Poem Blog

“At Your Age, I Wore a Darkness” By: Maggie Smith

several sizes too big. It hung on me
like a mother’s dress. Even now,

as we speak, I am stitching
a darkness you’ll need to unravel,

unraveling another you’ll need
to restitch. What can I give you

that you can keep? Once you asked,
Does the sky stop? It doesn’t stop,

it just stops being one thing
and starts being another.

Sometimes we hold hands
and tip our heads way back

so the blue fills our whole field
of vision, so we feel like

we’re in it. We don’t stop,
we just stop being what we are

and start being what?
Where? What can I give you

to carry there? These shadows
of leaves—the lace in solace?

This soft, hand-me-down
darkness? What can I give you

that will be of use in your next life,
the one you will live without me?

My poem for the Poetry Project is “ At Your Age, I Wore A Darkness” written by Maggie Smith. Magie Smith reflects on the themes of growth, personal struggle, and transformation. She writes in somewhat of a lyrical style and is exploring the reader’s past and how it is and will affect their present and future. The reader seems to be talking to a younger person; who could possibly be their child; they are comparing the younger version of themselves to the younger person. . Her reflection of past struggles with the darkness of emotional burdens like depression or anxiety. The narrator speaks of “a darkness you’ll need to unravel”, that “hung on me like a mother’s dress”; the hardships the narrator was dealing with at the time were consuming them and wore on them, which is why it is compared to a “mother’s dress”. Just like a child cannot fit their mother’s clothes it is simply too big for them to handle. The reader says that they are passing on a darkness that the child will have to learn to “unravel” or overcome themselves. The Narrator says that the child will “need to restitch” it and turn their darkness into light.

Next, I noticed some symbolism in the color blue being correlated to the feeling of sadness, “the blue fills our whole field of vision…we just stop being what we are and start being what?”. The “blue” might represent openness, peace, and tranquility. The phrase “filling our whole field of vision” suggests “total concentration” or a feeling of being surrounded by the sad “blue” feeling.

The title “At Your Age, I Wore a Darkness” carries deep significance, blending personal reflection with universal themes of growth and resilience. It suggests the speaker is addressing someone younger; offering guidance through an experience. The phrase “wore a darkness” gives personification to the emotional hardship. The title also creates a connection between time and healing. Since it is speaking in past tense with “at your age” the reader is saying that when they were the audience/child’s age they struggled with some type of burden that the reader then goes on to explain they have overcome and are now passing said burden onto the next generation.

The author uses numerous poetry techniques throughout the poem, here are some that stuck out to me. First I noticed the imagery, “It hung on me like a mother’s dress”; The poem vividly creates the image of darkness as an oversized garment, illustrating the burden and discomfort of emotional struggle. I also noticed an enjambment, “Even now, / as we speak, I am stitching / a darkness…”, mimicking the continuous thread of thought, reinforcing the weaving/unraveling metaphor.

Maggie Smith uses subtle autumnal elements, such as “shadows of leaves” and references to transitional states, to symbolize change. Autumn is a season of change, marked by falling leaves and shifting weather. Similarly, the poem reflects on personal transformation—the passing of darkness (burdens) and the releasing struggle and growth. Lines like “It doesn’t stop, it just stops being one thing and starts being another” reflect this transitional theme, much like the changing seasons.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this poem, I feel that it has a very deep and important meaning that can touch a lot of people. It acknowledges generational trauma as well as learning resilience, and it embodies what it means to have personal growth, and learning to overcome challenges that we come across instead of allowing them to consume our entire being. Maggie Smith’s “At Your Age, I Wore a Darkness” is deeply relatable because it captures a shared experience of struggle and transition. The metaphor of wearing darkness reflects how burdens can feel overwhelming, yet they are temporary. The poem gives some sort of guidance and reassurance to the younger generation.

That Daisy in the Dirt is Us – Blog 2


A Golden Shovel
Shout out to Queen Gwendolyn Brooks
Shout out to Terrance Hayes
She often complained about the time we
would spend, or the lack thereof. She felt love was real only when present. Only when cool nights were comforted with warm hugs. We rarely had those nights. Our work or play left us clinging to phone calls and messages. Unc tried to school me when I was a youngin’. Said balls made us different. Meant we need to hang and breathe. We weren’t made to lurk and linger. Fingers trace and legs race to late night calls. Boy, men were made to fly. And I thought we – she and I – had that understanding, but to strike a match does not ensure the flame. Straight away, wind came and blew out the fire. We tired of love songs. Hellish choirs would now sing our sin.
Our wrongs written on the back of eye lids when we dreamt of others. That thin girl at the store, the gin
and juice friend from your college days. We pretended not to know. Improvising like Jazz riffs, but the riffs began to shine like Florida June at noon. Heat became unbearable; we
that plan in our love ura be; guess everything must die.
Just didn’t know it would be this soon.

– Darius V. Daughtry

Poem Analysis

The poem “That Daisy in the Dirt Is Us” by Darius Daughtry explores the complexities of strained relationships and the difficulties of maintaining love in the face of personal differences and outside pressures. The narrator explains how his relationships are falling apart because of distance miscommunication, and unfulfilled expectations. The narrator uses detailed imagery to capture the decay of a bond that seemed to be strong at a point but ultimately ended up crumbling. At first, I thought this poem would be a love poem based on the title, but boy was I wrong. One if the first lines was, “She often complained about the time we would spend, or the lack thereof”; highlighting her dissatisfaction with the time they spent together. It makes me think about how neglect whether its intentional or not, can overpower the “foundation of love” and create friction in two people’s understanding between each other.

When I first read the title I thought of a daisy growing out of the dirt; strong, and happy. But after reading the first few lines that image was gone and was now replaced with a daisy that has fallen over and looks as if it was thrown in the dirt; now sad, wilted, and neglected. Another line that stuck out to me is “ That thin girl at the store, the gin and juice friend from your college days. We pretended not to know.” This line caught my attention because it signifies how the two people have known each other for a very long time and used to be very close, but now act as if they don’t know each other. I think this line emphasizes the emotional detachment that they are going through. It seems that they are trying to avoid each other and their feelings for one another. The mention of the “gin and juice friend from your college days” brings back memories, possibly of a time that felt simpler or more carefree. This longing for the past, combined with current dissatisfaction, highlights how the relationship is losing/has lost its spark and how the partners are thinking back to other memories.

I noticed a shift in not only the form of the stanzas but the mood in the poem. I can somewhat relate to this line of the poem, not from a relationship standpoint but from a friendship point of view. I have had friend “breakups” where minor problems over time added uo to a big conflict in the end. And once we were no longer friends we acted as if we didn’t know each other. It is a harsh realization to come to but once I accepted the situation I could begin healing from it. There is also separation and indention between the lines, “We tired of love songs. Hellish choirs would now sing our sin.” and “Our wrongs written on the back of eye lids when we dreamt of others”. I noticed a shift in mood in the line, “but to strike a match does not ensure the flame. Straight away, wind came and blew out the fire.” I think the poet wanted to separate these parts of the poem to create a transition in the shift of hope and optimism to the realization of acceptance of loss. Prior to that line, I felt as if the poet was trying to reflect on his relationship and create some sort of justification for its outcome. However, after that line, there was a turning point in which the speaker recognized how fragile their love was and the inevitability of its decline. Now as for the separation of the stanzas, I saw it as a marker of a change in timeline. The first stanza was about the narrator’s current thoughts and feelings, then the second stanza was about their reflecting on their pasts. Overall, I did enjoy this read, as it wasn’t my favorite poem that I’ve read by Darius v. Daughtry, but I did still find it interesting. The symbolic representation and themes added so much depth to the poem as a whole.

Analysis of “Feel Jesus”

You make me feel Jesus.
Your skin – garment hems.
Your skin is a garment I want to crawl into, break in until it don’t feel new no more.
It don’t smell new no more,
like 2nd semester sophomore year of college everyday jeans.
Like the used-to-be black tee that helps hide my flaws.
Like shoes with the right amount of bend above my toes, the perfect bit of give in my soul.
There is salvation in your touch, Lazarus in the linger of your fingertip.
You make me feel Moses.
Your lips are red seas.
Sometimes pink seas
Sometimes seas so natural I dive in, float in – fearless.
The part when they first part stays on repeat in my mind.
On rewind is you saying the words pepper and beautiful.
You have burning bush on your tongue.
Ten commandments outline your teeth like open face golds.
There is salvation in your speak.
Holy ghost in your hello.
Your kiss kills Pharaoh in me.
Your kiss builds the pharaoh in me.
Sometimes you make me feel like Daniel.
Or Shadrach.
Or Meshac.
Abednego.

-Darius V. Daughtry

My Analysis

Sometimes you are a lion in a furnace.
Roaring flames singeing places I thought were sacred.
Bite this; burn this heart of mine and I just call on God.
The same God that sewed your garment and painted your seas has given you the gift of melting my face,
clenching your teeth around my faith until I can’t walk away.
I am Saul turned Paul.
I am convert.
There are mustard seeds in my pupils.
I see heaven where you see flaw.
I Hallelujah at the sight of you, holy sacrament.
You are communion.
The body and the blood.
I am baptized by your beautiful.
Amen

The poem that I chose is titled “Feel Jesus” written by Darius V. Daughtry. I chose this poem because the first thing that stuck out to me was the name Jesus. When I began to read this poem I thought Darius was simply talking about his connection to Jesus but as I continued to read it again I realized that he was expressing how he is exploring new ways to connect to Christ and it gave him a feeling of comfort and happiness. I especially liked the line where he said “Like the used-to-be black tee that helps hide my flaws” because a black tee shirt that you wear very often may start to fade over time and since the shirt is used to “hide” someone’s flaws I feel like that symbolizes that they are insecure often and try to hide their imperfections. But when they can feel the holy spirit of Jesus they feel secure. Daughtry says “There is salvation in your touch”, meaning that when he feels the touch of God he feels protection from harm.

Daughtry uses a ton of similes and metaphors to compare different biblical characters to his feelings. Like for example he says “You make me feel like Moses”; Moses is a prophet/leader in the Bible, he went on a difficult journey and brought the word of God to the Israelites and he is most famous for having the strength to part the Red Sea. So when Darius says that having the strength of God behind him makes him feel like Moses he is saying that with God he can do anything even what seems impossible. He then goes on to say “ I dive in, float in– fearless”; Christ makes him feel safe and protected even when “diving” into the unknown. “Sometimes you make me feel like Daniel”; Daniel is well known for being the first to be captured and held hostage in Babylon. The other hostages were panicking and questioning if God was real because why would the God they worship all of them to suffer so horribly for as long as they did? But Daniel had infinite trust in God; in his existence, and power, and he even in tough times he could feel God’s love. He kept his courage alive so that they would be saved and Daniel was in fact saved and God rewarded him.

His faith was tested and he describes an event he encountered when he felt like a lion in a furnace surrounded by flames, but instead of fearing for his life, he called on God to pull him through. And at the end of the poem he states “I am convert… I see heaven where you see flaws. I hallelujah at the sight of you, holy sacrament.” Darius takes this poem as an opportunity to tell us about his religious journey and how he sees the world through a different lens, he has given his life to God and in return has gained clarity and strength. I understand that he is a changed man, that now lives his life through Christ. I think that it is beautiful how he describes his relationship with God and how he carries him where ever he goes. Especially when he says “ clenching your teeth around my faith until I can’t walk away”; His relationship with Christ has grown to be so strong, that his faith no longer wavers but instead is still and powerful. I really did enjoy this poem because of the deep meaning behind each line. Even writing about this poem is helping me to understand and analyze what Darius is talking about. This truly is a beautiful poem and Darius v. Daughtry did an amazing job! His use of imagery, personification, and even a few lines of alliteration all add key components to his message.As someone who is also on a religious journey I found this poem inspiring and if feels like a lot of Daughtry references to how he feels I can also relate to. Now that I understand this poem I can feel how he feels about Jesus and that is another reason why this poems title fits its content so perfectly. He essentially described how Jesus makes him feel and how it feels to know Christ.

Darius V. Daughtry

Darius V. Daughtry fell in love with words at the age of six. It was then, that he used to write and draw his own comic books. While the pictures left a little to be desired, being able to paint pictures with words was a passion that soon began to blossom. Darius has been marrying the pen to the paper ever since.

Darius V. Daughtry is an accomplished poet, playweight, director, and educator. He is the founder and artistic director of the Art Prevails Project. Daughtry has been commissioned to write, perform, and conduct workshops various organizations.

He has written and directed performances for numerous groups and organizations – Broward Center for the Performing Arts, the African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward Cultural Division, ArtServe, Old Dillard Museum, The World Aids Museum, and more. – Poetry Foundation