Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Missed Phone Calls, Ben S. Sherbacow

Student Publications

A poem about hope and reconnection.

Aprilis - I / April - I, Brinna Michael

mOthertongue

Poem in Latin.

Education, Crystal C. Gray

Eddie Mabry Diversity Award

Education is a spoken word poem that explores many aspects of the African American struggle within (self-knowledge). It starts with an African American college student who is disappointed with the lack of courses about her culture. Most curricula in the United States tend to be from a Eurocentric perspective, leaving out a multitude of information about people of color. All groups of people of color have unique experiences, however, African Americans have the most known (or perhaps I should say, unknown) history. The standard explanation of their existence is often limited to the start of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, when …

Gen Ms 31 Thomas Carper Papers Finding Aid, Megan Hendrix

Search the General Manuscript Collection Finding Aids

Description:

This collection contains poems, writing logs and published works of poet Thomas Carper. Originally from Cornish, Maine, Carper is a Professor Emeritus who taught poetry and creative writing at USM from 1967 to 1997 and currently divides his time between Maine and France. The Papers include multiple drafts showing revisions of the poem along with the final version.

Date Range:

1982-2007

Size of Collection:

2 ft

Applications For Dummies, Carla M. Sanchez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem discusses the overwhelming pressure that is put on students to justify their right to be admitted into universities or to receive scholarships based on their extracurricular activities. Many working-class, first-generation college students are unable to participate in organizations and programs that offer students a more well-rounded college experience. This can lead first-gen students, like the author, to feel isolated, inadequate, or illegitimate. "Applications for Dummies" expresses Sanchez's incessant fear that she will never be able to compete with other students who were given the opportunity to build more worldly resumes, despite her strong academic commitment and intellectual potential.

Revelation, Tanya Diaz

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

There can sometimes be a gap between first-gen students and parents who have not experienced the stress of higher education. Children may believe this stress to be a necessary sacrifice for their future wellness; however, they often cannot feel their parents' sacrifices, just as their parents cannot feel their child's mental strain. Diaz creates this poem in an effort to examine her relationship with her mother from an outsider's point of view, in the end realizing that although her parents cannot always understand her experiences, they care and will support her decisions.