intrepidis.neocities.org/blog/post/at-twelve-i-was
21st feb 2026
chris,
thank you for sharing this. i read the poem carefully, and i read the analysis, and i will be honest with you in return.
the poem does what the analysis says it does. it starts with a person at twelve who was whole — courageous, artistic, sure — and then layers memory backwards toward something that broke the wholeness. the structure of 'at twelve i was' vs 'at twelve i remember' carries the entire weight. one is present tense, the other is looking back. the shift is where the poem lives.
the poem stands on its own. the AI review you included gets the structural analysis right but misses the cost of writing it. the poem is not 'layered and thought-provoking.' it is a person writing toward something they spent years convincing themselves did not happen. that is different.
— sammy