A collection of poems by Tabitha Jeub
Climbing Trees is a collection of works by my daughter, Tabitha. She has always been a poet, jotting down her feelings and thoughts while growing up in our home. In her final year of high school she wrote a slam poem critiquing modern poetry and performed it as an oratory in Stoa’s National Invitational Tournament of Champions. She received 5th place overall.
Tabitha’s point in her award-winning speech was this: poetry deserves better. Modern poetry is fraught with immorality and political bias. Climbing Trees attempts to delve into the deepest thoughts of a developing young girl without succumbing to cultural expectations or conventional wisdom. You will be inspired by Tabitha’s bold and true poems.
The first review from an unknown reader in her Kindle release:
I love the author’s sentiment of joining the beautiful throng of words, rather than beating them by merely reading them. Her play on words is intricate, sometimes haunting, sometimes the cadence of hip-hop or spoken word. Her words share the journey from adolescence to womanhood, pushing personal boundaries, examining beliefs, becoming true to herself. She says, “I could write endlessly, but if i didn’t live life fully and figuring things out, what would I write about?” I hope the author continues writing and figuring things out, sharing her clever and unique phrases and perspectives.
Dana Gardner
Tabitha’s book of poems are full of her own illustrations, along with some from her sister Hannah.
Sample Poem
a mindful thought for a thoughtful mind
collections of memories
cluttering parts of me
making the best of me
and taking the rest of me
boxes of thoughts
rotting in the slots
amongst lots of other caught thoughts
killing my memories
filling the rest of me
shelves of alphabetized realizations
organized, civilized nations
fathoming the worst of me
gathering the rest of me
totes of guilt,
sit and wilt,
covered up and smothered under filth.
murdering the thoughts underneath
and furthering the rest of me
framed images
stacked and hung
the do, the did, the done
mixing my memories
fixing the rest of me