Kara Ryan

Ms. Arbeiter
AP Literature and Composition
6.3.15
All Good
A poem inspired by Dylan Thomas's Under Milkwood
There's nothing quite like
Evenings spent in a statue garden
Lost in a world that doesn't exist
Under a canopy of magic
Enveloped by dreams
There's nothing quite like
Spending your summer days
Studying and playing
Working and believing
All to create a mystical play
There's nothing quite like
A show that's neither drama, nor comedy
A show that's neither fantasy, nor reality
Just an illusion that was so powerful
It forever changed the way we think
There's nothing quite like
Living in a world that's so small
Just eighteen people, only fifteen on stage
Though together, those fifteen became
Just about sixty-eight
Though the message of the show was blurred
I always believed it meant
No one was all bad
No one was all good
The message was wrong
We were all good
When we were Under Milkwood
Who
By Kara Ryan

Youre sure this is it? I looked at the bowl skeptically.

Thats it. Thats everything. The woman nodded encouragingly, pushing the blue-andgreen crystal towards me.
I flinched when it shook, as if it would all come spilling out and I would lose everything.
Again.
Go on. Dont you want to know who you are? The woman was still smiling, tucking a
gray curl behind her ear. Her brown eyes, though, indicated a certain apprehension.
She knows me. I realized. She knows who I am. What I am.
Still, I wasnt sure. What if everything wasnt what I thought it was going to be? What if
the damage I had caused by leaving was beyond fixing?
Although, how could I know? What if I hadnt left? What if someone took me? No one
knew why I ended up on the island- thats why they brought me here.
The old woman tapped on the table impatiently.
If you dont want it now, well have to put it back into storage. Dont want it to
evaporate. She was getting frustrated now.
I swallowed.
No. No. Ill take it. Just...do I drink it, or I trailed off, uncertain of how I was
supposed to get the water in my system.
The old woman chuckled.
No, darling. Just look in.
I nodded hesitantly.
I could do it. I could do it.
I think youll like knowing. The old woman said. I think youll like who you are.
Who I was.
I held myself back from correcting her. I had no idea what would happen when I looked
into that bowl. I could be the same person I was before. I could be someone new.
But there was only one way to find out.
I took a deep breath and pulled the bowl towards me. The puddle was clear- I could see it
from the side. I wonder if that meant something.
I exhaled.
And, then, I looked in.
And for the first time in my life- well, for the first time in this life- I understood.
Who I was.
Who I could be.
Who I am.
Sun-Man and Star-Boy
Kara Ryan
Ten more seconds.

Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
Alright. Light em up. I press the button less than a second after the Sun-Man finishes
giving his instruction. We watch, together, the sun rise up in the sky. Its beautiful, just like it is
every morning. And I am broken-hearted, just like I am every morning.
Nicely done, Star-Boy. Sun-Man smiles at me proudly, as if I am the mentee to his
mentor. But I do not belong to him. I belong to Moon-Woman. Technically.
I wish that I could belong to myself.
Okay, we have a few hours before we need to worry about anything else, sky-wise.
Cloud-They is working on the weather today; well be covered in this region from exactly
9:25:13 to 4:12:05. The Storm Department is staying uninvolved again today, thankfully. SunMan pats me on the shoulder. It is meant to be affectionate, but, to me, it seems obnoxious. Im
gonna hit the cafeteria. Want anything?
I shake my head, happy that hes finally leaving. He smiles one last time before he exits,
and I can hear him whistling The Beatles Here Comes the Sun as he walks down the hall.
Now I can relax. Or, not relax so much as reflect.
Every night and day of my life have been exactly the same since I became Star-Boy,
which was a long, long, long time ago, though significantly less time than Sun-Man and MoonWoman. I spend all day working on the stars. They are beautiful and they are wondrous. Every
night I feel that this nights creation is better than the last. Moon-Woman sometimes
compliments me, happy with my progress.
But then, at dawn, I must get rid of it forever. I live under Sun-Mans command, and,
with the simple click of a button, I lose everything.
Every day and every night for what felt like the last million years. Actually, it could have
been a million. I sort-of lose count.
I sigh. The time for reflection is over. I have a very limited time every day to map the
stars, and the time for planning has begun.
I look at the clock.
Twenty seconds.
Ten.

Five.
When it hits one, I press the button that projects the night sky. I begin from the North Star
and work my way down and around. I begin to smile as I work- it is perhaps the only time I feel
truly myself.
Sometimes I worry that I will never escape this place. Sometimes I worry that I am the
only one who seems to be worrying about it. Everyone else just blindly listens to the orders of
The Boss. From Fate to Technology Advancement, every piece of every Earthlings life is
controlled at The Center. I wish that I could break free, but, the truth is, Im better off than the
Earthling. I can at least create freely. At least, mostly freely. At least, I know I am being
controlled.
Isnt that better?
My smile has fallen. Soon, Sun-Man will return. This time he will make sure I get
something to eat. I must have sustenance in order to finish my work, or else it wont be
satisfactory. At least, thats what The Boss has told him.
I look at the clock.
Thirty seconds.
Twenty.
Ten.
I sigh.
Its time to work again.
And again.
And again.
Forever.
All Good
Artist Statement
Kara Ryan
My summer spent doing Under Milkwood was the best of my life. The production went
way too well- everyone got along, everyone was committed, and we all loved each other as much
as we loved the show. Its an incredibly strange piece- a day in the life of the people of Llaregyb,

a fictional Welsh fishing village. There is no clear time and no clear plot. Its magical, and the
message is overwhelmingly hopeful, which made the actors feel the same.
I wanted my poem to reflect the amazing feelings I experienced during the five weeks of
rehearsals and shows I spent in Llaregyb. I hope the reader gets a chance to live in that world for
a moment when they read the poem, and that they are intrigued enough by it that they read the
original work, Dylan Thomass Under Milkwood, and love it just as much as I do.

Who
Artist Statement
Kara Ryan
Who is based off of Rylee McCormicks Melting Memories, a poem that I interpreted
to be about memory loss, as a dying woman loses everything she is. In the poem, the memories
take the form of drops becoming a puddle, and she struggles to hold onto them. In the end,
though, its too late, and she can no longer remember who she is. The haunting poem speaks to

the pain of losing memories, and how memories are equivalent to identity. The woman loses
every piece of herself- most importantly the memories of her daughter- as her bodys way of
preparing her for death. Still, she doesnt want to accept it- she wants to stay alive and remember.
Unfortunately, thats not the way things happen.
Who is a loose interpretation of what happens after the woman lost her memories. In
my head, it takes place in a parallel universe- one in which people can give up their memories in
order to live a second life. The protagonist- a young woman- decides after years of living on an
island, decides that she wants to know who she is, or was. We dont know whether the woman
deliberately chose to lose her memories, or how she came to be on the island. The old woman,
though not explicitly stated, is the protagonists daughter, though now much older than her
mother. The bowl of water is the puddle from the poem- in this universe, they store them so that
people can access their old memories if they really wish to.
Who is about a woman piecing a large piece of herself- shes the woman from Melting
Memories. Melting Memories takes place as the woman is losing everything- Who is the
strange sequel that questions the same theme. Are memories what make us who we are? And, if
so, why would anyone ever want to lose them? And, if you do lose them, what do you do then?
Who are you?

Sun-Man and Star-Boy

Artist Statement
Kara Ryan
Sun-Man and Star-Boy is a short story based on Jose Luis Borgess Ajedrez, or
Chess. The poem depicts life as a chess game being controlled by God or a God-like figure,
who is being controlled in turn by someone else. I wrote a modern short story reflecting on that
idea.
The story focuses on Star-Boy, the young man in charge of putting the stars in the sky
and making the sun rise. His story is a tragedy- he has no real freedom, and every night and day
he must do the same things. He is completely unhappy, but he doesnt know what to do about it,
because there is nothing he can do.

Star-Boy is one of those questioning-teenage types that often appear in novels and short
stories, though on a much larger scale. He is the Holden Caulfield of the Universe, and, just like
Holden, there is nothing he can do to escape his fate.
In reality, my views of the universe are actually much more optimistic than the one
presented in Sun-Man and Star-Boy. This story is me exploring what the world would be like if
Borgess poem was, in fact, reality.

Final Reflection
The DIY GRASPS was very interesting for me. At first, I wasnt really committed to it.
Im kind of checked out because its the end of the year, but I still turned in a poem that I was
really proud of. I really liked writing about Under Milkwood, because its a show and a script
that meant a lot to me. I find that play extremely beautiful, and I liked writing a poem about it.
I also loved reading Rylees work. Her poem, Melting Memories, was about a woman
losing herself as she loses her memories. It was simple, and used a very interesting metaphor- the
memories were in the form of drops of water, leaving her and becoming a puddle. It inspired me
to write Who, a short story about a girl looking into the puddle of memories that she lost as she
tries to figure out who she is. Who is a really strange story, and very short, and I feel like it
needs some clarification in order to make sense. Still, I like that its vague- it was deliberately
made that way. I could, however, have provided a bit more explanation. Other than that, I was
really proud of it.

The next piece I picked was Chess, because I wanted to explore the idea of people
controlling us while being controlled. Thats how Sun-Man and Star-Boy was created. StarBoy is trying to escape the life he has been given, but he has no way to. Hes trapped, and he
cant decide whether its better to know that you are being controlled or to be ignorant to it. Its a
very complicated piece, but it comes across as simple and straightforward. Im really, really
proud of Sun-Man and Star-Boy. It was definitely my favorite of the pieces I created.
I feel like I didnt really get to see much of my peers work. What I did see- Greers
choreography, Moisess art, and Alexiss poem, were astounding. I loved seeing what other
people could create- it was all personal and meaningful, and that made it beautiful to see. They
did a wonderful job on this project.