Extra Credit - Joanna Klink

While attending Joanna Klink's poetry reading, several lines from her poem "My Enemy" stood out and were significant to me. Even though the poem had a negative sense or feeling to it, I was able to relate to a few of the lines in a postive way. One line read, "No talent is able to thrive without humanity." The definition of humanity is the quality of being human or having human nature. We all know that no one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. This line shows that without being able to make mistakes and learning from those mistakes, you won't be able to thrive in any aspect. Many times throughout our lives we learn a lesson the hard way. Even though these struggles may be difficult at the time, we learn from our mistakes and human nature and those mistakes eventually help out our futures in the long run for being more prepared. Another line from the poem "My Enemy" was very simliar to this previous one and can be easily related. The line from the poem noted, "If you're lucky, your life will be free of grief." This is a statement that almost anyone can relate to, for life is not easy. Sometimes life is not fair and that is just the way it is. Even though there may be grief or disappointment in your life, those struggles sometimes end up making you stronger as a person. They may make you a more powerful or capable person if you are able to learn from your mistakes and apply that knowledge to the future. Though her poem may have had a completely different purpose, these lines really stood out to me because I could easily relate to them and apply them as learning opportunities to my everyday life.