Lynal Lawson, a second year Criminal Justice degree student at Everest Institute, Hialeah, Fla., was ecstatic when a publishing company offered to publish a poem she had written for her American Literature course.
According to Ms. Lawson, "I didn't think I could do the poetry writing assignment. It was a part of me, I didn’t know I had. It took me to another place.”
Her instructor knew it was “something special” when she did her reading in front of the class.
Ms. Lawson said she drew on “deep feelings and emotions” to write the poem, and her classmates were visibly moved by her presentation.
Lynal’s Program Director distributed the poem in a newsletter, and encouraged her to pursue her writing.
At the suggestions of her Composition II Instructor, Ms. Lawson entered a poetry contest gaining further visibility and recognition and an offer to publish her poetry.
Here is her poem:
I Will Survive
The water is knee deep and seems to be getting deeper,
Going through obstacles in the course of our day can be very
hard,
Just broke down in the middle of the night not knowing which
way to turn,
left or right
Drips of water seeping between the cracks, rocks tumble side
by side, walls begin to
Tighten by night;
So I decided to keep going straight, once I got to the end of the tunnel
I saw these tiny hands saying hold on tight; don’t look back
I began to see this huge bright light, that’s when I knew
everything would be alright;
It's amazing when someone tells you everything will be
alright; as though
They know what you're going through, that’s because they've
been there too.
