COLLEGE OF THE ROCKIES

GLÓRIA LUCENA VIANA DE CASTRO

CRWT - 102

FEBRUARY - 2021
 SUMMARY

THE CITY COLLECTION

- RED
- NIGHTS
- POUR IT
- GREEN WATERS

THE TROUBLESOME COLLECTION

- COURT
- LIKE YOU
- VISUAL
- DIVINE

THE FAMILY COLLECTION

- BLUE TILES
- COLOURISTS
 THE CITY COLLECTION

RED

Red lights mistaken by the city signs.

Danger and violence inside our minds
as we reach downtown.

Bummed out teenagers are eager

to feel beyond red.

NIGHTS

03 is the bus number

another hollow friday night,
where we were wasting our youth
on the city’s embrace.

We laughed over the excess of booze

we kissed the stars countless times

We might be shallow
but we break.

POUR IT

Cell phones buzzing full of party invites.

It’s another friday
and the purpleish sunlight is varnishing.

We’re on the back seat of the crowded bus

waiting to crush the neighborhood
with our empty actions and loaded mind.

“Pour it more, we can handle it!”

It’s what we say as the cachaça
is about to hit us once again.
GREEN WATERS

Noon, up on the ridge

with a yellow bright sunlight
that’s over-toned by the shades
of the green waters

Can you feel the heat?

As the waves break on the rocks
and your face is kissed by the salty breeze?

Can you hear them jumping over the slab?

Like they couldn’t care less?

Waves and jumps with unified sounds

while the tide takes its tenants once again.

Welcome to the Green Waters.

 THE TROUBLESOME COLLECTION

COURT

Girl, you better fake it ‘till

you’re out of dis damn court
Smiling just for sport,
lost on your own thoughts.

They say:
“Girl, you’re royalty”
Isn’t it flattering?
But you wear that funny personality
to compensate for the shattering.

LIKE YOU

Cuddling in the backseat of the bus

“I’m not like you”.
Interlacing hands close to
our sleeping friends.
“I’m not like you”

I can see your jealousy

across the room
as I kiss others right in front of you.
“I’m not like you”

You were so wrong

it was better if I couldn’t
keep you on.

“I’m not like you”.

VISUAL

Two female silhouettes dancing together

with pouring drinks in their hands
Anonymously in a singular trance.

Red lights shining as the electronic music

plays loudly on the club
where the frenetic and sweaty
bodies were caressing tirelessly.

The strobe lights were about to

cloud their senses
but with the last drop of sanity
the gun was pointed sharply

“are your intentions good?”

Amy said promptly.

DIVINE

Down on my knees
worshiping one divine.
I was told there were places
we could hide.

She told me to leave the garden

and I did in great reverence.
I was never devoted
but in between four walls
I’ve never felt so sterling.

Down on my knees
worshiping one divine.
And I do it willingly,
and unwinking.
 THE FAMILY COLLECTION

BLUE TILES

The house was now quiet

there’s only absence and
walls filled by blue tiles.

I can hear her voice

reverberating in chain,
but she is no longer there
while I wander once again.

There are no memories left,

just perpetual drafts of life.
that repeat themselves tiresomely
until only blue tiles remain.

Nevertheless, the place is marked

by very strong shades of yellow,
in remembrance of the good times
that I proudly claim.
COLOURISTS

We were colourists
livin’ on a wasteland.
Harmoniously complementary
as we used to say.

We were tired of all

the high demands.
“When you grow older
you’ll understand?”

Gabriela was weary

and now she’s gone
and who is to blame?

Now I’m colorblind

and lacking my complement.
Notes:

For my first submission I decided to divide my poetry into three collections, in each of the
parts the poems connect to each other in a particular way. The collections also connect with
each other, as they portray what I can see in my country and also in my interpersonal
relationships. In response to the comments, some poems may be ambiguous or are not specific
enough when it comes to characters or local descriptions, I wanted to create an ambience that
conveys this mystery, what is the place that is being portrayed? What are the characters? Who
is the narrator? All of this is at the mercy of the reader's imagination.

As for the formatting of my submission, I decided to use Times New Roman as a main text
font because it is aesthetically suited to my poetry proposal, leaving reading with a more
classic appearance and for making reading less tiring as well (Courier New was also one of
the options but I decided that the Times font would work better). Furthermore, something that
should not be dissociated from this production is the use of color, it is intrinsic to the
composition as a whole and submission will not transmit the same literary experience if it is
read without color.

In terms of the collections, each one has a distinct theme that drives the poems inside it. The
City collection focuses on topics that are solely urban in nature, such as the everyday lives of
city dwellers. The Troublesome Collection is concerned with social/identity issues and
difficulties. The Family Set is about family themes, as the name implies, so the poems can be
understood through a familiar perspective.

Finally, all these collections are interconnected because they are present in the individual /
human being, the city, which is the social environment that each one inhabits, the family,
which is a present theme for everyone, and the construction of identity,personal questions. So,
in a way, it can be understood that, in my work, my main theme is my understanding of the
construction of an individual's identity, based on my life experiences and my studies.