On Monday, in class I performed my poem “The New Collusus.” I was very nervous to go up because I thought that I would mess up the words once I got there. For all of my life, I’ve never been afraid of performing in front of people. However, my performances have been musical, and not dramatic like this performance. I took Dr. Kahan’s advice, and just pretended that I was somebody else. After performing, I found that the hardest part is actually getting up there. While performing, my main focus was performing the poem well. I wanted to make sure that the listeners would feel the same emotions that Emma Lazurus would have been feeling when she wrote the poem. I changed the volume of my voice at different parts and fluctuated it. I emphasized different words to draw attention to it. My reason for not following the rhyme scheme is to make the poem very epic and bold in nature. I was trying to make America sound like the glorious and welcoming country that it is. This poem was perfect for me because it applies directly to my life. I wouldn’t be where I am if the perception of America was different from how it’s described in this poem. I’m really glad that I got the chance to perform it.