Steps To Being Brandon Leake
One: You gotta first be named Brandon Leake.
Two: Be born on May 4th, 1992 with an extremely large head, sorry about that, Mom.
Three: Be born to a mother who got a heart of gold and just pray she got the Midas touch.
Four: Be born and raised in Southside Stockton in a cave full of hard rocks that when pressed become gems.
Five: Be born with brown skin. This excessive amount of melanin will truly dictate much of your future. Be sure to remember these steps.
Six: Be born with all of your limbs. And then remove one. My fault? No. Remove Father. No surprises here, refer back to step five.
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20 Steps to Being Allison Berryhill
1) Find a name with dactylic rhythm.
2) Contort this person to fit between four sandwiched siblings, where she will seek out unclaimed crannies of identity.
3) Try too loud, too bossy, too much. Then add another scoop.
4) Hide important parts of self. (See step 11.)
5) Explode.
6) Find her scattered across an Iowa cornfield July 4, 1976.
7) Implode.
8) Grind her teeth until the jaw is set afire.
9) Teach her to sew, with thread, and then with words.
10) Stitch the pieces into something whole-ish.
11) Seek out those hidden selves and
12) Patch them in.
13) Burst into a classroom where too loud, too bossy, and too much somehow work to an advantage.
14) Add a counterweight, a husband, to hold steady this chaotic, half-human, half-hyena.
15) And–why not?–add six kids.
16) Spin in circles, dig deep.
17) Repeat steps 10 through 16, omitting step 15.
18) Get cancer to gain perspective on all the rest.
19) Keep stitching.
20) Write poems.
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Your turn! Play with this. Find specific images, notice how your words sound together!
Thanks to Ethical ELA for many of the prompts I'm adapting for my students this month.
7 Steps to being Parker:
ReplyDelete1. Find a name that isn't common
2. Add a scoop of piano than add another
3. Find him living next to an Iowa cornfield
4. Try quiet and hardworking
5. Then add a pinch of logic and rational reasoning
6. Keep mixing
7. Keep thinking
Parker, your poem reinforced things I know about you (piano! rational thinking!) while introducing me to new dimensions (next to an Iowa cornfield.
DeleteYes,
keep mixing
keep thinking!
To Be Who One is Not:
ReplyDelete1. Take on a name that's dripping in future mockery.
2. Be like clay, without form nor voice.
3. Never solidify.
4. Don't give yourself any choice.
5. Grasp onto the fragile aspects of others and absorb them,
6. Never be firm.
7. Be too much, be too little, always condemned.
8. Find it hard to learn.
9. Never cry.
10. Repeat steps 2 through 5.
11. Question your life.
12. Never tell the full truth.
13. Wish on stars that have long fallen.
14. Become many in the form of one; out of sollen.
15. Never be you.
Oh wow, Ariel. Your poem has a clarity and depth of honesty that is startling.
DeleteI hear the theme of "never be firm," of melding and forming to meet others' expectations (#9)
Please use what you express in your poems as a way to come more fully and freely to YOU.
Steps to being Dante Hedrington
ReplyDelete1. Find a name that is new
2. Be born a bit to early (June 29th)
3. Be the planned oldest
4. Prepare for little brother
5. Move into your own house
6. Share a room
7. Fall in love with sports
8. Another little brother?
9. Learn how to big brother better
10. Find who you truly want to be
11. Throw step 11 out the window
12. Finally see your dad happy
13. Slow down and enjoy life for what it is
14. SURVIVE COVID
15. Experience being a freshman
16. Mature over a sport
17. Enjoy the hard-work
18. Repeat from step 7. (Minus step 8)
Danté, I'm so glad you're writing these poems! Each line resonates with identity. These were especially moving to me as your reader:
Delete9.
14.
17.
Keep writing, Danté.
8 Steps to Being Nicole:
ReplyDelete1. Be born on February 15th, in 2006
2. Become a big sister about two years later
3. Be that kid that never stops moving
4. Start a gymnastics/tumbling class with your family at age 5
5. Keep the friends you make now, they are important later.
6. Do well in school for as long as you can
7. Continue your love for gymnastics even though some days are rough
8. Be creative and keep an open mind
I'm so glad you wrote today, Nichole!
ReplyDeleteYour #6 gave me pause: What does "for as long as you can" mean?
#8 made my heart sing! Feed and foster that creativity and open mind! Writing (and reading) poetry is an excellent route to that goal!
The steps to being contempt:
ReplyDelete1. Be born with a name never to be found on souvenirs
2. Have a younger sister, though her balloons seem to be more appealing
3. Meet my sister and brother, from another mother
4. Meet your other Mom, and your other brother
5. Move to a brand new, big house, start fostering children
6. Make sure all goes well for a while, no casualties
7. Throw yourself into a new environment
8. Make some friends, lose some friends
9. Learn and grow as a person
10. Repeat steps 6 - 9 multiple times
11. Gain a fear of losing people
12. Repeat 8, but never gaining and always losing
13. Learn to not trust, throw self into a deep, dark cocoon
14. Stay there until someone offers you their hand
15. Learn to enjoy what you have, not what you don’t have
Addie, this poem pulled me in. Lines 2-6 show tumult, then (in 6) a balancing. I love the way you circled back on line 8 as the poem became one of loss and longing. Powerful.
DeleteSTEPS TO BEING MARY
ReplyDelete1) Be born with a grandma name
2) Live two years of your life in peace
3) When they are two have sister A and name her Margaret
4) Move into the house you will live in through your childhood and teen years
5) Have a younger brother name him John but only call him Johnny
6) Just over a year later have sister B name her Lucy
7) Join T-ball she will later play softball and love the sport
8) Teach her how to climb trees and to build forts
9) Take her to her Grandmas she will learn how to crochet
10) Be stubborn
11) Lead your siblings
12) Repeat 10 and 11 constantly
13) Start middle school (This will be rough)
14) Be your true self people will accept
Oh, Mary! I'm so glad I circled back and found your poem tonight! I learned so much about YOU by reading this. I want to talk to you sometime about my oldest daughter and the pressure she felt as child #1 (of six). Beautiful poem.
Delete