In this English assignment, I was tasked to create a poem based inspired by a poem we read in class titled “i am graffiti.”

Making this assignment helped me tap into my creative thinking abilities by influencing me with a prompt that I could build off of.   In the beginning, I decided to compare myself to a candle to showcase the effects of overworking and burnout in a metaphorical way.   Before I even wrote a word down I planned and brainstormed the qualities of a candle to help me generate ideas about how it could tie into my theme.  Once I began writing, I discovered my weakness: using figurative language.  There were moments when I felt unsure about how to express myself without being painfully literal.  The solution to this problem was going back to my brainstorm notes and using one of my artistic ideas to help me construct a metaphor.  To create the image for this poem I reflected on what the theme of my poem was about and what I really wanted a reader to take away from it.   That was how I developed the idea to burn myself instead of showing a burning candle in the image.  In the end, I used my passion for art to motivate me to finish this piece.

If I were to do this assignment differently next time I would manage my time more efficiently and begin working towards my end goal of completing the project as soon as I could.  I had a fear of doing the work that led to my end product, but what I discovered was that this project was actually engaging and enjoyable because of the ability it had to strengthen my creative brainstorming and thinking.  There are many more opportunities in the future when I will get to practice this and I am now willing to keep this in mind having made this discovery.