The Long Way Home ERN The Long Way Home (aka Ashes) was the second poem

I wrote for class. I remember thinking, Wow, this poem is so symbolic! Its awesome! Looking back, I am sort of embarrassed that I thought that. If I hadnt wrote it, I would have thought that this poem was meant to confuse readers. On line four I wrote, She cant face the light. What I mean by that line is that she cant face peer pressure, but I dont know why I had to get so figurative with it. I also do know why I never thought to add line spaces, but I guess that is what revisions are for! So for my first revision, I tried to create somewhat of a narrative, but I wasnt sure exactly where I was going with it. I decided to start with an image of a tree, since that was the premise of my previous poem. Like a few of my other poems, this one is really dark. I wrote, the beady-eyed man took / her to the oak tree and/ hung her skirt on the branches. I originally wanted to only write about the loss of innocence, but this draft went a little too far with that. I tried to use the repetition of I remember so readers could draw on their imaginations. In my second revision, I incorporated an image of a girl pilling acorns. I was still trying to draw some symbolism from my original draft, while still creating a poem that wasnt abstract. I attempted to have a tree mirror Laura and her growth. For example, between longer two stanzas I said I remember when the oak tree was very much alive. I tried to relate the vivacity of the tree to Laura, before the man with beady, wrinkled eyes came in the picture. This is going to sound really depressing, but I wanted to reflect on how beautiful a childs imagination is (a little girl was/ piling acorns in a stack against the tallest oak tree, hoping a/ squirrel would come) and how sad it is too grow up and lose that virtue (wished she never took/ the long way home.) As an adult, Laura regrets, but as a child she wishes. I dreaded writing the third revision because I wasnt passionate about this poem. I decided to switch up the form and content quite a bit. I altered the poem into three-six lined stanzas, something I saw in one of Cate Marvins poems. Each stanza is made to represent three parts of Lauras life- childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Marvin inspired me

especially in the third stanza, when the poem becomes a little bit raunchier (for example, his calloused palms raised her skirt.) I centered the fifth draft in order to somewhat get an image of a tree. If one does a close reading of my poem, he/she would find that this form reflects the content in that it revolves around one person, Laura, who can be portrayed as lonely (she lied because/ she was bored and She wanted squirrels/ to come to her, but they/ never did.)