“Written between tears and laughter these poems are here to show you that the world keeps spinning after you turn sixteen”
Jaala’Nnette Crenshaw is a student at Boston University studying International Relations, Arabic, and the Core Curriculum. She’s been writing poetry since she was about twelve years old and has always to found it to be a useful tool to process the broken and beautiful world around her. Additionally, as a woman and Pacific Islander writer she uses her poetry to speak up for the marginalized. She published her first poetry book in September of 2024 and is currently working on the second edition. While she loves to write soul-searching poetry, her dream is to start her own NGO to aid refugees through counseling and work.
Key Themes and Concepts
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To know life is to know pain– especially for women. A number of poems deal with the anger and frustration that comes along with navigating brokenness.
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Along with pain comes questioning– especially God. A few poems explore what it means to suffer with a God who cares.
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Throughout the entirety of the book, even amidst the pain and suffering, there's ALWAYS a glimmer of hope at the end. Even when it seems like it's ending, the world does keep spinning.
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How can we grow when we're stuck in the pain of our past? We can't. In order to grow and progress we have to accept, forgive, and heal. This is the main theme of the book.