by AD Sifford
In my sophomore year of high school (2009/2010), my Language Arts teacher gave an assignment to create a poetry collection composed of 10 new original poems and 10 written by famous poets, with each poem being a showcase for a specific type of poetry or poetic elements. The entire project was to have a centralized theme. As much of a headache as the project was to me, it awoke my inner poet, and started me on my gradual road of writing personal, genuinely inspired poetry of my own accord. I decided to write each poem in a progressive form, like a story, beginning with a call to awaken and emerge (Boxed), and passing through struggles and temptation along the journey (Snare, The Living Fire) and culminating in a lesson from enlightenment that prepares the reader for their own journey (The Ladder). Some very special, emotionally birthed & driven, and personal poems came out of this project, and through it, my dislike of poetry became a fond and powerful form of expression for me, and here I am. I will be posting my poems from this collection, the first 10. The cover photo is a picture of the cover I drew and colored for the project.