Poetry Portfolio
This page is dedicated to finished works I would like to share.
… – .- -.– .-.-.- (Stay) is a poem that came from a weekend in which I watched Interstellar. The subject that the poem is addressing plays an important role in the construction of the poem and the choice to write it in code. The movie explores the idea that love can transcend time and space but it can also take some time to understand. I also wanted to write a message about something ineffable and indeterminate. Around this time, translations and punctuation were something I was thinking about incorporating into my poetry. The poem took shape before me and I wanted my audience to be able to see the entire translation but keep the hidden message element. The poem is mirrored but morse code has alternating sections when it comes to each version. The question mark is used as a signifier to repeat the message in morse code.
Nec possum tecum vivere nec sine te is a poem that came out of several sources of inspiration. The majority of my work hides a feeling in metaphor, truth in imagery. The first time I encountered this latin phrase was when I was reading Tokyo Ghoul and a character had it tattooed on their neck. I became enamored with the phrase because I too had become familiar with the feeling of being unable to live with or without someone. I wanted to push that boundary even further. My pursuit was to make the reader know what it felt like to hang somewhere between life and death. I thought about states of being that fluctuate and remembered Schrodinger’s cat. I used this concept to build a better vision and as the poem developed I saw it breathe. The shape of the poem went on to match its concept and in the middle was the translation for the title. I hoped that its intended audience would put all these elements together to know of the importance of the subject of the poem.