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Sistah…I am the girl with two left feet, but dances to the rhythm created in my head, tapping my toes. I have become the shoulder for many others’ tears held in for too long. In my brother’s time of sorrow I am the comforter; long hugs and talks in the kitchen. I am not defeated by pain and troubled times, as I have come to notice, the long term sweet ain’t as sweet without the sour. Lastly, I am known as Cynthia Green, defender of my own and dictator of many.

I was born as the only girl to three brothers and was raised by my mother, who started having us by the age of 19. I remember days when we would have to heat the house with the oven, and eat rice and beans for months on end until we were able to go grocery shopping again. I remember going to sleep with hunger pains in my stomach while I tried to ignore the pain by writing what my community fed me on a daily basis. And how could I ever forget the years without a mattress, waking up with sore hips and stiff bodies on wood floors. I didn’t know I was poor for a long time until I realized we were the only poor folks without timberlands in our harsh winters, toes drenched from snow. Even with memories as vivid as these I’m still thankful I was able to take it all in and reflect because I was able to discover who Cynthia Green was in my eyes, even though the world tried to tell me otherwise on a daily basis.

I was sixteen years old and I realized I looked at everything in my life as metaphorical; the images I formed in my mind began to come to life on the page. I held close to my writing utensil as my thoughts moved rapidly in my creative writing classes. In high school, I took Creative Writing at Cooperative Arts High School as well as Educational Center for the Arts. During this time I learned many different forms of writing and explored each one to my hearts extent. I held onto poetry, screenwriting/playwriting, memoirs and short stories as my escape from New Haven’s degrading attitude. I knew that I would succeed because I believed in more than what the decaying city around me fed me on a daily basis.

Previously I have had two poems published by “Celebrate! Young Poets Speak Out” in their Northeast—Spring 2007 edition. The poem was entitled Baby Earth written in my junior year of high school. I had another poem published with the same company my sophomore year of high school in their summer 2006 edition entitled In a World of Colorful Dreams. My senior year of high school I received my first publication of my memoir entitled Luke with “Connecticut writing project at Storrs volume XX of Connecticut student writers” in May of 2008. I also had two plays performed my senior year of high school. Long Wharf Theatre showcased a play I wrote entitled “Keeping Charles” sponsored by the Comprehensive Arts Program. In fall of 2008, during my freshman year of college I had a workshop with Hartford Stage and they showcased a play I wrote entitled “Underneath” sponsored by one of their programs at Stage 1 incorporated with the theme ‘snap!’

 

 

 

Read poems from A Little More Personal!

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents:

*Theme for English 281

*Innocence

*In a World of Colorful Dreams

*Too Scattered to Follow

*Just One Seed

*While You Were Out

*The Mile Run

*Sistah

*Drifter

*The Color of Me

*Soft Inner Self

*Benjamins and Cracked Wine Bottles

*Lean on Bent Elbows

*My Scene, I’ve been

*New Haven’s Unspoken Dream

*Virgin’s the Color of Burgundy

*I Found Our Yesterdays

*Soft Brown Edges turn Gray

*Dance City Street Lights

*The Renegade

*To Whom it May Concern

*Cuban Soldier

*Passing the Passers-by

 

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Read Our Interview With Cynthia Green

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