Shared Memories: A Millennial Kid Looks Back

By Jamie Zwiebel

I, an astronaut, a pioneer
traversing the farthest reaches
of a universe I once forgot
that comes alive
when I open my eyes
and look up.

In her first collection of poetry, Jersey girl Jamie Zwiebel offers memories as she comes of age and travels the world during the 1990s and 2000s.

During a time when the Backstreet Boys monopolized the radio waves, Monica Lewinski dominated the headlines, and e-mail, blogging, and skyping were becoming ways of life, millennials each began their own unique journeys in an interconnected world. Zwiebel offers a compelling glimpse into an unforgettable period in history when a young generation began to question the past, discover new ideas, and feel love, loss, faith, and differenceall while uncertainty, fear, wars, and a global recession raged in the background. As she offers memories of sipping fanta con vino at a tapas bar in Nicaragua while realizing an appreciation for simplicity and the freedom that change brings, Zwiebel transports others through the emotions, hopes, and dreams of a generation like no other.

The warm-hearted, relatable, and lyrical expressions included in Shared Memories encourage millennials and others to rediscover the true meaning of their destiny in an ever-changing world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 12, 2011
• ISBN: 9781450266840

Jamie Zwiebel

Jamie Zwiebel has been writing poetry since before the new millennium. A native of Metuchen, New Jersey, she is currently pursuing a master of science degree in public health at Harvard University. This is her first book.

Book preview

Contents

Did I Mention

Before

El Regalo

Tango Marbella

Mama Chenta in Five Parts

God’s Sorrow

For A Mother

Luis

Allen Ginsberg

Drifting

The Streets Are Wet

After

The Truth

A Prayer in the Night

Frozen Gutter Rivers

Ferris Moon

the conquered

Back Into the Earth

Forgiveness

God

18th Birthday Poem

Lord’s Prayer

IOWA

You Free the Wild Birds

always, you are

Happy As Clams

Out of Place

Photo of Lincoln

Dance Party through European Art

Bare

A Letter

To the Little Poet

Acknowledgments

Did I Mention

the clouds drifting over my eyes

my fascination with my own inner skies

so if I seem a bit starry-eyed

I’ve been star-gazing from the inside

did I mention the thrill of leaving the atmosphere

and I, an astronaut, a pioneer

traversing the farthest reaches

of a universe I once forgot

that comes alive

when I open my eyes

and look up

Before

Before the words took to air,

they weren’t yet thoughts, weren’t yet prayers,

but unheard whispers lingering on

the brink of possibility.

Before the question was asked,

the answer was waiting to be claimed,

the mind willing to be stretched

into a new form; the riddle there for the solving,

knowledge for the taking

consciousness for the waking.

Before the dream was dreamt,

the mind was restless, the soul stirring,

the inner nomad preparing to cross

the land-bridge to the uncharted,

content in the journey

to the world beyond reason.

missing image file

When I was fifteen years old and about to be a sophomore in high school, I had the opportunity to spend the summer with a family in Spain, taking Spanish lessons by day and exploring by night. I spent much of my time in awe of Granada, where I was staying. It was there, looking up from the cobblestones of the Albaicin (Arab district) to the Moorish architecture of the Alhambra palace, that Bill Clinton saw what he called the best sunset in the world.

El Regalo

At a trinket store in Granada, Spain,

I stand outside on the cobblestones,

peering at the selection of rings.

I need something distinct—

distinctly Granada—

to remind me of the part of myself that the city awakens.

The sophisticated part that sits

sipping fanta con vino at a tapas bar.

The part awed by the beauty of ancient monuments,

whitewashed villages,

giant sleeping mountains.

This city is awake; it feels alive

and awakens something in me I

hadn’t known:

an appreciation