So Much Promise (the final poems!)

DEPTH

Don't underestimate him

Ever. Colin is a deep

Purveyor of knowledge,

Thorough explanation and insights.

He mines the depths for gold.

RETURN

Revenue of knowledge

Earned every day, Dominik

Travels back when

Understanding gets lost,

Recovering and responding, his

Natural approach to learning. 

BLINK

Blazing his own trail

Lightning fast decisions

Insisting and innocent

Nico reminds us of a 

Kaleidoscope ever-changing.

ALIVE

Ask and you'll receive

Listen and you'll hear

In Gabe's life, this is the

Vision to live by, the way to

Everything good and secure.

Pay Attention

Rey might go unseen

at times, a river

of focus and quiet, of

respect in the air

around him, and above.

SECRET

She is a whisperer

Ever smiling

Catching the light

Resisting nothing

Ever being Yesenia

Trusting and kind.

CLIMB

Clambering up the academic hill

Like the good student h

Is, Maurice ascends,

Motivated to give his

Best to any challenge. 

LEVEL

Lighthearted and friendly

Enter William, keeper of in-

Visibility, creator of

Extraordinary balance,

Level, calm, and steady.

Fields

Walter is walking

and listening in

silence, his mind the

open field

to find himself at one,

to discover this day.

Mystery Diamond

Who is she, this diamond who

can open herself up to anyone who cares to

guess who she is, this Dya'Mond,

the kind one to all, the one who bears

mysteries, who tells it true.

MOVING

Mark this place for Richard

On track for all his goals,

Varies his patterns little,

Instant inquiry when needed,

No many have to

Give what he has to give,

                                      or gain what he will gain.

READY

Remarkably intelligent

Elects to stay focused

Angled to succeed

Directed and determined

You, Chris, ready for anything.

Golden Treasure

Like so many other young people, Jaxson has a

golden way about him, a buried

treasure of wisdom that

he imparts to us on occasion when he's

willing to take us with him and

travel in that direction

**Inspirations**

"Ode to Dictionaries" by Barbara Hamby

"Pin-Up" by Billy Collins

"Look" by Layli Long Soldier

"Remember" by Joy Harjo 

"Clouds" by Twyla M. Hansen

"But perhaps God needs this longing" by Nelly Sachs

"Piano Lessons" by Billy Collins

"I Know the Truth" by Maria Tsvetaeva

"Working with the Word" by David Whyte

"Ode to the Letter M" by Barbara Hamby

"Fog" by Twyla M. Hansen 

"One Day" by David Whyte

"New Orleans" by Joy Harjo

Below the Surface, Part Two

EARTH

Evergreen and grounded

Academically-focused

Resides Milca, a true

Treasure to know, a

Helper and healer.

UNTOLD

Uncoil the silence

Netted around Ashley

Twist a bit, and turn

on the charm, she

lights up. She avoids

drama, her secrets kept inside. 

LUCKY

Letting all systems go

Understanding her golden state

Can Suzanna ever not by happy?

Keeping her charm as an ace in the hole, her

Years ahead look promising.

Victory Song

In this world

stronger brilliance

more strength

victory song.

Tra'zaria

present in everything

knowledge and friendship

a crescent moon split

nothing to everything.

Sweet Heart

Sunny shore

pale blue lake

single cloud

Jeimy

ripe sweetness

every tree

opened heart

floating.

Homecoming

Drink wisdom.

Drink truth.

Drink power.

Wyatt: giving up what is behind him

the mighty protector inside

Home at last.

BLEND

Balanced with humor

Like a surprise waiting to happen

Essentially Jaden can be

Neutral, and other times

Demand to be heard.

                                 The perfect blend.

**Inspirations**

"Skeleton in Winter" by Joy Harjo 

"Looking Back at the Night" by David Whyte

"How to Watch the Perseids" by Twyla M. Hansen

"There is no one..." by Edith Sodergran

"Forest Lake" by Edith Sodergran 

"Homecoming" by Edith Sodergran

"The gold that was..." by Marina Tsvetaeva

The Girl Who Misses the Music

This is from a prompt in John Dufresne’s book Flash: “Made of the Myth” page 16.

I used the Tlingit tale “The Woman Who Married a Frog.”  Dufresne suggests we use a folktale, myth, or fairy tale and update it. It was to be kept under 700 words. This one is 649.  It's been rolling around in my head for a while, so I'm glad I finally got it down. Now I can move on to the other exercises in his book.

I highly recommend clicking on the link above and reading that story before reading mine. It will make more sense, I think.

The Girl Who Misses the Music

Sarah was a rich girl who had everything she needed. Her father was paying for her to attend the local university, where he sat on the board and paid her share of renting a house with her two friends from high school.

One day when she and her friends were walking through the outdoor café, they noticed a group of Hispanic young men. Her friend Penelope said she was surprised to see them there. Kayla said that they are probably on some kind of scholarships, maybe for hardship. Sarah didn’t say anything.

The next day, Sarah made a point of walking past the table alone. She had her eye on the one with the strong arms, the kind smile, the robust laugh. Sarah dropped her books “accidentally” as she walked by. Sure enough, Mr. Kind Smile got up and helped her with her books.

“Thanks,” Sarah said, looking straight into his eyes. She could see something there she had never seen before.

It was an encore. She knew there was more to come.

The next day, she walked past again. He caught her eye. She sat down. Classes were over for the day, and they spent the rest of the day together.

She didn’t go home that night. Instead, she went and stayed at Miguel’s house.  A house with several brothers, a sister, an aunt, a cousin, and an uncle, over and above Miguel’s mother and father. Miguel’s family welcomed her with no questions asked. Sarah stayed with him that night in the room above the garage where Miguel had his bedroom.

When Sarah’s father learned she was not staying in the house he was renting for her, he thought she had gone missing. But soon he discovered that she was, indeed, attending classes.

When he found out she was staying with a family of immigrants, he offered extra allowance money to get her to leave their home. But Sarah refused to leave. She loved the food, the laughter, the singing, the companionship of people that didn’t have much, and treasured each other so thoroughly. It wasn’t like anything she ever knew in her life.

After another week, Sarah’s father threatened to cut off her allowance altogether, and stop paying her tuition. Sarah was not fazed. She saw how hard Miguel’s family worked. She didn’t think that would be a bad thing for her. In fact, summer was coming and she looked forward to finding work. It would make her feel more a part of Miguel’s family.

The semester was about to end when Penelope came to Sarah with these words: Your father is threatening to call ICE on Miguel’s family. I heard it from my mother who is trying to protect you. You need to come back to the house. Otherwise, you are putting them all at risk.

Sarah knew enough about some of Miguel’s family members to know this could be a problem. She could not let this happen to them. She also knew she didn’t have the nerve to tell them face-to-face. Sarah wasn’t born with that kind of courage.

That night while Miguel was at work, she quietly slipped away. She changed her cell phone number. The next year she transferred to a university in another part of the state. She never saw Miguel again. In some ways she knew it was for the better. Her life was easier this way.

Or so it should be. Instead, she kept looking into the eyes of every young man she met, longing to find that music in their eyes that she had found in Miguel’s.  But the encore was only for the two of them. It would never be fulfilled. It was lost in the silence of time.

Rain Dance Miracle

Discovered this today in a yellow legal pad, several edits had been made, no date or inspiration recorded.  Tried desperately to place just why I wrote it.  I searched my blogs and Trail Brazen blog to be sure I hadn't already documented it somewhere. It is a real mystery. There are lines in it that makes me think it was 2016 when the Cavaliers won the championship, but I cannot figure anything else out about it. I'm recording it here, and will let the mystery be.

Rain Dance Miracle

Personally, I've got my pocket full of jewels
Got beaded earrings
After over sixty years of singing
You'd think I'd be on the hilltops
My arms feel strong today
Like I could swing on a rope
Like the trapeze is mine
Like I can make a mid-air field goal
Well, I like all kinds of art anyway
Starry night.  Collages of concert ticket stubs
Such watercolor landscapes and clouds and trees
Such that tells the story of geography
And -- I only saw it once --
Persephone and her pomegranate
Lips silently red
At the bottom incense burned in a copper pot
Does everything have to be about the end of the world?
We all dwell among the fruit and the fanfare
Lightning strikes on a Sunday night
Everything comes in time -- even refreshing rain
When it's time for music, give it music
When it's time to sing out, lend your voice
and when it cries at the crowds cheering
and children climbing on statues for the view
when the lake and sky share the same blue
and when all it wants is the golden ring,
give it the golden ring.

Blackout on "The Blackout"

I read the poem "The Blackouts" by Rafael Campo today, and immediately I knew I had to do a blackout poem on it.

Freedom Past the Stars

the power dies at night

a brighter time to flood with light

might crush them.

a swig of rum,

someone else's touch in the breeze.

imagine their shadows,

how far the world must seem.

the open windows,

climbing in

to freedom past the stars,

across the seas.

Forever Changed

“Forever Changed”

This would be the day to change her 8^th grade year. An angel drawing.  A nice boy.

At the table, Ariel hands Jared the paper square, and he unfolds the angel image. Chris, next to him howls. Is that supposed to be YOU?  He and Jared laugh together. Chris dumps milk on it. Jared crumples loudly. He won’t look at her. He lets Chris bat the ball of paper away.

Back at her desk, with pen she writes on her arm I hate you.  At the end, she presses the point into her flesh until blood seeps out.

Forever changed.

Showtime

This is the sequence of a creative process I've gone through this week. 

It began Monday in Creative Writing when I gave the writers the main character questionnaire, along with the questions Steve Almond suggests for developing characters, and told them to create a character by answering the questions.

Then I sat down and wrote. This is what surfaced, the setting and the name of the character and the inner conflict, all by asking questions:

Character questions answered

She sits in her pink bedroom –the walls rosy pink, the carpeting pink flecked on black. Her bed is covered with a quilt made of geometrics in pink, white, black, and silver. Her furniture is painted light gray, covered from the dirty white she grew up with.

In the bottom drawer of her dresser, under her collection of pajamas and sweats, is a journal she records song lyrics. They come to her in the night, and she writes them down in a black moleskin book with a thin pink Sharpie.  She never reads them – she just writes. She’s on her third notebook, 200 pages each.

Alessia’s biggest problem is that she has no confidence. She has grown up with no real encouragement. She undervalues her own talent. She has made a habit of hiding – a habit that at 16 is hard to break.

 For Wednesday's class, I suggested the students put their characters into a scene.  We had some prompts that day, one being Late to the Party.  I sat down and wrote this:

Put character into a scene

She is late to the party.

Alessia knew that if she showed up, she would be put in a position where she’d have to admit to writing songs. The exposure would be too much. But she knew it was coming.

It had happened after school, in Scholars Club, when Dylan brought his guitar and was strumming some tunes as background music. Their sponsor – Ms. Cane – suggested that each team write a song or rap for the topic they were discussing – friendship. Off the top of her head and without thinking, Alessia sang some of the lyrics she had written just the night before on the subject. She felt comfortable around Dylan, so she didn’t mind him knowing, and they were the only juniors on the team. She didn’t care what the freshmen and sophomores thought.

Immediately Dylan said, “We should sing this at Kate’s party Saturday.”  Alessia knew that she had made a huge mistake. Now the cat was out of the bag and, even though Kate was one of her best friends she still had never revealed her secret obsession to anyone.

Alessia heard her phone vibrate – a text message coming in. It was Kate: Where R U? Dylan is asking.

For a brief moment, about as thin as an eyelash, Alessia’s heart fluttered. Dylan was waiting for her. Dylan noticed.  Immediately she felt stupid. He just wants to sing the song.

Alessia texted back: Leaving now.

Before turning the bedroom light of, she looked back at her moleskin notebook lying on the bed. She didn’t even feel compelled to hide it.

It was showtime.

 

I didn't really have a feeling of this being a big story, or even a character I would work with. Instead I realized this might be the time to try out something I had yet to attempt: a 100 word story. This is a form I have been aware of, and for some reason lately I can't stop thinking about it.

I began by getting to the issues faster. That took the original 266 words to 171.

I trimmed some more, rearranged, re-worded. That took me to 120.

Tightened up spots. 109. Put a hypen between "carefully" and "guarded," making 108.  

Trimmed, reworded.  103. Trimmed, reworded.  STILL 103.

Finally got the last words out of the second last sentence.

100!

Could it be better? Probably.  But this was FUN!  You can bet I'm taking it to my writers next week.

100 Word Story

"Showtime"

She was late for Kate’s party. She foolishly had agreed to sing a song with Dylan tonight, one they had spontaneously practiced last week. Whatever had compelled her to sing her carefully-guarded lyrics to his guitar: the secret revealed?

Text from Dylan: Where R U?

In a moment as thin as an eyelash, Alessia’s heart fluttered. Dylan was waiting for her. Immediately she felt stupid. He just wants to sing the song.

Alessia texted back: Leaving now.

Before turning the bedroom light off, she looked back at her notebook exposed on the bed. She left it there.

It was showtime.

Changes in Room 408

Nearly one year ago I looked at my reading class and had a sad epiphany:

I have not helped them become readers.

In that moment I set out to find a way to change the situation. It was my main focus last summer, as I read many of the latest dimensions to classroom reading.

After determining a reading initiative with our reading coach, approved by our newly formed Literacy team, as well as school administration, our reading department committed to allowing our students at least 10 minutes of reading time every class.  In addition, they read 10 minutes in their lunch period class, even if it isn't a reading class.

This has been huge. My classroom library has grown, and the book check-outs massive (nearly 500 over three quarters.)  Our media center is hopping nearly every day.  And as I wrote in one of my previous blogs, this initiative has caused me to develop a larger reading identity myself through the goal-setting and commitment to daily reading. Who thought that could happen at age 63?  Not me!

Over the year I have given my readers various surveys. My thanks to Pernille Ripp (author of Passionate Readers) for the latest one, which I trimmed down for my classes. The first two questions are the focus of this survey results.

As I read through the answers, I felt a growing joy at what I was witnessing -- not only were many of my readers self-aware of their growth as readers, many of them connected it to their ability to think. In fact, one of the most profound statements on the survey came from an unexpected source -- a 6th grade girl named Aubrey:

I've grown as a thinker because I read. The more you read, the smarter you get. The more you think the better your grades.

The results below are pulled from a majority of the 120 surveys. I had many students who didn't really answer the question, except for "kinda" or "yes" or "not sure."  I am shamelessly sharing the ones who had a clear answer to the questions.  Sometimes a student responded well to both questions, and that is represented here.

I have to say...these responses were beyond my wildest dreams. The part about this I love the best is they could articulate the changes. Just the fact they think they read faster or can think more clearly moves them into areas of self-efficacy they may not have had before. I've learned that is just about everything!

Here are the answers:

Question:

How have you grown as a reader?

I set goals for my reading – 5

I read a lot – 21

I have a habit of reading every day – 4

I did better on STAR – 1

I read bigger books – 15

I have better understanding of what I read – 9

I read faster – 16

I choose harder /more challenging books – 4

I’ve extended my vocabulary – 11

I chose more mature books – 3

I became interested in/ or enjoy reading more – 12

I read in my free time – 2

I’ve discovered new genres – 6

I read more than I did last year – 14

I stayed the same as a reader – 6

Question:

How have you grown as a thinker?

I can think better – 8

I can think faster/longer/harder – 14

I can find solutions and make decisions better – 4

I’m thinking in new ways – 7

I think more clearly, with better focus and attention – 11

I take more time to think – 12

I ask more questions – 2

I think more in-depth and critically -- 1

Right Here, Right Now

I feel I have drifted away from my writing, and now I am finding my way back. It started yesterday during our free writing time in Creative Writing class. I put up three prompts, and went to write in my gratitude journal. At first I wasn't focused much on gratitude. When I realized this, I pulled the words "Right Here, Right Now" from the song title prompts I had given, and away I went.  I even read this to the students.  Since then, I feel the faucet has opened back up.  So thankful!



We are writers.
We come together in community
     and honor expression.
We know the value of the
     written word.
We know the benefit of
     listening to each other.
We build bridges with
     letters that grown into
     words that grow into
     sentences that grow
     into stories of our lives.

We are writers
     on Friday and every day.
We know the importance of
     reaching out with words.
It brings freedom. Freedom.
     ~~Freedom~~
    
We are writers.