Talon Broadbent - 2023
Midnight Sun, The Birds, The Beast, The Man at the Top, and 'hard times coming'
Artist's Statement
My favorite form of art has long been poetry. I’ve always had a passion for it, which was begun by my Grandpa when I was very young. If any of his grandkids could memorize certain poems, he’d give them a five dollar bill. I thought this was a fortune, and I’ve loved poetry ever since then, even though I don’t get paid anymore. For this project I wrote five different poems, each regarding a different aspect of a problem we’ve discussed in class.
#1. Midnight Sun - This poem is written in stanza form. It’s about the exploitative actions of the fossil fuel industry. I’m a big fan of the Lord of the Rings series, that’s where the imagery of the Burning Eye comes from. I’m not saying that fossil fuels are from Mordor, but the companies sometimes act that way.
#2. The Birds - This poem is written in blank verse. Along with poetry, my Grandpa gave me a love for bird watching from a young age. I’ve always found them to be fascinating animals, and ones that we can learn a lot from. With the collapse of biodiversity, that might not be for much longer.
#3. The Beast - This poem is written in free verse. Our current economic system demands more and more consumption, the ever increasing size of this poem is a reflection of that. One day it will be able to grow no more.
#4. The Man at the Top - This poem is written as a sonnet. Whenever I think of the hyper-wealthy, I tend to think of them as pretentious people. The form of this poem shows that: is there anything as pretentious as old English poetry?
#5. ‘hard times coming’ - This is written as a blackout poem. The original text was taken from a CNN article about how California has placed a ban on salmon fishing this season because of the declining population. The blackout poem form has a unique ability to show the reader that there’s much that’s left “in the dark” that they must draw their own conclusions from.