By TJ Butzke
CRITICAL INTRODUCTION
This project will focus on the experience of growing up as an african american in a predominately white society. The poems are based on interviews with students at Bu who have experienced the events depicted in the poems. The stories are told in a first person perspective to create a personal relationship between the reader and the protagonist of the stories. The events depicted in the poem are based on true events either experienced by the interviewee or are fictionalized based on current events and news reports. The blurring of these two lines is intentional: the reader is not supposed be sure what actually happened to him and what did not. The point is that these things happen all too often in the african american community and that they could happen to anybody. The themes addressed in this project are racism, grief, anger, and confusion. The protagonist goes through a transformation throughout the project, growing in both age and wisdom.
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TJ Butzke is a junior film student at BU. He is interested in film, soccer, love and life.
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My First Day
A bright white light
A light so bright that I’m blinded
As I enter the world
I don’t remember it, of course
But this is how I’m told it happened
The day started with a look
Mommy gave to Daddy
“He’s coming”
“When?”
“Now.”
They got into the car, rushing
Daddy drove
Mommy screamed
Daddy drove faster
Hurling down the Highway
Red and Blue lights
“Fuck” Daddy thought.
“It’s okay, Baby, breathe Baby, breathe” begged Daddy
Daddy pulled over,
He got out of the car,
his first mistake
He ran towards the police car
his second
Mommy tried to breathe
She couldn’t breathe
I couldn’t wait
Mommy screamed
Daddy screamed.
Bang. Bang. Bang.
Bang.
Mommy screamed
Daddy stopped screaming.
Daddy stopped breathing.
Poetry Now: O7 (Spring 2018) 
That was incredibly gripping. I wasn’t sure where it was going in the beginning, but there was that exact moment – “Red and Blue lights” – where I knew what was going to happen. The story itself is shocking, immensely upsetting, and infuriating, and I think you captured the feelings of the story and predicted the feelings of the readers very well.
I would really like to read more, and you should upload more poems if you get the chance; I am very interested to see how you end up connecting all these interviews and then seeing this intentional balance between news and interviews in your poems.
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