The Power of Poetry

It’s funny not funny ha ha, but interesting how a task can transform into a lifeline , a routine that sustains us. I felt that way about walking and other exercise. At first I dreaded it. Then I tolerated it as something that was good for me. Eventually it was something I looked forward to; I needed it; it sustained me.
Perhaps, now I am taking the turn with writing. The past week, I have had some bumps in the road. I usually find comfort in the routine of the school day, long walks with my dog, Grace and this evening writing is giving me a feeling of solace (evidenced by a much earlier post time, not that anyone besides me notices.)
Trying to see the glass as half full, I am going to share a high point of my day. Today my students wrote fabulously beautiful color poems inspired by this year’s Cybil’s 2009 Poetry winner. Twice recently, I have read about Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors written by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Most recently, Stacey’s from TwoWritingTeacher.com wrote about color and poetry in yesterday’s post. A few years ago I had used a different book as inspiration for color poems around St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to tweak today’s plans and have some fun with this new title. I recalled seeing this book displayed in our reading teacher’s room and sure enough she was ready to loan it out.
Poetry is like a magic potion. At just the right moment it reminds me of all the reasons I love being a teacher. With only a short period of time to write we had to break for lunch and could not return to writing for close to two hours with lunch and special back to back. Fresh eyes and a short time later, we gathered around our meeting area to share. All, but 5 students (all boys, interesting…) shared heartfelt words related to favorite colors. There were surprising comparisons, vivid descriptions and adjectives that awakened our senses. Monday we will revisit and type them in color to create our own classroom color anthology.