Unwritten

Two Fridays ago I showed The Dead Poets Society to a middle school English class I subbed for, and it got me thinking... Middle school must be the time everyone is introduced to poetry... I think it's like in the national middle school curriculum for English or something...

I remember being introduced to structured poetry in 7th grade and free verse poetry in 8th grade... That's when I first started writing... I remember it was so simple, so childish, mostly about love and middle school heartbreak and relationships. Cute, but not very good. I continued writing in high school and it got a little deeper, but was still mostly about love and romance and whatnot, with a little life mixed in. My friends would ask me to write for them. I was proud of my work then, but looking back at some of it now, I cringe. In college, I wrote sporadically. Only when I had to at first, but as I started journal writing, more and more poetry flowed out... I still have all of it, on various web pages, in journals and in my mind. It was good and got better with time, but 99% of it was sad... True, I've always written out of personal experience and such was my life back then... Sad... painfully, heartbreakingly sad... And downright depressing at times. Since college, I've only written a handful of poems, concentrating my writing on journaling instead. These past week though, has been soaked in poetry.

Ever since watching the movie, I've been thinking about poetry, what inspires it, the beauty of it and the art of teaching it. I've even written some short pieces in my spare moments, all too personal to share... And last week, my 3 English classes went to a poetry workshop presented by Youthspeaks Seattle, which was more than inspiring. During the workshop, we not only got to listen to some amazing spoken word presented in a powerfully moving way, but we were actually taken through some writing exercises that have caused us to produce our own masterpieces. Here are some of mine:

Respect

Reach out and touch a life
Each person has a destiny and a purpose
See the potential in yourself and others
Practice on purpose that which you wish to perfect
Enjoy your life and the people in it
Connect the dots to see the whole picture
Teach and live change

Giving Respect

Holding on to your every word
Keeping my eyes on yours the whole time
Not wanting to miss a single breath, a single sound, a single moment
My own breaths stops, my heart skips a beat, I'm frozen in time
My mind racing, trying to take it all in
Trying to comprehend, to relate, to imagine
Pictures in my mind, colors, faces, emotions
Tears welling up in my eyes
I feel hot, the heat is rising
I hear your voice, I feel Your presence, I am overwhelmed
Your truth opens my eyes, my heart receives it, I'm set free

Concrete Image

My happiness is pure sunshine
My annoyance is a sharp needle prickling at my skin
My excitement is fireworks going off on 4th of July
My anger is a raging fire blazing out of control
My pride is a soldier returning home from war
My frustration is traffic, being stuck with no way out
My satisfaction is comfort food after a long day
My shock is a blast of ice cold water on my fresh out of the tanning bed hot skin
My rejection is a slammed door
My surprise is colorful confetti falling down all around
My numbness is a blank stare, expressionless, full of nothing
My joy is the laughter of children, full of bright innocence
My emptiness is a dry well, dead and lifeless


"The rest is still unwritten.." ;) I'm working on more stuff I can actually share :)