{"id":5122,"date":"2025-08-04T19:28:46","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T19:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/?page_id=5122"},"modified":"2026-03-04T22:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T22:02:58","slug":"two-poems","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/two-poems\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr \/>\n<h4><em>Chloe Berwick<\/em><\/h4>\n<hr \/>\n<p><b>Rookie Mistake<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What happens to the endless list of books<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">we want to finish but never do\u2013\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the ones patiently perched,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">slowly collecting cobwebs on a wooden bookcase,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">waiting to be moved from the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWant to Read\u201d to the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cCurrently Reading\u201d shelf?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Do they feel offended?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They have a right to be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Does our imaginary pile<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pile higher<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">until the dusty books lie<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">scattered<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">on\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 the<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 ground<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">with nowhere to go?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nowhere except the local library on a blustery\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">afternoon where a girl approaches a woman<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">from behind the public computers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mom?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No answer.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mom?<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A voice to her right replies, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I&#8217;m here.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And the girl realizes she has\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">mistaken <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a stranger for her mother.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">She tries covering her reddening face<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">with a library book too <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">small <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to hide behind.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Ars Poetica: Real Poetry<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your poetry is like modern art\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in the back corner of a museum,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a slab of blue with a black dot.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Everyone points and says,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI could have done that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Real<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> poetry, like a Mozart concerto,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">requires stamina and patience to understand<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the multiple movements, and only the musically inclined<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">know you shouldn\u2019t clap in between. We say,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI definitely couldn\u2019t have done that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even if they are \u201ctalented,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the poet does not decide<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">whether or not their poetry is <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">real<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That is the audience\u2019s decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If anyone could have written it,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">it will remain in the back corner\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">of a museum no one will ever visit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If, however, the audience believes it is<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">one of a kind, never to be replicated,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">it will be featured on the world\u2019s stage<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">backed by a supporting orchestra.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Yet, when the music fades,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the lights dim, the crowds leave,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">one member will stay behind to<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">make music by herself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A special performance only for the seats\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">and the stranger walking by.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><b>Chloe Berwick<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is a member of the class of 2026, majoring in journalism &amp; media studies and minoring in creative writing. She is from Monmouth County, New Jersey, and enjoys spending her free time at the beach with a good book.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chloe Berwick Rookie Mistake &nbsp; What happens to the endless list of books we want to finish but never do\u2013\u00a0 &nbsp; the ones patiently perched,\u00a0 slowly collecting cobwebs on a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/two-poems\/\" class=\"\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2513,"featured_media":0,"parent":5102,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5122","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Two Poems - Writers House Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.rutgers.edu\/writers-house-review\/vol-6-winter-2025-2027\/two-poems\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Poems - Writers House Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chloe Berwick Rookie Mistake &nbsp; 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