Photographs

Today I brought in several black and white cover portraits from my favorite magazine, The Sun. I asked the girls to look at the people's faces and choose one they felt especially drawn to. Once everyone had chosen a photograph, we sat in a circle, and I led the students through a guided meditation.

"I want you to stare into the person's eyes. Look past their age, their gender, the color of their skin. Try to see into their heart. What do they remember? What has caused them great pain? Great joy? What do they fear more than anything? Try to imagine their families, their histories, what has brought them to this moment, this place. What are they feeling right now? What are they seeing, hearing, smelling, and tasting? What are they longing to say? Try to imagine what they wish for, what hope they have for the future."

I gave them a few minutes to get to know their person in silence, and then instructed them to write a poem answering whichever questions they liked, and using details wherever possible. When a few poets had trouble getting started, I suggested they take on the person's point of view, writing a letter from inside the photograph. Here are two poems using that approach:

I'm dreaming about my family.
Our food smells sweet and we're sharing
bowls of soup. We eat together every night.
I hear soft talking.
I hear dishes being washed.
Outside the wind is whistling.
Our hearts are filled with shining light.
-Asho

I'm worried about my family.
In my country where I was born
there is war, guns shooting.
I can't go outside to buy
food for my children. My husband
died in the war and I cried all night long.
What I wish is that this war would be over
just once. I wish I could get my family
back together. I wish for peace and freedom.
-Safia

Sky Tree

It's great to be back at Wheeler for the winter session. I have a small, mellow group of girls, including two previous students. For our first class, we looked at Sky Tree by Thomas Locker, which follows one tree through the seasons. The girls were in awe of the paintings and loved watching the landscapes change. They were particularly sensitive to the way the sky clothed the tree's bare branches in winter; stars, clouds, birds, and violet sunsets all acted as temporary "leaves."

After observing our own sky out the window (it was "church-quiet" and "white as rabbits"), I asked them to close their eyes and imagine any sky they liked. It could be a morning sky, a starry sky, or a fiery evening sky. What time of year is it? What time of day? What colors and weather do you see? Is it windy or still? Cloudy or clear? I passed out small pieces of paper ("sky windows") and colored pencils so they could draw the sky they had imagined.

When the drawings were complete, I asked asked them to write a poem describing their sky and the world below. Here are two examples (I might scan the drawings a bit later):

My sky is white summer
in the spicy afternoon. Children
playing on the sand,
children yelling, screaming,
and laughing. My sky turns
gray, lightning, thunder,
and loud.
-Safia

My sky was a little bit dark
and it was raining
and it was the middle
of afternoon. I was so happy
that everyone stayed inside.
It was soft and quiet.
-Asho