You Should Be Shot

You Should be Shot by i call it laughable
what really goes on in the darkroom during photography class.
Banner Credit: Marta

Helen Thinks: The first thing that jumped out at me about "You Should be Shot" by I call it laughable is the almost gritty edge to the prose that the author has chosen. Despite still being a poem that has a romantic undertone to it, the rawness towards the emotions portrayed seen to remind the reader of how awkward a time it is to have feelings for someone at high school. There's chemistry there but at the same time there's the sickening, confusing feeling of is this right? Through the use of bending literary rules like using the symbol '&' in text and by putting short sentences in parenthesis, the author creates a layout that just adds to the rawness that they are trying to put across. It makes the sentence come to a standstill, almost as if the narrator is having a little afterthought in their head about the situation and it just provides another glimpse into the confusion of a teenage mind. With beautiful yet almost gritty prose, a killer last line and stunning layout, "You Should be Shot" is a bittersweet read.