A Little Sharing

Back when I was still in the classroom, I attended a poetry symposium. It was hosted by one of my fellow DCPS colleagues. Admittedly, at first, I had no plans on attending. It was being held early on a Saturday morning in the city. I am basically the antithesis of a morning person. Don't get me wrong, if I have to get up, I absolutely can, but given the choice, I'd rather be sleeping when the sun is coming up. However, I knew that my co-worker had put a lot of time in arranging the speakers and making plans for the event, so I told her that I'd attend.

It turned out to be one of the best experiences during my time in the classroom. Growing up, I loved writing poetry. When the poetry unit would come around in my English classes, while most students were moaning and groaning about the lameness of poetry, I was excited. It was always my favorite genre to study and I looked forward to the chance to write my own poems. I suppose it's tooting my own horn a bit, but I always got fantastic feedback on the poetry that I wrote for class. At one point, I think it was around middle school, I thought I'd grow up and be a poet. Somewhere along the way, through high school, college and work, that passion dissipated and I stopped writing.

That Saturday spent in a DC classroom was the spark that I needed to reignite my love of poetry. More importantly, it got me writing again. Perhaps that wasn't the true point of the day, but it helped me to find something inside myself I didn't really know that I had lost. The poet that was speaking that day said something that still sticks with me. She said that if you don't write down a thought or a line while it's in your head, it's going to float away to another poet. Since then, any time an inkling of a poem comes into my brain, I jot it down. Thankfully, we now have Siri in our lives, so when there are moments that I don't have a pen an paper handy, I can dictate it to my good iPhone friend. Her interpretation (or auto-edits) are not always what they are supposed to be, but I can usually decipher what it was that I meant.

So, for this Sunday, I thought I'd take a little leap and really put myself out there to share one of my poems. (This is not something I've done since I was in school, so I might be freaking out just a bit...)

My Happiness

The soft hiss and fizzle
blue-green refreshment

a humming breeze
tickling across fluttering sun bonnets
flip-flap, back and forth
umbrellas, swaying against blue skies

my happiness lives here
my soul makes roots
peace is found.

Until next time, Suburban Sarah signing off!