My found poem is derived from the article where Brock Turner’s father considers the crime his son committed a mere 20 minutes of action. Now for those of you who aren’t familiar, Brock Turner was a student at Stanford University, after a night of drinking he had raped a girl who was unconscious and unable to fight for herself and tell him no. This article enraged me because they made the victim feel small as if she didn’t matter, as if the crime Brock Turner committed wasn’t a crime at all. We here more and more of rape charges and sexual assaults every week it seems. In fact, every month our school sends out the crime statistic there is almost always a sexual assault. That should enrage you too, because not only is happening all over the world, but it is happening at our school. To give you a better visual, 1 out of every 6 American women have been the victim of sexual assault, that could be your sister, your mother, your cousin, your best friend, or even just your classmate.
I created this poem because not only did it enrage me but I want everyone to be aware of how scary it really is. The way I organized my poem it truly highlights all the instances of how poorly the case was handled and just how small he made her feel. I ended my found poem with her saying what he took away from her and it ended with her saying until today, in which she meant he can’t take them away from her anymore. Channel Miller you are strong, you are beautiful, and you are so brave, and he will never be able to take that from you.
Hi Taylor! This was great! Reading this honestly made me angry, which I think means that this is super powerful and that you did a great job. This really highlights the fear that a girl in that situation feels and how it will affect her for the rest of her life. In addition, it brings to light the power that the male holds in this situation. This makes me sympathetic to all girls, especially those who have been through anything like this. I think that this found poem is important and necessary, so thanks for doing such a great job with it!
-Sara Weber
Hey Taylor, amazing work on your poem. I think the whole Brock Turner case became such a shinning example of how women were blamed and white male privilege was obvious in the justice system. The whole construction of your poem was brilliant and I really love the way you ended it. I also really love that you included so much info in your artist statement and again you really did an incredible job.
Hi Sara! I loved your poem. I wrote my poem about the Brock Turner case as well, so it was super cool to see another perspective on that case. I like that you focused mainly on what his father said. I found it so terrible that his father stuck by him during this time. I understand that family is family, but I would never stick by a family member if they did something like this. You took his words and made them very meaningful and powerful. It had an effect on me by making me very angry. I like that in your artist’s statement you included the victim’s name, because that often goes unsaid.
Hey, Taylor! Your poem was incredible! My favorite thing you did was put the 3 months in tiny font and the 14 years offense in a larger and bold text. That stood out to me the most and made me angry to see his “punishment”. I can’t believe he was let off like that and sadly it happens to so many people. Adding in the text was powerful too. I think you did such a great job and talked about an important issue.
Hey Taylor, I love you poem! The juxtaposition in the poem gives the words so much more meaning. I imagine reading it without the emphasis or special attention to certain words would be very different than how I read it as it is now. It is a powerful poem, especially the last section where the girl who was assaulted has a chance to speak her truth. I imagine her taking back ownership of herself and her life from the people who are trying to minimize her worth to protect a criminal.
Hi Taylor! I loved your poem! It was very easy to understand what the poem what about and I loved how you put the powerful message of the father trying to get his son out of prison. The despicable actions of the father should have been displayed in the way that you did and I loved it. It was so sad that he was let off that way from the actions that he did. I loved how you ended it with “until today” because that made your poem end with a powerful bang.