While scanning 100's of emails, the title caught my eye and of course made me think of high school. Then as I read further, my first thought was on the place where I fell in love with words (around age 5). And so, after a long time of not writing anything, I began to write about kindergarten and the mystery of sounds forming words, the beautiful young teacher who took me into the world of reading and on a journey of love that has never left me. (Caregiving sucks the life out of a person, leaving very little for writing.)
My high school (memorizing stanza after stanza of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and college teachers (learning how to read Chaucer in the original Old English out lout to the class) did such a good job of getting me to hate poetry that I am slowly falling in love now. Julia de Burgos, Claude McKay, Lucille Clifton, Ntzoke Shange, Alice Walker, Martin Espada, Ida Faubert (Haitian), Peggy Robles Alvarado, Amanda Gorman, Carmen Bardaguez Brown. I'm working on it.
While scanning 100's of emails, the title caught my eye and of course made me think of high school. Then as I read further, my first thought was on the place where I fell in love with words (around age 5). And so, after a long time of not writing anything, I began to write about kindergarten and the mystery of sounds forming words, the beautiful young teacher who took me into the world of reading and on a journey of love that has never left me. (Caregiving sucks the life out of a person, leaving very little for writing.)
Thank you for a beautiful respite!
Such a wonderful story! ☺️
My high school (memorizing stanza after stanza of the Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and college teachers (learning how to read Chaucer in the original Old English out lout to the class) did such a good job of getting me to hate poetry that I am slowly falling in love now. Julia de Burgos, Claude McKay, Lucille Clifton, Ntzoke Shange, Alice Walker, Martin Espada, Ida Faubert (Haitian), Peggy Robles Alvarado, Amanda Gorman, Carmen Bardaguez Brown. I'm working on it.
I was similarly traumatized by a big dollop of e.e. cummings in high school! So glad we persisted! xox