By Claudia Ricci
Because of the hurricane, teaching plans at the University had to be rearranged. At the suggestion of my dear friend and colleague (and fabulous poet, Nancy Dunlop), I had the students read Charles Bukowski's famous poem, "Bluebird" -- and then we wrote our own versions. Several students read their poems out loud. Here is the one I wrote.
There's a bluebird in my heart that feels like she's dying, and I want to revive her. WRITE now.
There's a bluebird in my heart that's more alive every time I've got this pen in my hand.
There's a bluebird in my heart and I've heard her singing the sweetest melodies, and it isn't easy to play them on my guitar but I am motivated to try.
There's a bluebird in my heart and if I listen very closely, I can hear her heart starting to beat,
thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum,
thrum, thrum, thrum, thrum
There's a bluebird in my heart and she's looking so much more chipper that I've decided to give her something to eat, for starters just a few seeds...
There's a bluebird in my heart and now I realize that I need to feed this bluebird every single day, no matter what
There's a bluebird in my heart but the world is such a scary place she's not sure she can face it
There's a bluebird in my heart and I've got to keep telling her to have the courage to just sit there and sing as loud as she wants to
There's a bluebird in my heart and she's starting to teach me new songs
There's a bluebird in my heart and when I'm listening to her sing I feel like I could write the longest poem in the world, one that would just keep on going, even when the two of us are asleep
There's a bluebird in my heart and when I am writing down her lyrics I have no fear and I know that the world will laugh and applaud even if they never hear our words
There's a bluebird in my heart and now she's even teaching me to fly!
There's a bluebird in my heart and she's showing me that I always have a place here, writing, and that I even have the courage to start carrying my words on my wings.
(Stay tuned for more Bluebird poems, as soon as my students email them to me.)
No comments:
Post a Comment