My name is Ben Nahmani

By Ben Nahmani

English 11R

Mr. Daszenski

Auto-biographical poem

My name is Ben Nahmani

I am sixteen…and a half

I can drive…alone

I like sushi…a lot

I am Israeli and I’m proud

I can make you lose ten pounds in a week

I like to work hard…physically

I am very strong though I don’t look it

I can do 174 push-ups in a row

I like this girl but I never see her

I am Ben Nahmani

I wish people could speak their minds

I wish people wouldn’t rely on war to solve their problems

I believe in god but only when something good or bad happens maybe the occasional holiday

I don’t believe in magic but there are things I find unexplainable.

I hate winter but I love winter styles, snow and snow boarding

I don’t hate my English teacher but that’s only cuz he’s the man

I enjoy a good hookah “sesh”, good music, a great movie and a home cooked meal

I don’t enjoy rock, metal or any of that scream shit

I love my family, friends and this girl but I never see her

I don’t love my science teacher but don’t tell her

I am me

My name is Ben Nahmani

Who are you?

…

Reflection

I started my poem as any other kind of write I have ever started; with shallow thoughts and a “just get it over with” attitude. As I was writing I started to think more and more about what I’m really about. When I looked back at my work I thought, “Wow what kind of bull shit is this”. I didn’t want to sound so plain and boring, so I went deep within me and dug out all the things I thought were cool about myself. Out of all those things I chose a few that would fit in to what I believe people should know about me.

In addition to my inner feelings, I also wrote about things that were on my mind. When the project was assigned, it was the day after I passed my road test. So I wrote, “I am sixteen … and a half” because you have to be that age before you can even take the road test. And if you pass then you can officially drive alone so I wrote, “I can drive… alone”.

Once I got through the first half of my poem I took a break and read some other poems. I picked up on some other peoples’ writing techniques and schemes. I enjoyed one poem that said “I love… I don’t love…” and “I believe… I don’t believe…” I then spun it around a little and made it my own. I put true emotion in my poem although I don’t feel as though the reader can tell. It’s not that I want them too, but, I feel the best poems show that true emotion was put into it.

I wrote about my life and what I am about. I wrote about the things I enjoy in life and specifically about something a lot of people know me for, and that is hookah. Hookah is somewhat cultural for me because my family is Israeli and has some decent from Iraq (on my mother’s side). I did not write entirely enough to show about exactly who I am but only enough to tease the reader so that they are a little more interested in me and my life. I say that I can make anyone lose 10 pounds in just a week. Which is true, I am a certified trainer. I work at New York health and racquet club of great neck, the gym under Waldbaums. I work as a porter and front desk person and train on my spare time. I wrote about a lot of the things I do in this poem but certainly not all. I can tell you everything but then I’d have to kill you. ;-)