I am honored that Mr. T. asked me to be a guest blogger this week. I have gone back and read through your site and I am thrilled to see such wonderful and insightful posts from MCHS students. Reading this blog makes me excited to be a teacher and encourages me to continue moving forward in this profession. After many years of teaching, it is great to still say this.
I will be posting a couple of poems that I have written. I have a confession; I am a closet writer. When I was much younger (before computers) I used to keep a hand written journal and write when the world seemed too much for me to handle. It allowed me to sort out my ideas and realize that life is not so bad and that I could find solutions to even the worst problems. Most of this writing is gone, but the few pieces that I have kept bring up great emotions when I find them. After taking a poetry class, I began to journal less and write free verse more. I feel as though it is easier to bring emotion into my writing by using fewer words. In my opinion, good writing entices emotions.
These two poems are on the same theme, hanging wet clothes on a line to dry, something you probably have never experienced. I was raised by parents who were children during the Great Depression. No one wasted anything in our home and this philosophy was even more pronounced in my grandparents’ homes. As a girl, I hated hanging clothes but as an adult I started hanging clothes for the same reason my mother did – it saves money. The sun and the air are free; electricity is not! At this point in my life, hanging clothes is less about the savings and more about my feelings.
I hope you do things in your life that bring you joy, not because you have to, not because you are told to, not because it brings joy to others, but because it brings joy to you. Remember, even the mundane and simple can bring joy and a life without joy is not much of a life. I do hope you feel my joy when reading these poems.
Guest Writer: Ms. K.
Hanging Clothes
No one hangs clothes anymore.
It takes too long.
It is not esthetically pleasing in the back yard.
It makes the jeans too stiff.
I hang clothes.
I find joy
in watching my children play in the sandbox
while their little socks dance in the breeze.
I find joy
in slowing down
and smelling the spring earth.
I find joy
in feeling the outside around me
when I fall asleep.
I find joy
in hanging clothes
Clothes on the Line
Socks and Underwear on one Line.
Towels on the Next.
Sheets on the Third.
Jeans on the Fourth.
Clothes on the Line.
Order out of Chaos.
Ms. K, I love these! I could definitely get a mental image from the poems. (:
ReplyDeleteYes! I never thought of clothes on a line like this before.. the way they can bring you closer to your own kids and connect you back with your mom.
DeleteSo do I. It portrays a mental image that's something different for everyone :)
DeleteYour poems are very personal to you and your own experiences, and that's what's great. I know a lot of times if I write something I find that only I understand the real meaning. But that's what's supposed to be like. Writing might be the only one thing somebody has that they do for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI know right?
DeleteI could probably never write something like this because I've never done anything like this, or seen it. In fact it's never crossed my mind, but it crossed Mrs. K's, and I'm glad she wrote it.
I love these poems. They seem quite simple upon first glance, and then get more and more layered with every glance of the eyes.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do some things that I enjoy very much (playing guitar, drawing in charcoal, writing), I don't do them BECAUSE I enjoy them myself. No, I do them because most of the time, other people enjoy it quite a bit. And other people's joy brings me more joy than I could receive alone. I believe that the world can be changed one good deed at a time.
To go along with this belief, I shall include my family. My mother, jsut today, in fact, bought a ticket for the $540 Million Lottery. She knew her chances of winning were about the size of herself compared to all of Asia. But she bought that ticket for this reason: She will get all our family financially stable, and then use the rest of the money to help people who are really in need, such as a man who has been saving money and working all his life, and just got laid off his job; or the woman who has four kids and no husband, no job, and no way of knowing how in Heck she'll feed her kids another day.
These are the things my mother finds joy in- seeing other people smile and mean it. This has been passed on to me; I crave helping people out. That is my joy. That is my passion. And if I can do that with my own talents, like drawing, or playing my guitar in front of thousands or millions of people, then what would stop me from helping out the world?
That would bring me joy.
i agree that whwen you see the other joy people get from something you do, it brings more joy that you can ever get from just yourself. Thats part of the reason I do St. Baldricks. The first year I did it, I met so many people affected by cancer and they were so overjoyed that a young girl would shave her head for cancer. The smiles and joy I saw from them made me feel soo good about myself.This year, while raising money, I met a mom who told me how amazing I was for doin St. Baldricks. She told me how her daughter just passed away from cancer 2 weeks prior. THAT is the reason I do st. baldricks. For all the people who have lost somebody to children cancer. That joy I felt the first year was amazing and I hope to feel that same feeling tonight(:
DeleteHer poems show that you can find happiness in the simple things go on during your everyday life!! It's an amazing thing.
DeleteI.
ReplyDeleteLOVE.
THESE.
And I hardly know you.
That's just how awesome they are! So simple and yet somehow full of emotion that tries to hide itself in your "lines of words." Simply amazing. Short poetry always stuns me because I find that I have to draaaaag stuff out and take the long way to get to the point, which can be good, but is very tedious. Stuff like this is just mind blowing for me at times. Thank you.
I agree! I feel short poems almost convey a sense of urgency in the tone. I like the way short poems leave more control to the reader as far as interpretation. Not saying that long poems aren't as great, but I'm sort of a lazy reader at times. :)
DeleteI feel the same way about short poems, Krystal. Short poems are to the point, but also make you feel more in control of what may happen next. It is open to interpretation, and the reader knows that and feels better. At least, that is what I think when I read a shorter poem....
DeleteI love how your poems are personal, but I can also relate indirectly. I feel like hanging clothes on a line can be a metaphor for life itself. You have to do one thing at a time and if it is not done well you have the option to re-do it; as well in hanging clothes. Once one item is hung it's on to the next. Once they are all hung you have to patiently wait until they are dry. This can be a very tedious task I imagine the same with life. (I was born in the age of the express wash and dry buttons). I also imagine there is a sense of relief when the clothes are dry and ready to be taken off of the line. I feel that with anything you do in life if you do it right and take your time something good can come out of it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, it's like a faded bond you can feel but cant see. (Between your personal experiences and the poems that is)
DeleteI really enjoyed your peoms. They were quite universal and I could picture each and every line in my head. Your poems created a mental image of the calmness you felt while writing these. I really enjoyed them(:
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way. It's a great thing to read if you're looking to calm yourself after a long and difficult day.
Deletei loved your story of being a closet writer a lot because the same thing happens with me! whenever i write something for school, i never let my mom see it. but when she does, she always tells me how amazing my writing is but i never believe her because she is my mom and she is supposed to say that so i never really show people my writing just like you!:)
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way haha. And also my mom doesn't care.
DeleteI love those poems, and they really speak about you Ms. K.
ReplyDeleteIncredible! You truly captured the image of.. well.. yourself! I'm astonished and had no clue that you wrote so instinctively
ReplyDeleteHonestly, at first I had no idea what to think of this. It came off as a very laid out topic. I can relate because I also used to hang clothes with my grandma when I was little. It was a way we were able to bond and it helped to develop the close and unbreakable bond that we now have. I think the way it was written was great.
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that you took something so simple like hanging up clothes and having it be your insperation for something that can be shared with hundreds of people. Its an amazing thing that we as writers can do daily.
ReplyDeleteI was the same. I didn't tell my mom I was writing until last year ecause I'm so self-concious about it. I love how it's so simple, but everyone can have a different interpretation about it.
ReplyDelete