Things That Happened To Me In High School Summary
Catcalling, drug abuse, suicide and the its attempts, depression, seeking help, rape culture, transgender; this list contains what is included in just some slam poems. Each slam is written as a summary of personal experiences or trauma. “Things That Happened to Me in High School…” discusses topics of abortion, drug abuse, and suicide attempts. Lauren Zuniga discusses what it’s like to live as a teenager and what some teenagers face in their daily lives, including slut shaming, nasty breakups and catcalling. “14 Lines from Love Letters or Suicide Note” by Doc Luben shows that there is no distinction between the two, where does one stop and the next begin. It includes different ideas of love and death, without distinction.
“From My Mother to
Her Late Daughter” discusses suicide and the destruction of a family afterwards. Aaliyah Jihad speaks like a letter from a mother’s perspective through different metaphors and talks about body parts as though they were things to remember the dead by.
Similar, “I Won’t Write Your Obituary” by Nora Cooper speaks from a friends’ perspective about getting help. She speaks about what she would do with the body if someone were to call her to retrieve the body, stating “Throw them at school children, hurl the at the sea. I don’t care, I don’t want them.” She talks about suicide and what it does to friends that have been beside the person who is about to commit the act and how to help prevent.
“One Color” by Ollie Schminkey and Neil Hilbron focuses on how each story of a rape survivor is different and no two stories are the same, through personal trauma. It ends with “Do not stare at a red dot and say the whole painting is just one color.” Along with “People You May Know” by Kevin Kantor, which speaks about how close he was with his rapist through speaking of his Facebook feed, both poems speak of how close they were to their rapists, that it wasn’t a stranger, but someone that they knew and trusted.
“From My Mother to
Her Late Daughter” discusses suicide and the destruction of a family afterwards. Aaliyah Jihad speaks like a letter from a mother’s perspective through different metaphors and talks about body parts as though they were things to remember the dead by.
Similar, “I Won’t Write Your Obituary” by Nora Cooper speaks from a friends’ perspective about getting help. She speaks about what she would do with the body if someone were to call her to retrieve the body, stating “Throw them at school children, hurl the at the sea. I don’t care, I don’t want them.” She talks about suicide and what it does to friends that have been beside the person who is about to commit the act and how to help prevent.
“One Color” by Ollie Schminkey and Neil Hilbron focuses on how each story of a rape survivor is different and no two stories are the same, through personal trauma. It ends with “Do not stare at a red dot and say the whole painting is just one color.” Along with “People You May Know” by Kevin Kantor, which speaks about how close he was with his rapist through speaking of his Facebook feed, both poems speak of how close they were to their rapists, that it wasn’t a stranger, but someone that they knew and trusted.