Skip to main content

Learning Together

Tonight we had a small group of Dream Keepers writing and connecting. The younger students wrote acrostic poems. The high school students used headlines from popular magazines to write poems.  Natalie took a headline about Jessica Simpson to write her poem, She's Proud of Her Body. Before our hour was over, the High School students were delighted by a surprise visitor—Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor. State Senator Taylor encouraged the young people to work hard and send her their poems!

Both groups of students made it their mission to teach me about words and music. No matter which way you slice it, there's a lot of learning going on at Dream Keepers! If you know any young people who might be interested in writing, please send them to Atkinson Library on Monday nights.

Enjoy the poems,
Rochelle

She's Proud of Her Body
by Natalie Branch

She was used to society controlling her image.
They didn't care what she wanted or how she was feeling.
They knew what the buyers wanted to see.
They didn't know where the frustration would lead.
They did what they thought was best for her.
And so did she—by creating the new and improved her.
She's slightly larger and isn't the same.
Eye candy, but she couldn't be more fine and dandy.
She loves herself and isn't intimidated by anybody,
She is truly proud of her body.


Birthday
by Ashley

Birthday
Reputation
Ice Cream
Too much
Honey Cakes
Ding Dongs
Ashley
Too Sweet
Pinata
All the sweets in the world
Raining Sweets
Too Loud
Yes! My present!


Pig Pen
by Lamar

P The pig is too fat.
I  I know they eat a lot.
G Gate gets crushed
P When Pigs fight each other
E Earthqquake
No food, no home, no pig pen.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Six-word Scary Stories

We've done six-word memoirs. Tonight the Dream Keepers wrote six-word scary stories. Read and enjoy! (Then write and submit your own in the comment field!) A vampire destroys the city with power. —Tramonta Garner (pictured above) One virus. One town. No survivors. —Jaimee Bogard-LaMar, 14 One girl. Many monsters. What's next? —Jaimee Bogard-LaMar, 14 Big zombie eats eyeballs. City blind. —Elisha Branch, 14 One house. One family. Both gone. —Elisha Branch, 14 Knock, knock. Who's there? Killer mysterious. —Derranesha, 12 Baby cries. No answer. What happens? —Derranesha, 12 Ring, ring. "Hello." Please help me. —April, 12 The spooky monster ran towards me ... —Sonya, 17 The worm crawls into the brain. —Sierra The slippery, slimy monster grabs two. —Quintoya Eskridge

Long Titles, Short Poems

Tonight the Dream Keepers tried to write short poems with long titles, an assignment from Dawn DiPrince's wonderful book Yoga For the Brain . Here's the example I wrote: What Happened when John decided to Do His Laundry the Old-Fashioned Way: with a Bar of Soap, a Rock, and a River. Threadbare Underwear. The assignment is harder than it sounds, and the Dream Keepers had a tough time with it. But they still came up with some good samples. Read their work, and then try writing your own! By Elly: What Elly Was Left with After She Ate A big Juicy Hamburger in Two Bites. Yummy Tummy. By Leroi: What the Owner Said When He Took His Pet to Meet the New Vet, who Already Had Met a Dog, a Frog, and a Bunch of Cats. Oh No. By Daquan: What Happened When I Took A Bone from a Dog Who Had Had It a Long Time. Fight. Bite. By Tierra: The clock stopped at 11 O'Clock. Tick Tock?

Introducing Dream Keepers

In 2004, I began attending a church in the heart of my city. During my first visit, I had a vision: I would teach writing to the young people in this place. I dismissed the thought. I’m too busy. It’s too hard. They wouldn’t be interested. But the visions persisted. Each time I sat in the pew, the dream would come. Finally, I accepted this vision as a calling. I shared the dream with others, but I didn’t believe it would come true. Then a friend asked, “What can you do right now to make this happen?” In the fall of 2006, I embarked on a writing journey with four young women from the church. We have named ourselves “Dream Keepers,” after a poem by Langston Hughes. Hughes believed that writers were the dream keepers of the community. We are! In addition, recent studies suggest that people who write down their deepest thoughts, feelings, and dreams are healthier, happier, and have better success achieving their goals. Every Saturday I meet with four or five young women. We talk and write....