{"id":1479,"date":"2019-03-02T02:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-03-02T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2019-03-11T23:42:53","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T06:42:53","slug":"dover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/2019\/03\/dover\/","title":{"rendered":"Dover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I participated in the UW English Department\u2019s Summer in London program in Summer 2018. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I wrote this poem while on the white cliffs in a little, pocket-sized journal that I had brought around with me while on my trip. Recollecting all of the details was incredibly easy to do with the scenery right in front of me &#8212; I felt like a painter, shaping everything I saw into words. The biggest takeaway from Dover that I hope readers will grasp is a spirit of adventure, along with a wonder of how big this world is, and how small we are in the presence of giant, natural wonders of the world. The White Cliffs of Dover served as a massive, almost protective, image that made me feel at peace. It\u2019s so reassuring to know there is something bigger than ourselves out there in the world.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>On the bottom right corner of The Old World\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 1<br \/>\nsmall valleys of grassery and greenery are palm-pressed<br \/>\nlike kneaded dough,<br \/>\ninto the top of white chalky cliffs.<br \/>\nAnd although patches of dead grass on its\u2019 trail poke at the edges of my socks,<br \/>\nthe deceased squares of brownness are bright beneath the sun\u2019s handprint.<br \/>\nGreen on white looks like fabric,<br \/>\nthe way the stitches of the steeple\u2019s edge ripple<br \/>\nand sway like lace.<\/p>\n<p>The desires of the cliff edges\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a010<br \/>\nbecome white buttercream frosting on a dry cake:<br \/>\nsugary white winds hit my face, 350 feet above the water<br \/>\nwith the sun sprinkled on it<br \/>\nlike breadcrumbs made of gold flakes.<br \/>\nThere\u2019s a manmade brick stump on the sill<br \/>\nof the escarpment, Where I sit<br \/>\nlike a sugar doll\u2014<br \/>\nLetting my feet overhang the sea.<\/p>\n<p>I claw my fingers into a side of the massive rock,\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 19<br \/>\nlet the rubble pack deep into my fingernails<br \/>\ntake stones broken off of the bluff<br \/>\nallowing the sedimentary, floury dust<br \/>\ntrickle down to my tennis shoes.<\/p>\n<p>I take the white stones and\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 24<br \/>\ndraw my name into the brick seat,<br \/>\nscribble on the back of my left hand<br \/>\nrub them between my thumbs\u2014a caveman with his stick\u2014<br \/>\nPatting the wall onto my hands<br \/>\nLike a bar gymnast clapping on chalk before a stunt.<br \/>\nThen, I roll and rub it in<br \/>\ndrying out the short strands of my mane<br \/>\nas the sun burns into my scalp, still stroking<br \/>\nthe powder through.<\/p>\n<p>I want to swing my body around the crag\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a035<br \/>\nSlam my back again the white wall of crumbling cliff-fall debris<br \/>\nAs it gives me a hug from behind,<br \/>\nAnd squeezes the breath out of me, the way it did when I hiked its\u2019 trail<br \/>\nI want to take shelter in the lighthouse at the very peak of the mountain\u2019s stake<br \/>\nAnd wake up forever<br \/>\nWith France an ocean away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I participated in the UW English Department\u2019s Summer in London program in Summer 2018. \u00a0 I wrote this poem while on the white cliffs in a little, pocket-sized journal that I had brought around with me while on my trip. Recollecting all of the details was incredibly easy to do with the scenery right in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":673,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[115],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/673"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1579,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/chidint\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}