• Front Cover
  • Back Cover
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7

Reflect, Writing:

Beginning the drafting process was very freeing. Knowing that I had to draft this poem gave me the freedom to simply write, without worrying about how it sounded or was structured– I knew I had time to change it. This feeling of just putting words down is a luxury I don’t allow myself often; I typically spend most of my time writing thinking about organization, syntax, and word choice/ placement, rather than actually writing. 

During the drafting process, I tried to focus on changing one thing each day. This was also freeing because it allowed me to really focus on one part of the poem. If the assignment wasn’t to make an edit each day, I would most likely be more focused on big-picture changes. But, this process helped me focus on refining little things about the poem. I would try to limit myself to one change each day, which worked well. I liked doing this because there were times where, after I had reflected on the change I wanted to make more, I realized it was trivial, or even worse than how it was, which allowed me to move on to other parts of the poem I wasn’t so sure about. 

One thing I found challenging was not scrapping the whole poem and starting from scratch. There were times that I was frustrated and wanted to start all over or thought I had a better idea for a poem. During these times, it was hard not to go back to square one.

Reflect, Bookmaking:

When adding images to the book, I started with the front and back covers. For these covers, I thought about the feeling of what I had written– what position this person talking is in. I quickly felt like this person was deep into a honeymoon phase of a relationship and had completely surrendered himself to this person. The idea of “surrendering” himself gave me the idea of this person wrapping up his heart and giving it to the girl in the poem. When decorating the inside of the book, I wanted to put in things that would be associated with the specific feeling and situation I had originally decided the poem displayed– little snap shots of things that might be going on. I decided to hand draw all of these things because I like the intimacy the imperfection of hand drawing elicits. When something is expressed, however, not perfectly, to me, it implies a lot of passion (which is what the person in the poem is overflowing with). It implies passion to me because, even though it isn’t the most “clean” image in the world, the person doesn’t care because they feel so strongly and just want to get it out. It also provides a personal touch. I hope that the images give the reader the impression of sappiness that the person in the poem is speaking with.

Final Draft

To: You

Why would I go
when I know you're here?
And why would I stay
when I know you're there?
Why would I sleep
when I know you're awake?
And why would I wake
when I know you'rer asleep?
Why would I talk
when I know you can't hear?
And why would I listen
when I know you're not speaking?

Every breath I take,
Everything I do,
Eberymove I make,
I want to make with you.