 |
Each day during March, I am participating in the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Story Challenge (SOLSC). All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers. Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for lots more reflections on teaching. Thanks especially to Stacey, Tara, Anna, Beth, Dana, and Betsy for hosting this writing challenge.
*******
Has this ever happened to you?
I was in the midst of reading one of my all-time favorite books - Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran (illustrated by Barbara Cooney) - to the children in my class, when my voice faltered, shook, quivered. As if I might cry!
When Marian dug up a tin box filled with round black pebbles
everyone knew what it was:
it was a buried treasure.
Those pebbles were the money of Roxaboxen.
You could still find others like them if you looked hard enough.
So some days became treasure-hunting days, with everybody trying to find that special kind.
And then on other days you might just find one without even looking.
I recovered immediately and pushed on, but the feeling lingered as the day wore on. I challenged myself to put my thoughts and emotions into a poem….
Breathless
It leaves me breathless
to consider
creating lean-to's with weeping willow branches
sitting in the grass with all my dolls
mashing pyracantha berries for porridge
It leaves me breathless
to consider
fishing with sticks, string, small pieces of bread,
large multi-backyard games of capture the flag, and
flashlight tag with my brothers and neighbors
It leaves me breathless
to consider
the absence of such leisurely play today
the rare gift of children making their own fun
how beautiful life is when explored outdoors
It leaves me breathless
to consider
And so it went.
The seasons changed, and the years went by.
Roxaboxen was always there.
It leaves me breathless
to consider
how many children have treasure-hunting days?
Beautiful and heartfelt musings. Where has imagination gone?
ReplyDeleteThis is one my favorite books to teach with and it always takes me back to my own world of childhood imaginative play. I loved how you used the repeating line "It leaves me breathless to consider"... This poem matches the mood I feel when I read this book.
ReplyDeleteThis is one my favorite books to teach with and it always takes me back to my own world of childhood imaginative play. I loved how you used the repeating line "It leaves me breathless to consider"... This poem matches the mood I feel when I read this book.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of all of our favorite books at school, Maureen. I do understand about those things that seem from by-gone days. One time a student told me he wished I didn't tell about my childhood sometimes because it made him sad. He didn't see how he might ever get to do some of those things. I think that we can re-create if we try. My husband and I bought a primitive cabin so that our children could have some of the adventures. Your poem makes me a little sad, too.
ReplyDeleteIt leaves me breathless is the perfect phrase for what you express in your poem. It stops the reader in their tracks to pause and consider what has been lost.
ReplyDelete