Rain Crockett

Grade: 9

Cleveland School of the Arts

Instructor: Cari Thornton

The Collection

Poetry

The Collection

Inspired by the marble sculpture Why Born Enslaved!
By: Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux

Enslaved to you
Eyes
All over ME
Hands
All over ME
People,
judging ME,
touching ME
Men,
sexualizing ME,
abusing ME
Set me free
Born enslaved
It'll be like that
Even when
I'm in the grave
They've,
tied me up,
ripped my clothes
Don't you know that,
I'm a human as well?
You don't respect me,
You don't care about me,
You don't care about us,
Don't you know that,
we deserve love?
We're nothing but slaves to you
Always born slaves to you

Inspired by the printed photo: Satisfied Man
By: Kerry James Marshall

Shadows
Run, run, running away
From the shadow that once was mine
I try to hide

Turning left,
Turning right
I stop
Exactly where I am
There's no use

The darkness of my past follows
Right on my heels as I walk
Silence

Please leave me alone
I walk and I walk with an artificial smile on my face
Not genuine
Not happy
Nothing at all

Arms crossed
Sheltering myself from the bitter chill in the air
The shadow that was once mine
Following me

So I run
As far as I can
To escape my past
That's caused me pain

It taunted me
Making me weak and small
Pain strikes my heart
I wish I felt nothing at all

Inspired by the oil painting: Wood Interior
Emil Carlsen

A Person Like Me
Sitting against the roughness of a tree,
I think to myself:
What if it all came to an end?
life,
me,
the world.
In this present moment,
everythings fine,
the world's okay.
What is the meaning of life?
The crunching of leaves steals my attention.
I turn and spot a person.
A person like me;

Emotions flying everywhere,
as I walk along a path through the woods.
I don't know what to feel anymore.
The cracking of leaves,
sounds like laughter.
Maybe they're laughing at me.
I keep walking, walking, and walking
Until,
I walk upon a person.
A person like me.