Jordan Habibi's
"I am a Glass"
“I love this poet’s lyric voice and the effort made not only to personify fear but to trace the movement from fear to delight. This poet has so much talent and a bright future in poetry." -Sheila Black, co-editor of Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability and the Perceptions Writing Judge
Although many things fill me,
my most frequent occupant is Fear.
He commands my actions,
making me scream and cry;
I cannot fight His will.
I run from Him,
but there is seldom escape:
the only thing that can pour Him
out is the Music
whenever She comes by.
Her sweet sounds pick me up
by my smooth surface
and replace Him with varying stories.
I am flooded with pictures:
two lovers against the orange sky,
a mother holding her rosy child,
the dead laid peacefully into their graves.
Still many others fill my mind,
many of them worse than Fear,
but I’ll gladly take them over Him.
However, this is only temporary.
When he knocks me down
again I almost shatter.
The Music flows out,
Her graces spilled like blood,
and I am left empty again
until I am picked up
and He is poured back in,
into a glass to be filled.
Reflection:
"This piece is a poem that I chose to submit as it speaks on my coping mechanisms for dealing with stress and anxieties, but know they still are not permanent nor fully effective fixes. It connects to my disability because it is severely affected by stress so I need coping mechanisms to avoid the worse symptoms." -Jordan Habibi
Image Description: "Jordan, a young Hispanic man with lightly tanned olive skin and black hair tied back into a short ponytail, is in front of a graffiti wall. The wall is decorated with blocks of color and he is wearing a black suit with a dark button-down shirt and a dark, finely patterned tie. He greets the viewer with a calm smile and arms crossed."