Freestyle Academy proudly presents

I Am Afraid: A Junior Self-Portrait Diptych by Caitlin Lewis (2011)

I Am. I am afraid and alone. I wonder if it is really there. I hear its heavy breathing. I see its bright eyes. I want it to disappear. I am afraid and alone. I pretend to not notice it. I feel it watching and waiting for me. I touch its imaginary form. I worry because it won't go away. I cry because I am afraid of it. I am afraid and alone. I understand that it's all in my head. I say it's not there. I dream to be brave. I try to be brave. I hope to overcome this monster. I am afraid and alone. The poem is based off of the images in the diptych. It underlines the fear and discomfort from the perspective of the girls in it. It shows how a creature under the bed is imaginary, but also real inside the girls head. She fears it, but is trying to over come that fear by facing it. This is emphasised int he poem by her beginning afraid. The repetitive line in the poem is ''I am afraid and alone,'' showing that her fear causes her to feel out casted from everyone else. Hearing and knowing the imaginary monster is there gives her this fear. But the want to overcome that fear by stating ''I dream to be brave.I try to be brave.I want to overcome this monster'' shows how she eventually chooses courage over fear. And this is shown in the diptych by her looking in the closet to see if the monster is there.
Visitors 965