I was so kindly invited to join the 5th Annual February Daily Poem Project, an event started by Laura Shovan, a fabulous poet, fellow Sweet Sixteener, and friend. This year, the group of poets (that is growing daily!) takes turns pulling 10 words from an article, and then we each incorporate those words into a poem. We can alter the form of the words if creativity begs for it, and we can opt to leave one or more words out. However, we strive for complete inclusion of the chosen words or sometimes, phrases.
Today, I'm sharing my poem from February 2 pulled from this NPR article.
The 10 words used are:
worldview
help
shareholders
safer
protections
dishonest
media
replace
business
Messiah
SUSPENSION
She was a quiet one, would simply
bite her tongue when, on
occasion,
they made notice and poked
fun
at her old clothes, her
crookedly cut hair,
her frequent lack of hygienic
care.
She’d heard of Dylan
Klebold,
Adam Lanza. She knew
of James Holmes’s movie
theater spree. All these,
media lore.
And so she bore a plan,
though not
Messiah-driven,
just a simple shake to
be given
to those elite shareholders
of the
school’s worldview.
She drew.
A Sharpie in an empty
hall,
she started with Colleen
Kluer
hidden in a bathroom
stall, and upon
her locker, she sketched
the tale,
the events that went beyond
the flush,
the shady business made
-- ten pills
for Colleen’s monetary
trade.
Then on Jordan Stanveer’s
desk,
her hand drawn down
Brent Wickhab’s pants,
as our quiet girl had stumbled
on it,
just by chance, though everyone
clearly knows, Brent is
Kallie Harlow’s.
That afternoon on into
night, she hid in shadows,
struck with might, drew those
indiscretions,
thought safe and secret,
she took
protections and she
twisted,
because, though quiet,
she still existed,
a witness to dishonest
acts – their truth
her power for all she’d
been through.
And when they dragged
her from the school,
set to book and to fine
her, she smiled,
knowing this would now define her. She
waved to onlookers, some
who cheered
for they had also been harassed
and jeered.
And now our girl is myth,
she’s lore,
her lesson forever drawn
to clear;
it is the quiet ones who
rise, who dare,
lest you forget they’re
even there.
Graphic source: http://onepenaday.blogspot.com/2013/06/pen-02-sharpie-magnum.html
