Group One
Podcast Analysis for Tick Tick Boom by Stefanie, Sloan, and Janet
Tick Tick Boom
Her stories of lines on her skin bled onto mine
They were never meant to be there
Every little detail is thought out
The path a spider traces
making its web
A web of lies that she spun to trap,
To kill, and to eat her victims alive
Innocent they are
Naive
Tick tick
Succumb to the words
Thought out for the attention
Maintaining that story never given to her
Making sure she emphasized the humble brag
Like a snake slithering
Past the bones of their victims
Flashing her fangs towards the next
Unsuspecting prey
Luring them towards the glistening white
Of her lethal weapon
Tick tick
She is the queen of broken hearts
Lives shattered to parts
Cuts of air
She said she was a product of the problems
Victims actually face
To her these were too real not to fake
All she had to do was make them fly into her silk
The flicking tongue whispering lies into their ears
Yet she made it her own
Not knowing the effect
An urge unknown to us
Yet outlined in her
Tick tick
It stayed with us.
A ticking bomb for us to detonate
We did
and you tick tick (boom)
Yourself away
Group Two
Podcast Analysis for Untitled poem by Haviland, Grace, and Ellie
So humans are pretty subjective in general, but especially women, and especially regarding our body image. I mean, we can’t help it, there has probably been some scientific research done about this. This speech or poem or rant touches the topic, so I think we all will be able to relate to it in some way. Whether you find yourself as the main character or just a person having a brief moment of self consciousness, either way, it is a conversation we need to be having.
yo, yo, yo
talk to her
and get her sister’s number
not hers because she’s got
Thunder thighs
cellulite
and stretch marks
Wait
I haven’t seen her before
Yeah no she’s in my class- the girl that’s always late
to 4th period
And i’ve heard she’s got problems, like BIG problems
Cause she too thicc
(heads turn down like we’re switching scenes/people)
(heads look up again)
People talk behind backs generously
Apparently too full of kindness to keep it in
People talk behind backs-
No
People snarl at her face to shut up with their eyes
Charm snakes
say, she can’t play the game of life cause she’s too dangbig to fit on the board
She’s a fish outta water
She’s a whale outta water
Flopping through hallways with what feels like an extra fin
So she cuts it off
yellow sticky notes on her forehead
they read red rum
they sip on red rum
But she can never drink because oh my god the calories in liquor
remember: read it backwards
Murder
The people say that her bmi hasn’t reached the point of dying
so is she really?
Murder
Yourself cannot stop her tendency to always look at her thighs
when she catches the mirror’s gaze
It’s all she’ll ever see
And you know what they say
Weighing herself is like hanging herself
Like bangs
covering her sight,
and messing with her state of mind.
Curtained eyes smiling
With teeth chattering, never chewing
With the jaw worn square
With short nails and scarred necks
each time she eats
she can only imagine what it’ll taste like throwing it up
so she doesn’t
eat
or live
only thinks of hours spent obsessing over how she can skip meals without
causing suspicion of bobble head strangers,
Just looking for some cheap entertainment
Said she brought lunch from home
Said she already ate
Said she don’t got time
no time to blink at this mental illness
Someone else has a gun to their head
now isn’t that more pressing?
Barely one and five of these things ends in suicide, statistically speaking she’s probably number four
She’s probably munching on popcorn talking with her gals
She probably has a boyfriend who tells her his life is in her hands while holding those hands
She’s probably
okay
Ignore
the mornings that bring dread of mirrors
just a shallow phobia
just your average teenage sitcom drama
But can you feel her fingernails dig into the ridges of her face
As she yearns to pinch in her reflection just 4 more inches
because maybe then
she won’t have to hate herself anymore
It’s outta control
Gone through this robotic schedule so many times that it feels like she’s a spectator in her own horror movie
She lost 10 pounds
She gained it back
She threw it up again
I lost 10 pounds
I gained it back
I threw it up again
Trying to stop replaying the scene
Replay the scene
Replay the scene
My neighbor watched a Netflix original
It was called to To the Bone and they told me that
Not eating is just a choice and if you don’t like it anymore
Just scale it back to something like, I don’t know, regular dieting?
I watched a documentary
Said you can’t complain
Can’t say life is difficult unless you’re a starving kid in Africa
Well ma’am I may not be in Africa but I sure as hell am starving
except this time the only force of deprivation is myself
