the subject was efron.

CHEESEBALL ALERT!!! I am posting one of my finals on my alleged blog, and that might send my dork status into overdrive... but that's okay. Our assignment for my Lit final was to create a poem modeled after one that we read in our book. I'm far from a self-proclaimed poet, but I think the subject matter of mine is worth repeating.

First, the poem I used as my model:


Carole Satyamurti (pg. 848)
I SHALL PAINT MY NAILS RED
Because a bit of color is a public service.
Because I am proud of my hands.
Because it will remind me I'm a woman.
Because I will look like a survivor.
Because I can admire them in traffic jams.
Because my daughter will say ugh.
Because my lover will be surprised.
Because it is quicker than dyeing my hair.
Because it is a ten-minute moratorium.
Because it is reversible.

and now I give you:
Jimmie Taylor (original)
I SHALL HANG A ZAC EFRON POSTER UPON MY WALL
Because a bit of Zac is at my service..
Because I am proud of my individuality.
Because it will remind me to feel 17 again.
Because I will look like a teenybopper.
Because I can admire him while eating jam.
Because my boyfriend will say ugh.
Because my closest friends won't be surprised.
Because it is quicker than hanging Zac himself upon my wall.
Because it is a lifetime of happiness.
Because I am Jimmie Taylor, and I love Zac Efron.

I was a little uneasy and unsure of how to tackle this end assignment, and I'm not entirely certain I scored a touchdown. (I attempted a tackle, so I figured I should attempt the touchdown. I don't know. I don't speak football. I was a cheerleader in a former life, I think.) I was nervous to even pick a poem, because I'm nervous to model something I write after someone else's work. I was skimming through the chapters, and for some reason I SHALL PAINT MY NAILS seemed to jump from the pages at me. I think the unique title, along with the fact that each line begins with 'Because...' really caught my eye. I knew that I could easily create a poem of my own based after this one. I didn't even really have to think too long and hard to come up with a subject matter for mine, either. I knew I wanted to pick something that would scream Jimmie Taylor. Sometimes, I think Zac Efron screams Jimmie Taylor.
I tried to model my poem as close to Carole's as possible. I prefer to refer to her as Carole, because I think I mispronounce her last name correctly in my head, so I choose to avoid it. In the original, I didn't much care for the word moratorium. (Even after I looked it up to see what it meant.) Instead of referring to sitting in a traffic jam, I changed my poem to eating jam. I strived for a little resemblance of the original in each line of my own. If I wanted to steal a little of this assignment, I wanted to steal with the intent to do it justice. (Is there justice in stealing? Why do I feel the need to type random sentences in parenthesis??) I think Carole used great imagery in her poem. I felt as if I could not only picture the hand with the red painted nails, but the woman as well. I felt like she was a distinguished woman, full of elegance and grace. In my poem, I wanted to give the image of an older man (though I typically like to be referred to as a Backstreet Boy) clinging to something that represents his electric youth. (And that was a shout-out to Debbie Gibson, for anyone who didn't catch it.) For Carole, I feel as if the red painted nails symbolized confidence. She was proud to display and show them off. My Zac poster is a clear symbol of my individuality. I don't imagine Efron posters grace the walls of many homes without children, like mine. While finding a symbol in each poem was rather easy, the hardest part for me in writing mine was the absence of rhyme. (It's a constant pop-culture shout-out with me; I love LeAnn Rimes!) I love creating poetry that rhymes, and to not do so is sometimes a difficult task for me.
I do, however, consider myself lucky to a certain degree, because I don't spend too much time stressing over what or how to write. Although I was nervous at first, once I got my subject, the poem seemed to flow right out of my fingers. I believe that the central thematic element found in both poems is basically about being yourself. Whether it be nail polish or a poster, each key item is a celebration of two separate individuals. I also think a central theme could be personal happiness. For me, my personal wish would be for everyone in this world to find the same happiness somewhere in his/her life the way I find it in hanging a silly picture of the star of the HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL movies on my wall. If each person had a fraction of that happiness, we would be one step away from all joining hands and skipping down a mountain. That's how happy it makes me, and that's why I choose to hang a Zac Efron poster upon my wall.