"I was the lion you do not remember who pushed the boat in which you lay,a child near death, so that it came to shore where a man sat, wakeful at midnight, to receive you." "Then it was you who wounded Aravis?" "It was I." "But what for?" "Child," said the Voice, "I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no-one any story but his own ." "Who are you?" asked Shasta. "Myself," said the Voice, very deep and low so that the earth shook: and again "Myself," loud and clear and gay: then the third time"Myself," whispered so softly you could hardly
hear it, and yet it seemed to come from all round you as if the leaves rustled with it."

from The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis


Saturday, March 31, 2012

poetry

I never thought I would say this, but:

poetry has been working to revive my soul.

I just started teaching a poetry unit to my students and I am definitely learning as we go. I have long forgotten all of the terminology and I've heard (ahem. said) that it's best to learn by doing. So, I have committed to writing poetry along with my students.

This week we started with free verse. I showed them a video that shows Spoken Word poetry and I am ADDICTED.

Here are two of my favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgQLEfSi9ys

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eYH0AFx6yI

I wish I could do this! Instead, I will write my poems, starting with free verse.

Assignment:

Take a memory you have from your childhood that outsiders might see as negative, but that you are now able to see as positive because of how it changed you.


"close your eyes" by me

close your eyes

forget the lies

that say you

have no memories

claim your memories as

yours

like the time the hurricane

shook my family's house like

a little kid shakes the christmas presents under the tree

and i sat

wondering when we would be free

of the wind, water, and what ifs that watered our conversations

in the dark

of my mind

i remember and i'm

scared, scared of the whispers throughout the years about money

knowing my parents are doing the best they can but somehow

understanding

that money is a monster

understanding that it is much like that hurricane and i'm

scared that one day my situation will be

the same

but refusing to conform to the american ways that say

borrow, borrow, borrow,

pay me back later, you deserve it now,

i want what i cannot have so i will have it now but i

won't,

not really, nothing is mine as long as i owe to someone else

so i watch as the things i want and get become like

a shackle from my foot to some object that i now forget

why i wanted in the first place so i

close my eyes and

eliminate the lies

that say, "you become your memories"

and instead decide to

claim my future and not my desired objects as

mine.
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