This poem was selected for PoetTreeTown2023
I know I’m indecisive, but I think I know how I feel. I feel just a little confused, but I know how I feel, I think. I think I feel too much, I know. This is just how I am. I am, I believe, how I like. I feel like I think I know I am how I like, I believe. - Sappy
a “duplex” is a poetic form, created by jericho brown. it’s a poem of couplets (stanzas with only two lines) that grows off of itself, where the first line of each next couplet mirrors the previous line (the last line of the couplet before it) and then the last line of the couplet introduces a new idea or image. the very first and very last lines of the poem mirror each other as well. [i know hat could be confusing to be explained with no context, so check out the link and maybe read my description while going through the poem??]
while poems often involve a journey, my favorite duplexes from jericho display movement , or makes its intention moving closer to somewhere possibly more vulnerable or more honest. this feature of movement is what inspired me to attempt the form. (p.s. i’m not sure if the form has to be indented in this way, i just replicated his structure here to learn the form.)
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lightning flashes before my eyes can adjust
i’ve got too much white in my eyes
a static blade gathers iris and tongue
time be going by so fast
minutes turn into echo chambers of gravel and salt so quickly
learn, unlearn, learn — splinter on
petal open to get to the truth
every step i’ve taken has been to find myself
there are so many roads to get to the self
i study my veins in winter trees
the bloodrush means we existed
the heart beats, sends lightning before i can ask why
Hey guys!
This post is going to be short this week. I’ve been spending way too many hours in the past few days working on a project that I am currently super, super excited about. It’s my first full-length, fully mixed song that I am crossing my fingers will turn out professionally enough to put on Spotify!!! That’s a huge bucket list item for me, and if all goes according to plan, the track will be ready by the end of this month. So… keep a lookout for that!
I’m currently recording on my Yeti microphone with GarageBand and my Mac pro. It’s far from a professional set-up, but it’s also incredibly amazing to see just how much someone with zero (and I mean ZERO) experience recording can do with just a few tools. This has proved to me that literally anyone can be a recording artist if they so choose to be. As long as you put in the time to figure out how your software works, you’ll be able to produce some really awesome stuff.
This new song is called “i used 2 sleep with my phone” (I’ve been feeling the artsy lowercase titles lately) and is my attempt at a typical angsty pop song–which is something I do not ever write. It also is definitely influenced by my experience here at UMich with the a cappella scene. At this point I feel like I have a whole choir of my own voice singing behind me on the track.
I will update on here how everything is going every week until the track is released, but as for right now that’s all I’m going to say! Thanks for reading, and if anyone else is a GarageBand fanatic, let me know! I’d love to listen to some of your stuff.
-Josie
Detroit has been a hub of activity in the state of Michigan since the state was formed. Like all big cities in the US, there are a lot of events that are constantly going on in Detroit. Everyday there is some form of sporting event, conference, and concert. Detroit has an abundance of concert venues from The Detroit Opera House to the Fox Theatre. The newest venue is the Little Caesars Arena that is the hockey stadium for the Red Wings and also doubles as an event center. Little Caesars has replaced the Joe Louis Arena for the home of the Red Wings and for a concert venue.
The Joe Louis Arena was built in 1979 and replaced the Detroit Olympia. The Joe Louis Arena was the 2nd oldest hockey arena in the U.S. with only Madison Square Garden being older. The Arena hosted many other things besides just hockey games. They hosted figure skating competitions, basketball games and tournaments, and concerts. In 1980, the Palace of Auburn was built and had taken over a lot of the concerts that the Joe Louis Arena used to hold.
The Little Caesars Arena opened in September 2017. It succeeded both the Joe Louis Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings and the home of the Detroit Pistons. Like both the Palace and the Joe Louis Arena, the Little Caesars arena is also a concert venue, and it is now the only of the three venues that hosts concerts as well. The Arena has a capacity of 22,000 for concerts, 20,000 for basketball games, and 19,000 for hockey games. This is bigger than the Joe Louis Arena by about 1,000 seats.
As Detroit grows and the sports teams become more popular, the stadiums and arenas increase in size. The transition from the Joe Louis Arena to the Little Caesars arena is a perfect example of this because not only is the Little Caesars Arena bigger than the Joe Louis Arena, it also has newer amenities and a newer look.
