(upbeat music)
-: Hi there, my name is Shelby
and I'm a poetry teaching artist,
and today we're just gonna sit down and write together.
I'm really glad that we get to do this.
So our theme is going to be,
like you, I love dot dot dot.
So you're gonna be writing about things that you love today
and you're gonna be writing
about what you believe about the world.
And the only thing that you're gonna need
to do this free writing activity
is something to write with, pencil, pen, whatever you want,
piece of paper or a notebook, something to write on,
and in your free writing, you're just gonna get a chance
to write sort of a spell for yourself,
something to remind you of what you love in this world.
Okay, well actually I need you to grab
a couple more things for this one.
Since we're writing about what we love,
I want you to go find at least two random objects
in your house that are things that you love.
Could be anything, could be something random
like your oldest stuffy or like a moon,
moon stuffed animal, something like that.
It could be barrel of monkeys,
that's what I think I'm gonna use, or mermaid toy,
a beautiful bell that you have laying around.
A very special stone, maybe even just like,
something you like to spray yourself with,
something like that.
Just anything that you love.
So gather around a couple of random objects
and to get started we're gonna do a warm up
and I want you to just look at those objects,
just notice some things about them
and write a couple of words on your page
just describing those objects.
The color, the shape, the texture,
anything like that just list it out.
Go for it, describe your objects.
(upbeat music)
And once you've just got a couple of descriptions
of those objects,
now I'm going to read you a poem
that's gonna sort of be the inspiration
for our free write today.
This is a poem by the poet Roque Dalton
and this poem is translated from Spanish
and if you rather read it in its original form,
in the Spanish, there is a link available on the description
to a video of someone reading it and the text version
and if you'd rather do the free write in Spanish,
there's gonna be a link available
for those starting lines in Spanish as well.
This poem is called "Like You."
"Like you, I love love, life,
"the sweet smell of things,
"the sky-blue landscape of January days.
"And my blood boils up
"and I laugh through eyes
"that have known the buds of tears.
"I believe the world is beautiful
"and that poetry, like bread, is for everyone.
"And that my veins don't end in me
"but in the unanimous blood of those who struggle for life,
"love, little things,
"landscape and bread,
"the poetry of everyone."
So inspired by Roque Dalton,
you all are gonna write a poem that is sort of based
off of Roque Dalton's poem.
So the first line that I want you to write
is like you, I love love, life, the sweet smell of,
and that's where you fill in the blank.
What's the sweet smell that you love?
Go for it.
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Now we're gonna keep going.
And I want to encourage you to try to bring in
some of those description words from our warm up
with the objects
since those are objects that you love.
Next line, I laugh like dot dot dot.
What do you laugh like?
And it might even be cool if you picked a random word
from your list and it might sound sort of unexpected
and surprising like I laugh like a barrel of monkeys,
I laugh like the softness of a teddy bear,
go for it, what comes to your brain?
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Okay, next line, let's keep writing.
I believe the world is.
What's the first thing that comes to your mind?
I believe the world is true, wild, real, kind, hard?
Whatever comes to your brain.
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Next line, I believe that poetry is like,
what do you wanna compare poetry to?
Maybe it's one of the objects on your table.
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Next line, poetry is for, who is it for?
Is it for the bells?
Is it for the fields?
Is it for the fighters?
Who do you think poetry is for?
Write it.
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And as you keep writing,
your next line is I live for.
What do you live for or who do you live for?
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All right, next line
and this is gonna be a little repetition,
kinda repeating the start of the line for emphasis.
I live for those who struggle for.
Those who struggle for freedom?
Those who struggle for another world?
Those who struggle for joy?
Those who struggle for games?
Whatever it is, who do you fight alongside?
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And now to finish it off,
I want you to add any last image that's in your brain,
any one more thing from one of your objects
before writing the poetry of everyone
so that your poem is gonna end
the way that Roque Dalton's poem ended.
(upbeat music)
Okay, we did it, you did it.
You did a free write, you did a form of magic,
it's amazing, and I wish I was with you
because I would definitely be asking you to share with me
but only if you wanted to.
And right now I'd suggest that you go and share this
with whoever you're around
or call someone on the phone,
share with them this poem that you just wrote.
And in that spirit,
I'd like to share my poem with you if that's okay.
If it's not okay, you can always turn the video off,
you make the rules.
Like you, I love love, life,
the sweet smell of a slightly burnt toast.
I laugh like the wild flop of a mermaid I once met.
I believe the world is whole, just whole.
I believe poetry is like a smooth stone in my palm.
Poetry is for creatures,
I live for the memories of mothers,
I live for those who struggle for our true names,
the poetry of everyone.
Thank you so much for writing with me.
Again, my name is Shelby and I'm just really grateful
that you're out there somewhere loving, laughing,
believing, writing, it's a really brave thing to do
and I'm sending my magic to you wherever you are,
have a great day.
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