Found Poetry
Ever since I started my career 14 years ago--and even before that--I've been teaching my students how to write found poems from the words of elders in a local nursing home. The literally thousands of poems we've collected since the project began in 2000 range from the hilarious to the mundane to the profound.
This week I've been visiting my students about midway through the project to check in on how they're interacting with the elders, and to get to know the elders themselves, several of whom are new to the project this year. I wish I could do it more often.
I talked to a 100 year old woman about what it's like to turn 100 the day after her birthday, listened to two old-timers argue about why a certain woman had left her husband some 40 years earlier, described changes on campus to a woman who had worked as a secretary for 40 years--and the list goes on.
Today, one of the men I was meeting for the first time said the most profound thing. He looked me in the eye and said, "What do you think about life? Is it all destiny? Is there really anything in our control?" He went on to create a metaphor I no longer remember--thank goodness my students will get it recorded--but I felt stunned by his words.
Of course, there are many things we control, and our decisions have impacts on our lives, impacts we can't always predict.
This week I've had more social time than I have in a long time. I had two former students--now married with a daughter and another on the way--over for supper. They had just gotten a job in my college town as professors and will be moving back next year. Of course, this makes me feel old. But it also makes me feel incredibly grateful--I will be gaining new/old friends next year.
And, two old friends who moved away nine years ago came back to visit for one of their father's funerals. We got to talking about old times, times when we were less busy and got together more often. I felt blessed to see them again, despite the circumstances.
I think about how random it is that I met these friends, that I ended up living here at all, that T and I met, that S and I became mother and daughter. So much in my life that I never expected--so many blessings.
"Ya just never know," the elderly man said. "Ya just never know what life's gonna bring you."
This week I've been visiting my students about midway through the project to check in on how they're interacting with the elders, and to get to know the elders themselves, several of whom are new to the project this year. I wish I could do it more often.
I talked to a 100 year old woman about what it's like to turn 100 the day after her birthday, listened to two old-timers argue about why a certain woman had left her husband some 40 years earlier, described changes on campus to a woman who had worked as a secretary for 40 years--and the list goes on.
Today, one of the men I was meeting for the first time said the most profound thing. He looked me in the eye and said, "What do you think about life? Is it all destiny? Is there really anything in our control?" He went on to create a metaphor I no longer remember--thank goodness my students will get it recorded--but I felt stunned by his words.
Of course, there are many things we control, and our decisions have impacts on our lives, impacts we can't always predict.
This week I've had more social time than I have in a long time. I had two former students--now married with a daughter and another on the way--over for supper. They had just gotten a job in my college town as professors and will be moving back next year. Of course, this makes me feel old. But it also makes me feel incredibly grateful--I will be gaining new/old friends next year.
And, two old friends who moved away nine years ago came back to visit for one of their father's funerals. We got to talking about old times, times when we were less busy and got together more often. I felt blessed to see them again, despite the circumstances.
I think about how random it is that I met these friends, that I ended up living here at all, that T and I met, that S and I became mother and daughter. So much in my life that I never expected--so many blessings.
"Ya just never know," the elderly man said. "Ya just never know what life's gonna bring you."
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