is looking into a window through L’s point of view. The first stanza starts off with the moon and sun comparison. This is a big theme that ties the entire piece together. I talked about how one (the moon/sun) sets while the other one rises. The moon and sun are constantly on their own wavelength, rotation, time, and speed. They’re working together as a team but they’re also their own individual energy source. To try and make more sense of this we must give a little background on the person in interest. During my interview with L, they gave me insight into some of the struggles they had to deal with on the daily due to the lack of documentation their parents have. They are considered “aliens” according to the government and the laws held within this country. The moon and sun comparison has multiple ties into it but the main one is that the moon represents the minorities while the sun represents the government and/or upper class. Undocumented people are “outcasts.” In the interview, L states that “there [were] actually a couple situations where [their] parent [was] uhm— they weren’t embarrassed but they, they were treated less than a human”(1:51). My last line in my first stanza states “one walks as the other one runs” in correlation to the idea of the moon and sun being two different kinds of people. Imagine yourself in a situation like the rabbit and the tortoise. Who runs and who walks? That is kind of the concept I am trying to portray. Do you eat or do you stave?
In the second stanza, you can see the input of my personal opinion. I start off talking about the moon being an outcast and then I continue with the “cycle” aspect of the theme. In a sense, the government and everybody else has to work In a cycle in order to coexist and function in the same society. “Bigots like Donald Trump, treat them like they’re recyclable.” I assumed my audience has a slight comprehension of what is going on concerning our current president and the status of his demands for this country. The laws and newly founded apprehensions regarding undocumented people have really stunted the thought process for the hope of all humanity. They are being treated like they are “recyclable.” In stanza three, I talk about the “piece of paper” and how “we make up whether or not you are coherent and able.” The piece of paper is the document (s) that L’s parents do not have, the tangible and physical recycled broken-down piece of wood that determines their entire status and quality of life in this country. I compare this to “cutting off your legs, just to see if you’re capable” in kind of a sarcastic but ironic kind of light. In the interview, L talks about his parent’s most recent struggle. Their mom had just recently gotten into a car accident, trying to get the car fixed and the insurance companies to comply with the financial struggles of having to hire a lawyer. All of that can be taxing but even more taxing on someone who is illegally living in this country. Simple things are harder to obtain. The sun is the center of the universe, it has multiple energy forms relying on its energy and resources in order to function. It’s just like modern day society, the government is in control of everything, the center of attention, meanwhile, the moon, (the minorities, the outcasts, the “aliens”) is in the back pulling most of the weight getting little to no credit and is usually ridiculed along the way. The people of the moon live humbly for things that don’t come easy to them.
In the next stanza, I focus even deeper on the topic by talking about the restricting “Freedom” Americans claims we have a right to—”you strip a little piece of dignity” (taking away simple rights based off status of citizenship) “for the people who have clarity” (clarity in the sense of having a different sense of mind due to the difference in struggles and experiences people with documents versus people who don’t have documents have to go through (each person’s definition of “clarity” may or may not differ). “Slap a name on it for people who live within the casual luminosity” (to bring attention to how we, as a society, tend to label people or put them into certain boxes. People who are just waking up every day in the journey of finding a purpose to carry out until they die. Casual luminosity. Casual everyday living auras. Living light. In the interview, L states that they like to “go out with [their] cousins, a lot,” and “that’s one of the most enjoyable things [they] do” (11:55). I invert this into stanza five, line two by comparing L’s joy in hanging out with his cousins to a much deeper and more rooted problem. How does society and humanity coexist as one without having the same “Mother.” Mother in the sense of “all things greater than me.” How do people overcome fear, hatred, and differences if we won’t all first identify as being all the same? All equal? All following and breathing for the same purpose of enjoying and fulfilling our lives until we eventually die?
In stanza six, I state that the “universe spins on the same frequency, even if we don’t speak the same currency.” In saying this, I try to illustrate a picture, a visual so my audience can depict the kind of angle I am trying to portray. In the interview with L, they state that they had struggled with reading for a long time, even in kindergarten they would still struggle more than their peers. In my poem, I compare language to currency, that even though there are a lot of people who speak many different languages, it does not suggest that we are any better than the next. It is simply a currency we have; we get to use it whenever and however we want all the while reaping the benefits of being able to communicate with one another. If we strip away someone’s right to speech or degrade someone for not being fluent in one language or the other, we deny someone’s right to currency, we deny them a rite of passage. Stanza seven hits L’s struggles with stereotypes placed upon them and their family. In the interview they state that people have “tried to get my dad into selling drugs and all of that but he always said no and now I have one uncle that is here and the rest— some are incarcerated, some are in other states and some are in Mexico because of deportation” (1:51). I use this to incorporate “it’s all about how they handle each other’s vices, you have one language that’s just sugar and spices and one language that’s all high rises” by using their story and struggle with problems with their family member’s and drugs and compare it to the way that society has to share each other’s experiences and “vices” in order come to a point of total unanimous acceptance.
Author Unknown, content containing peace propaganda, downloaded on April 6th, 2019, All rights reserved.
In the second to last stanza, I incorporated a direct quote from L themselves, “All things in this world die.” In the interview, I ask L if there is a specific or special quote he relates too and that is the first part of the quote. I find this to be the main anchor to this entire narrative poem. We all live, we all breathe, and we all die. The reason for any kind of discrimination of someone else due to their ethnic, sexual, or religious belief is pointless. If we all breathe, we all die. If we all die, what makes one person better than the next? L had a different childhood because of the struggles and battles their parents had to deal with. Although a burden at times, L takes all of this in a very warm-hearted light, they take these struggles and turn them into lessons. I state at the very end; “Do you walk, or do you run? Are you the moon or are you the sun?” Ultimately, no matter what you decide to be, you must remember that the moon is merely a reflection of the sun. We all walk and we all eventually run. It’s simply a cycle, and that cycle is called life.
