Neon Scars: Coming to terms with the self

In class we discussed the essay that was written by Wendy Rose and how she used her poetry to tell the story of what happened to her throughout her life. I think that one can read her poetry and see that she is making an honest attempt to find normalcy through the experiences that she had as a child, but in all of her attempts to try and help people understand her, in her search for regularity in her life and an acceptance to society she also pushes them away, she pushes them away with the veiled pain and then the sudden bluntness that is present in her essays. The hidden metaphors, the subtleties to her words all tell the reader something then in this essay she shows that the metaphors were not just poetic attempts to convey a meaning, but that they were quite literal. I think that her attempts to become regular, her attempts to find herself through her poetry and writing are stopped by her inability to come to terms with her experiences. Her pain and her confusion about her life, her place in the world and her yearning for acceptance is an unfortunate mixture for a confused message. She wants to be accepted, she wants to feel welcomed but part of being a member of society, to not be an outcast is to come to terms with your problems or learn how to cope with them and this is something that is not displayed in many of her poems. The pain is easy to understand and is easy to sympathize with but her path to normalcy is made longer by the pain she expresses and cannot properly release. The essay was a fantastic step in the direction to her finding herself and for her to be comfortable with who she is, setting an example of how to go about becoming one with yourself despite the struggles you have encountered.

Derrick Alma