LITR 3731: Creative Writing
Student Poetry Submission
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt
To BurnI want to burn myself,
to scar, feel the pain,
to breathe reality in
with the smoke of my burning flesh.
When I look in the mirror, what do I see?
Her hands wrapped around my thighs,
mouth melted around my small breast.
When I look at my round belly
I see her tongue there
and remember the light in the fire,
the tune playing in my mind.
I want to burn myself,
to peel the scab,
erase this from memory.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (January 4, 2000 - Original Version)
To Burn
I want to burn myself,
to scar, feel the pain,
breathe reality in
with the smoke of my flesh.
What do I see in the mirror?
Her hands on my thighs,
lips melted around my small breast.
When I look at my round belly
I see her tongue there
remember the light in the fire,
the tune in my mind.
I want to burn myself,
to peel the scab,
erase this memory.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (Fall 2003 - Class Version)
To Burn
I want to burn myself,
blister, feel the pain,
breathe reality in
with the smoke of my flesh.
What do I see in the mirror?
Her hands on my thighs,
lips melted around my small breast.
When I look at my round belly
I see her tongue there
remember the light in the fire,
the tune in my mind.
I want to burn myself,
peel the scab,
scar this memory.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (Fall 2003 - Revision)
I wanted to show the process I have taken with "To Burn", so I have included an original version, the class version, and my revision. I do not feel like I have made very drastic changes to what was seen in class, but my main reason being that I have been playing with poem for almost three years now. I feel the poem as it is now is very tight and if I add or take away any more it will be taking away from the poem. I have really enjoyed sharing this poem. It was good to be able to show it to those outside of my family and friends. The class critic helped me see the glitches and perhaps where I could make it better.
I have included three extra poems.
The first one, "Wonder Woman Knows What's Happening," was written a
few years ago, and the other two, "Chocolate Minutes" and "when
she hit my smile," were written recently. I wanted to include a
variety of styles and topics. All of my examples are free style poetry, I
have done very little structured poetry and have not included any of these here.
Wonder Woman Knows What's Happening
are you Wonder Woman,
or do you just look like her?
it's more than just a simple notion
to manage your world with ease
with a single point of access
push the art form
exhibited in a permanent collection
lead innovations of worldwide museums
pump up, get mad, take too many steroids,
rediscover the joy of eating,
find your soul mate,
get aroused, take your medication.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (December 2000)
Chocolate Minutes
children full of wanting to eat,
stealing chocolate minutes
to hoard in pockets
lined with our adult constraints.
we see sticky fingers of yellow and red
and hear stop,
but there is no time.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (September 2003)
when she hit my smile
she bruises easy,
-- my sister.
well… we all do.
good, guilty children
always doing something wrong,
so when CPS came
we were reminded how to lie
and they always left
content with their lives
and our smiling faces,
but they weren't there last night
when She hit my smile.
Giselle Rose-Lee Hewitt (July 2003)