August

Alex B. Pastor, Gwinn High School

Ms. Pastor bravely makes personal pain a public offering. In her poem, Alex gracefully handles human grief with a wisdom that far outweighs her teenage years. Her piece elegantly explains a rite of passage that all young people inevitably face; the realization that adults are not immune to pain and that we all collectively share in human suffering.

To be answered by the student

It took me many months to finally get August onto paper. The writing process happened very quickly once I was ready to write about it. When I sat back to see just what I had produced, I was overwhelmed with emotional flashbacks. I feel that’s what makes this piece so powerful. August allowed me to go back to a moment of pain and find solace in it. The relief was very visible in my sigh. Many people can relate to this poem due to the universal topic shown in it; it allows people to connect to others through words and that’s something very powerful. The blunt nature of the piece shows the suffering of people in such a vulnerable state and I feel like it will really speak to people.