Author: Elena

I was born and raised in the Bay Area. Growing up, I went to Berkeley public schools up until I left California to attend McDaniel College, located in Westminster, MD. I graduated from McDaniel College with a B.A. in Theatre Arts with a focus in Acting.

Coming From the Same Place

Nothing but running wild horses.

They cannot be tamed. Roaming

The open fields, a part of our

Native land. The land of our

Long line of ancestors. It doesn’t

Matter where our own relatives

Are from, it’s a long list, from

Europe to Asia. From Africa

To South America. We all come

From this land of our earth.

Whether we conquered this land

And took over or we came to it,

Trying to escape hardship and

Misfortune, it doesn’t matter.

We all share the same history,

No matter where our own people

Come from. We have all had

Hardship, from slavery to the

Holocaust. We have all had triumphs

From desegregation to the legalization

Of same-sex marriage. We have all

Made long journeys made to escape

The Holocaust to escape slavery.

We have all fought in wars across

The world, from the wars in Iraq, in

Africa. We have all lost almost

Everything like in the Great Depression.

We have all starved to death across

The world. We may all have more in

Common than we realize. People say

You don’t know what my family has

Been through, but think about it.

We have all experienced the same things,

All in different parts of history, but it

Still happened. One day the whole world

Will stop noticing the differences and

Will notice the similarities.

New Mantra: I Am Beautiful and Good Enough

With the new year, I’m reading Demi Lovato’s Staying Strong: 365 Days a Year. She’s become such a huge inspiration to me because I feel like even though she’s younger than me by a year or two, she’s someone I can look up to. Every day she writes a short entry and then writes a goal to go with it. On January 1st, she writes “Goal: In this year, come up with a mantra that is just yours. Each day, look in the mirror and repeat it back to yourself.” My mantra that I came up with, after thinking about it for a while, is “I’m beautiful and good enough.” We all have days where we’e insecure and feel like we’re not good enough or beautiful enough. Some of us are lucky to have people in our lives who make us feel beautiful, but some of us aren’t so lucky. Here’s a poem to go along with the theme of this post.

Words Being Said

I’m beautiful on

The outside but

It’s my personality

That is so much more.

I’m me and that’s all

That matters.

I’m beautiful on the

Outside but I’m also

Beautiful on the inside

Even when it feels like

Things are messy.

I want to see and feel

All the mess because

It’s better than perfectly

Pieced puzzles. It’s better

To accept the messy

And imperfect parts

Than to accept absolute

Perfection. I would rather

See chaos rather than

The calm before the storm.

That’s what we are.

We’re accepted because

Of that.

P.S. I just want to thank the person who inspired this poem. Thank you for giving me the words to make me feel better and for some of the things said in the poem (some them are your words exactly). You’re the one who inspired me to come up with that mantra. I can’t thank you enough!!

Hello world!

One of my first loves in life was poetry. I remember when I first started writing poetry when I was at Willard Middle School. I first started writing poetry when I had Mr. Evans for English class in 6th grade. The two poems I remember writing were “My Green Eyes” and “Standing Tall.” It wasn’t until 8th grade that I realized that writing poetry is something I wanted to do. I always credit my 8th grade English teacher, Mr. Rose for encouraging me to keep writing. I kept to myself a lot, especially through middle school and high school. I felt like people didn’t always understand me because I can come off as shy and reserved. Other times I could be crazy and silly but that’s just who I am much like how writing poetry is a part of who I am. That’s why I always connected with poetry. It was like writing in a journal or taking photos for other people. That’s always the best way for me to express myself. It was an art form, but more personalized. If people wanted to know who I am or how I’m feeling or what I’m thinking about all they have to do is read my work.

I don’t always like sharing my work with other people but I do share them with people I trust. When I write poetry I feel like there’s no judgment and there’s nothing better than writing pen or pencil to paper. I almost always carry around some type of journal to write, even if it’s just the start or an idea for a poem I have running through my mind at that moment. Or if I don’t have a journal or paper I write in the note section on my iPhone. It comes in handy because I don’t always know when an idea will strike. Whenever I share something with a friend or a family member they almost always say I have a knack for it. That’s why I like sharing my work because I know how much I connect with my own work, but I know other people might have a connection to it too.

That’s how I came up with this idea to start a blog. I know that we’re all different, but sometimes we all have common threads. I’m not here to judge anybody or to change anybody’s beliefs or values. However, I do believe that we all need something to put our minds at ease and to realize that we’re not as different as we think we are. Hence the title “Messy Ties” because I’m always interested in the connections we have with other people and the different types of relationships we have throughout our lives, whether they’re romantic, friendships or “family” relationships. When looking up the definition of “relationship” online at dictionary.com I came across this: [a relationship is] “the way in which two or more people, groups, countries, etc., talk to, behave toward, and deal with each other.” Another definition of relationship is the following as well: [a relationship is] “the way in which two or more people or things are connected.”

Another reason why I wanted to do this blog because it’s the New Year. One of my new year’s resolutions was to try something new and that’s what I’m doing with this blog. I’m trying something new but I’m also stepping outside of the box. So this is my sharing with you, enjoy!! I’m also sharing a poem or two with you.