Behind the Writing
The Sitting Stump
Creating an image
This poem is one that I wrote back in 2008. It was one of the first poems that I wrote down in this form. What I wanted to accomplish with this one was to create the image of someone connecting to nature through meditation. As you go through the stanzas you connect more with the earth and the creatures. You remove yourself rather than worry about the self. This is important because as you connect with nature you are able to center yourself.
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You can learn so much from nature and the voice heard is being so far removed from self you are able to hear the wisdom of the surroundings. This poem is a reminder to connect beyond.
You Left Me Here
Curiosity and open questions
This one is a tribute after my biological mother passed away back in 2006. I wrote this in 2010 in my second semester of college. I was laying in a quiet area of campus on the grass with the brilliant blue sky on a beautiful day. I had so many questions because I felt like I never really knew my mother. She left when I was about 5 years old and she moved across the country. She used to call me every so often up until I was about 8 years old. The next time that I heard from her, I was 14 years old and I was angry. I had spent many nights crying because I missed her and I would talk to the amazing woman who took me in who is the woman I call my mom today.
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I was angry at her for several reasons. The first for leaving and abandoning me, which is where the title of this piece comes from. Another is that I felt like she had no answers to the things that I asked. I wanted to know where she was, where had she been all this time, why she stopped calling and so much more. And I had asked her. She just couldn't say and I never understood why. I am her son and I just kept hearing that she did not want to be my mother. The last is that I felt like this woman was a stranger to me. I came to the realization that she did not who I became.
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The end of the poem is me finding the room in my heart and soul to come to peace with everything. To accept the outcome and allow myself to move on. To remind myself that even though people pass from this life, they are never far from us.
I The Sun
Moving to the next stage
I wrote this poem specifically for my high school graduation. I wanted to share some insight to my peers as we moved into the next stage of our lives. I was able to read this poem aloud as I was our classes salutatorian. It was a huge honor to make my speech and share my poem. Most people that I know do not know that I write poetry every now and then. At the time, I was really stepping outside of my comfort zone by sharing such a huge part of me.
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The theme of the poem is what path will you choose to take when at a crossroads. I also wanted to inspire my peers to choose to shine bright when facing dark times. Becoming an adult is scary as well. Many have to navigate some of the unknown on by their selves and that can influence some to not beielf in yourself. So that was one of the last themes that I wanted to highlight in this piece specifically. You can question yourself a lot but you should always remember that you can give yourself a ton of confidence by just believing in you.
The Full Moon
Dreams are passages into the unknown
The story behind this short that I wrote is probably one of my favorites. This story was directly written after a dream that I had back in 2013. It was one of the most vivid dreams that I had experienced in a really long time.
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When I was a kid, I remember that I used to have vivid dreams almost every night. Something that I really have not shared before now, is that my dreams would freak me out most of the time. The reason why is because a good number of the dreams that I had played out events that had not happened. When those dreams occurred, I usually thought nothing of them but when I would go about my daily routine, my dream would play out again in front of me. It was much like the sensation that you get when you experience deja vu. I remember sometimes when people would tell me stories I would often tell them that they told me before or simply "I know."
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You reading this are probably not superstitious or anything like that and hearing me talk about this probably does not make you a believer. I will just say that in this life there are some things that are harder to explain that other things and this is one of those things. There was a huge change in my life when I was 15 years old and since then, I really have not experienced those dreams like how I used to. Part of me is actually relieved to not have that burden any more.
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Spirituality is why this story is one of my favorites is because I connect to the wolf spirit more than anything else. When you are in grade school you are normally asked about what are some of your favorite things. What is your favorite food, color, animal, show are just some of those questions and most of the answers are things that you find cool or amusing. For me the wolf was not like that. Yes the wolf is a cool being to many but many of my characteristics match what the wolf embodies.
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Family, pack, courage, strength, loyalty, instinct are all just a few ways to describe the character of wolves. The last piece is that the wolf is a symbol of freedom and the wild and the individual. Each wolf is different but make its connection to the pack. This urge for freedom is often why a lot of people want to be that "Lone Wolf" because they feel that wolf is the one that does not abide by the pack. They do not want to be slowed down or held back by others and that is not really what the wolf is about.
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Transformation is something that connects to many indigenous cultures as well as pop culture. It is so appealing to be able to transform into something different. This Dream combines all these elements into one and when I woke up , I had to write it down to share it.
Breakdown
Original Poem By: Chris Medellin-Lopez
This is one of my most recent pieces written in 2018. This was an idea that I had based on something that happened to me a little over two years ago. It started off with the idea of a breakdown and what happens in your head and was based off of my real emotions. This poem is kind of what that process was like for me.
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How does one deal with a breakdown? How can you tell someone what is happening in your head when you barely know what it's like yourself? These were questions that I asked myself when writing this and I think a lot of people can relate to this. I had to wait to actually write this one down. For a long time it was only in my head because I needed to heal from what hurt me so deeply. But don't worry too much about me if you read things that may seem depressing or dark. This is all part of my healing process. If I were to give you any advice, it would be that it is okay to feel how you do. You are human, you feel and it is all part of our experience and existence in this world. Feel it, talk about it, use your feelings to create and the healing will come.
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If I were actually read in front of a crowd, this would be one piece that I would do. I have only ever read one poem for people and it was early when I was less confident in my work. So just keep in mind that this was written to be performed but I wanted to share with you anyways because maybe you can relate to this.