Creative Writing: Remembering Kevan Mackenzie

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It was a bright sunny day this May 23. My friends and I happened to be flying kites high above on a roof of one house. However, we weren’t the only ones flying kites, as we were opposed by other kids on the streets, and to be more precise, the grade 5 students. They were one grade ahead, and that usually meant they felt as they were more privileged than us.
“Man, I hate those kids so much! Just because they're older doesn’t mean they have to be mean”, I exclaimed.
“Let’s take out their kite then!”, Jimmy, my best friend said.
“Nah, they’ll just get mad, and besides, I don’t want to lose this kite”, I replied.
“You won’t, just trust me, alright?”, Jimmy said.
“Alright”
Jimmy directed our kite towards the grade 5’ers kite, and there was war. …show more content…

In the camp, there would be regular dances occurring every week, in which as the author states the girls would “hunt for love”. At the beginning, a boy named Kevan would refuse to dance and stand straight beside the wall, “Kevan, refusing to dance, stood straight”. However, as the poem progresses, Kevan begins to dress with more care and then went to the oldest and prettiest girl at camp to ask for a dance, “Later he began to dress with care, and here I remember the guarded gleam in his eye As he came through the door and went straight For the oldest and prettiest girl,”. In, “Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies”, the author recalls her childhood in which she thought no one died (nobody that mattered), “Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies.” However, the author also states people who don’t matter die, as in distant relatives or cats, but no one important to her will die, “Distant relatives of course Die… And cats die.” What do these two poems share? They share a common message of how innocent/naïve one’s childhood can be. In Kevan’s case, he is portrayed as naïve at the start, as he is unwilling to dance with the girls due to lack of socialization. In the 2nd poem, the author is naïve in childhood. She does not believe that anyone such as her parents will die or that they will become old, due to the reason of them being important to …show more content…

These two have a direct connection, because the more inexperienced you are, the more innocent you are. The author in “Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies” becomes increasingly aware of her parents growing old and dying with experience. The quote, “Shout at them, get red in the face, rise, Drag them up out of their chairs by their stiff shoulders and shake them and yell at them; They are not startled, they are not even embarrassed; they slide back into their chairs.”, may be implying that the author has grown frustrated with her elderly parents and trying to conceal the truth that her mother has grown old and won’t be around for much longer. Additionally, as majority of boys in childhood and myself included, generally lack the knowledge of how to socialize with girls. With experience, however, we gain that knowledge, thus the same can be applied to Kevan. At the beginning, he is unaware of how to speak to the girls, but as he spends more time in the camp he likely begins more confident and experienced. Therefore, having the new found knowledge of socializing he is able to socialize and in turn, loses some of his

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