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!
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