Clean Ruby O Brien Summary

Clean is a poem written by Ruby O’Brien in 2016. The poem’s theme deals with inner strength and the courage it takes to overcome the tragedies of life. Throughout the poem, you notice that the author is a strong believer in: what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. In order to understand the world, you must go through sadness that scars your heart. Whether you “Went through something tragic/ lost someone/ lost yourself,” it is all a part of life and growing as an individual. A part of this approach is being able to accept the situation and use it to become stronger and wiser. It is important to understand that these situations do not define you, they just add to your story. As explained in the following lines, “You can hear it in the silence/You …show more content…
When “Everything might come crashing down,” you need to get back on your feet and keep fighting. You may get knocked back down one, two or three more times, but it is not about how you start, it is about how you finish. In this line “You are someone who survived a bunch of rainstorms and kept walking forward,” the rainstorm represents those tragedies. Sometimes, it takes the darkness of a storm to experience the beauty that the sun can leave behind. You grow up not knowing what to expect from your future. You’re not sure if something will hit you in the face, or if the clock will just slowly tick by. As things get rough, you will learn how to cope with it and take pride in yourself. You just have to live each day, and face them with a smile. Clean is an inspiring poem that pushes people to fight harder. It is a reminder that everyone has bad times in life. No one is immune from adversity. For some people, the adversity may come late in life. For other people, it surrounds them at birth and follows them. Our willingness to admit bad times and learn from them, is what makes a person