Super Man





It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superman!

My "final" for the Mementos & Metaphors poetry workshop series at the Ovitt Community Library with David A. Romero was a reworking of the Week 1 assignment to write a poem about a family member using an object closely associated with that person. I chose to write about my son Ben and called it Super Man.

My son is a hero.
The boy who idolized Superman in his youth
Now fights for truth, justice and the American way
For the non-Americans in the Inland Empire.

My son is a hero to the latino and latina immigrants.
He flies to the street corners
To hold up his cape-like banners
In peaceful protest of racial profiling.

Faster than a speeding bullet,
My super man will rush to heed the call
Of the disempowered and downtrodden among us.

He will race to the police check points
To protect the rights that we all uphold:

     The right to be treated as human beings
     The right to live in community without violence, and
     The right to have economic justice and no abuse of power.

My son is a hero
Who knows that truth and justice are not the American way,
That capitalism promotes the separation into classes,
That the white patriarchy has caused social and economic imbalance
That has lasted for centuries.

So now, he is a hero to the anarchist way
With x-ray vision to a world that is
More egalitarian, more spiritual, and incorruptible.
Look! It's a bird, it's a plane,
It's Equality for All!

 

Silly Starters

Writing a poem is discovering.

~ Robert Frost

 

 

I bought a book at the teacher store to allow the students to choose a daily journal topic. Last week was the first time I sat down to write with them. Two days in a row the assignment was to write a poem. Here are the two I wrote.

 

Day #1: Write a poem about a puppy that wants to be a person.

I'm a little puppy

Who owns a little girl

I love to run and jump with her

More than anything in the world

 

But what I want the most in life

Is to be just like my friend

Because if I could talk, I'm sure

Our chats would never end

 

We'd speak about the flowers

or what dresses we will wear

We'll sing about most anything

And dance without a care

 

I'm a little puppy

Who wants to be a girl

So I can run and dance and play

And wear my hair in curls

 

Day #2: Write a poem about a monkey that cannot stop laughing.

 

I saw a monkey in a tree

Laughing so hysterically

Ha ha ho ho hee hee hee

 

He chortled and giggled

Until there were tears

I think he had been

Laughing for years

 

That poor monkey

Could not stop his glee

Ha ha ho ho hee hee hee  

 

 

I actually had a hard time writing the second poem and so did the kids, but I shared my strategies. First I brainstormed about the most important elements of the assignment: monkey and laughing. Some of the words I thought of for monkey were: banana, tree, tail, swinging on a vine, and ooh ooh. For laughing I wrote down hysterical, chuckle, giggle, laugh until it hurts, cry, tee hee, ha ha. Then I thought about the words that went together. The students usually have about ten minutes to write and they can be very creative. I'm glad they like to share with the class too. They let me share my poems last week and it was fun to read them.



 



Voice for the Voiceless

Where does discipline end? Where does cruelty begin? Somewhere between these, thousands of children inhabit a voiceless hell.  ~ Francois Muriac

Because of the Coffee House Writer's Group Meetup, I started attending a 4 week poetry workshop at the Ovitt Community Library in Ontario. As I told my fellow CHWGers, my poetry usually runs in the veins of romantic love or children's poetry, but these workshops are expanding my repertoire. I respect the fact that the first presenter advocated poetry with a social conscience. And, although I have written rhyming children's poetry that is meant to be read aloud as a performance piece, David Romero's idea of Spoken Word Poetry is new to me. His concept is for us to write long poems and then memorize them to be performed and judged by an audience.

Monday's workshop was titled "The Voice of the Voiceless." Presenter Matt Sedillo performed his work called "Gerald Ford" that was really a look at the life and wisdom of a homeless man. In his very powerful voice, Sedillo contrasted the sorrow the American people felt over the death of our former president, Gerald Ford, and the lack of compassion and the fear we feel for a homeless man, although at any moment, any one of us could be in the same tattered shoes.

Our assignment was to write a poem for any voiceless person. My partner wrote about an old man whose family put him into a nursing home. I have always tried to give voice to the children. My poem was inspired by the upstairs neighbors I had in Colorado Springs, Colorado, when I lived in some government projects there. It is called:

Mom and Dad on Crack

 

I get to stay up as late as I want and jump on the bed until I collapse from exhaustion.

Mommy and Daddy are busy doing their own thing.

They go into the bedroom and tell be to Stay Out because I am not allowed to

play with lighters, and besides, the smoke is not good for my lungs.

 

In the morning, I get up and make my own cold cereal

And then I wake up Daddy to take me to school.

Sometimes I wish I could have a hot breakfast, like pancakes or eggs.

But at least,

I get to stay up as late as I want,

I get to wear whatever I want,

and

I hardly ever get yelled at because

Mommy and Daddy are in the bedroom

doing their own thing.

So now I have this memorized and plan to present it next week. If you are interested in attending the last two workshops, here is the information from the Ontario Library website.

Poetry Workshop- Mementos & Metaphors

Posted Date: 3/6/2013 7:00 AM

David A. Romero will present his four week workshop "Mementos & Metaphors": Poems of Family and Identity. April 8, 15, 22 and 29 from 7:00 - 8:30pm in the storytime room.

 

And thank-you to my new writing friends at CHWG!

http://www.meetup.com/CoffeeHouseWritersGroup/