Eden Richman Week 6 - "My Honest Poem" By Rudy Francisco

     While reading this poem, all I could think about was the song from Camp Rock called "Introducing Me" by Nick Jonas (This then led to me getting it stuck in my head, playing it to get out of my head, my mom telling me that "Introducing Me" sounds like "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, and then me bringing out the ukulele that I bought during quarantine to show her that I can play it on the ukulele, and having an hour-long ukulele sesh which sounded horrible) Although they both have very different messages, they are both about the author's uniqueness, and what they notice about themselves. If you don't know the song "Introducing me" I will link it below, it is very catchy. Francisco uses strange details about himself to show how miserable his life is, and Nick Jonas uses details as cute quirks. 

    His poem does start seeming to be a poem about little things Francisco appreciates about himself. Fun facts like "I don't know how to swim" and "I'm a sucker for a girl with a nice smile" The poem then leads into things that he doesn't like about himself, such as his fear of commitment. He uses his fascination with ice sculptures and sandcastles to convey the fact that he will only "[dedicate] the time to things that will last only a few moments." He uses this as the reason that he always falls in love with women who will never love him back. Francisco continues talking about his self-consciousness. His self-esteem is low, he thinks people, and even inanimate objects are talking behind his back and recognize that he beats himself up all the time. 

    In the last stanza, he brings back the "Introducing Me" energy to the poem. He mentions his love for froyo, people watching and laughing. But he quickly goes back to saying how unworthy he is, and how his shadow shouldn't even be following him. This is referencing the beginning of the poem where he started out so positive and then broke our expectations by talking about himself negatively.



The Poem:

https://genius.com/3200506

Comments

  1. Dori BaronNovember 3, 2021 at 7:12 PM

    Hi Eden! First of all, I love the song "Introducing Me," and have always thought it sounded like "I'm Yours" too, haha. The poem you chose sounds like it must've been fun and perhaps even relatable to read. Poems that require a lot of analysis of subtle themes and such can be compelling, but it's also nice to just read poems that are straight forward as well. That sounds like an interesting shift in tone since he starts off positively and then talks about himself negatively towards the end. I would've preferred if it were the other way around to show more personal growth. :(

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