I am an Author!
By: Molly Friend, Greenheart Outreach Coordinator
CCI Greenheart Staff Volunteer Group
On our latest CCI Greenheart staff volunteering adventure in honor of Greenheart Day of Service, staff volunteers along with students raised pencils in the air and pledged enthusiastically, “I am an author!” This pledge was part of the closing celebration in The Adventures in Creative Writing Field Trip that is organized by Open Books, a Chicago nonprofit bookstore and social venture that promotes literacy. CCI Greenheart staff members were given the volunteer title of Writing Coach where some helped 7th graders learn about poetry and create their own slam poetry and others worked with 4th and 5th graders about settings and writing stories about descriptive places. Literary terms like personification, alliteration, and stanza flowed freely throughout the Open Books classroom as we got to help imaginations craft exciting poems and stories.
Some staff members were so inspired from their experiences volunteering as writing coaches they choose to write their own poems too. Below are two poems from CCI Greenheart staff.
Witnessing the Power of Poetry
By: Allison Graham
Fog filled the room, our brains.
Unable to see what was coming; what would be.
Meeting a group of sixth graders. Meeting strangers.
Is this what it feels like to be a fish out of water?
Everyone was slow to start,
like a train engine chugging for the first time
bearing too much weight.
Then
Pop!
Light!
Pop! Light!
Pop! Pop! Pop! Light, light, light!
The light bulbs of their minds were turning on.
Poetry poured from pencil to paper.
Light was gleaming, glittering, shinning so brightly.
The fog disappeared like it never existed.
The colors of the students’ souls were illuminated.
Light radiated from their smiles.
Laughter emerged from their hearts.
Confidence was nourishing their bodies like a cold glass of water.
I was
I am
I continue to be
Humbled, overwhelmed in gratitude, and inspired
by such an opportunity to help and witness
The power of poetry!
The pencil costume gives you performance power!
Getting Lost
By: Martha Rauch
Glimmering sunlight through the tall trees
Escaping reality in a time capsule
Getting lost in another world
Forgetting the time
Relax-ation
Breathe in, breathe out,
Soft thuds of my heartbeat drummin’
Getting lost in another world
Forgetting the time
Relax-ation
Fresh, cool air swooping in through the wedged open window
Twirling, spinning around my tousled hair
Getting lost in another world
Forgetting the time
Relax-ation
Warm, honey drenched chai tea
Cradled in my chilled hands
Getting lost in another world
Forgetting the time
Relax-ation
Snuggled cozily under my heavy winter blankets
Curled up and lazily dreaming
When’s the last time YOU got lost reading?
Thank you Open Books for welcoming us into your wonderful field trips!
