And now, for something entirely different

Well, not entirely different, but I figured I'd take a break from what is shaping up to be a post-heavy month, to mention a few basic things about myself and why I started blogging in the first place.

• My name is Leonnie Dickens, which you already know, I feel no need to hide my identity as this isn't a terribly personal blog anyway.
  
• I don't think I'm a very interesting person most of the time. Now, don't misunderstand that; I'm a very confident person, and I think of myself as being very smart and very funny, I just know that I tend to be very excited by things which most people don't comprehend/ care about.
  
• I am preparing to attend UC Berkeley in the Spring to obtain a B.A. in English (w/ a minor in linguistics). Before people ask, yes I plan to teach. Hopefully, I can pursue my Master's at Berkeley too.
  
• I wouldn't be pursuing this degree if I felt that being a writer was a viable career decision, but clearly it takes a lot of luck to get Dan Brown rich.
  
• I obviously like to write, mostly poetry because it has always come easier to me, but occasionally fiction, which may pop up here if I ever finish one of the 20 stories I've started in the last 6 months(sadly, that's not hyperbole, I have at least 20 stories at various stages of incompletion on my computer right now)
  
• I like getting critical feedback on my work, and I haven't found too many places for that to happen out there on the interwebs, so I decided to start a blog where I could post most of my pieces without dealing with the hit or miss internet poetry scene
  
• I seriously dislike what I have witnessed in the past year while looking for people to share my poetry with. I appear to be much less thin-skinned about my writing than other people, although I just think that criticism is necessary sometimes if you want to improve.
  

So that's a bit about me and mine, and I'm sure that I'll elaborate on many of these points as time goes on, but for now, I think that those will suffice to explain my motivations, as well as to give an idea of the writer behind the writing. Oh and because I know how tedious all this text looks...

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Banksy, I am such a fan

Hi everybody

Okay, so this is my first full-on foray into the world of blogging, so I guess I should let you (the reader) know what to expect. I've been involved briefly in other blogs, but never really had a place of my own to do what I want to do. By now, I'm sure you're wondering what that is so I'll tell you: poetry. For the most part I'll be posting my own poetry, but I'll also occasionally highlight some of my personal favorites, as well as deal with the process of writing in general. Since this is my blog, I'll probably even make comments on things in the world which I find interesting (which is probably not going to happen often as I very rarely watch or read news of nearly any kind). I know that this seems like more of an about me type post, and I could totally see that line of thinking, but I really did it for my own sake, sort of as a way to ease into things. However, since this is going to be a poetry blog, here's a poem of mine:

And death, the quiet unassuming

Member of your cadre

Speaks only when spoken to

Needs not worry about his place

For all of you keep him close by fear

You need not fear him

You are immortal

And were you not

It would still be foolish

For you don’t see that death

Is life’s perfect translucent reflection

Therefore it is just as infinite

As robust, as wild, as impossible

As brilliant across the stars

As alimentive, as restorative, as necessary

As you