12 - 21: A Celebration of My Youth

This book is a collection of writings from a time in my life when life was physically secure, predictable and safe, but emotionally charged. While perhaps no more emotionally charged than any other adolescent, I felt like it was. Not that anything bad was happening - life was just like that.These writings cover a time from when I was beginning to feel that I had read everything worth reading in my house and - not being able to afford to purchase any books, I thought that I would have to write my own. That was when I was nine years old. The copious writings done between 1985 and 1987 have been almost completely discarded, the destruction happening one night when I awoke in disgust at myself and discarded all my previous writings and started again with one boy, doomed to die. That poem is my first serious heartfelt work.While not all of the following works are masterpieces by any means, there are a few gems. I particularly adore the brown notebook set, the Who Cares? fairytale, the ecstatic poems from the later Tertiary section, the Wandering Innocent parable and, of course, Asiana which I consider to be the climax of this volume.I wrote fitfully over the whole of my adolescence, particularly in the transitional periods - late primary-early secondary education, late secondary-early tertiary education and again when my educational career was winding down into postgraduate studies and career/relationship options. I have written nothing since 1998, and have collected together all my previous efforts in this volume as a preparation to writing again.The act of recapitulating this material has given me abundant insight into forgotten aspects of my character and adolescent turmoils. I hope you explore this book with an open mind and let it take you back to your adolescent years or, if you are currently in this stage, take heart from hearing the innermost voice of another who has been there too - and survived.