TYWLS-Q students have been creating their community poems in class. Before putting together their community poems, the students shared the individual poems they had been creating. Teaching Artist Katie Rainey has noticed that one student, Sonnie, is a very descriptive writer, but she never speaks up in class. Katie has been looking over Sonnie’s shoulder as she writes and sharing one-on-one moments with her, but she has never really gotten Sonnie to share her work out loud.
However, on this day, Sonnie raised her hand and wanted to share because she was proud of the poem she had created. Before Katie could even open her mouth to say yes, the classroom erupted in cheers of encouragement. All of the other ladies were so excited to hear Sonnie share for once that they applauded and cheered her on. She shared her poem and it was a beautiful, touching thing that was clearly a very personal piece of writing.
Afterward, each girl submitted her favorite line from her own poem to contribute to the community poem. Sonnie was so thrilled with how her poem was received that Katie put her in charge of assembling the first draft of the community poem.
Here is a sneak peek at that poem:
Sometimes I feel like
I created myself
looking out the window and into
the sky, rain coming through
my eyes like glass. Still, I am
like a butterfly, free, living life. My eyes
are the eyes of a beast.
I created myself and
the stars that run through me
as artistic as the sky,
frozen like my past,
pretty, like a piece of glass.
I try to smile, but they
shine through it.
I created myself with
this heart of shimmering
gold, this personality
as quiet as a
beetle, this barrier between
warm and
cool.
