english class can be elegant

My English teacher's specialty is Creative Writing, and this is one of the best English classes I've ever taken. Last week we were given the assignment of taking our name, "stepping away from it" and writing about how it looks, tastes, smells, sounds, and feels. This is what happened:

Kathleen

A regal queen, determined

Truffles, hard then soft and sweet

The ocean breeze after a storm

Grace overcoming and calm settling

A rose, silky and thorny altogether

A girl

It was like seeing my name for the first time. At first it was hard to detach myself from "my" name, but as I worked on it, it became easier. After I shared it with the class, my teacher challanged me to think about myself and figure out if I had any of these qualities. She was especially intrigued by the whole, hard then soft and sweet thing and the silky AND thorny part. She wondered if I had some sort of (maybe secret) edge to me. My friends laughed. I told her the best people to ask if this was true, were my friends. My friend Dylan laughed harder. I'd like to think it was me thinking about my name from afar and not finding out I have some kind of hard edge to me.

We also had to do one for a place in the same format. With no further ado, here it is:

168, 20 minutes away

Family gathered

Warmth and Comfort

Firmiliarity, Sweetness, Them

Laughter, Sincerity and Scarcasm

I belong (t)here

Second home

I'm realizing poetry is one of the quickest ways to the heart of understanding.