I remember a loaf of bread that was precious because it was so little. My mother would bring home what they called a Vienna loaf. I remember one particular loaf of bread when we were so hungry. I can still taste it. So poverty does make things precious. It turns everything into jewelry.
Challenge: Writer Frank McCourt remembers what it was like to grow up in poverty in Ireland and the United States. His sharp memory helped him write the bestselling memoir, Angela's Ashes. He used his senses to see deeply, taste deeply, and listen deeply. Doing this, he found many jewels to recall in the midst of this poverty. Poets use their senses to observe carefully and use words to describe what they see, hear, smell, and touch. How can you use your senses to write poems that touch others?
Outcome: Explore an outdoor area. It may be a park, a back alley, a shoreline, or your own backyard or balcony. Concentrate on what you can see, hear, touch, and even taste. Think of words that you could use to describe these observations to others. If possible, use a magnifying glass or jeweler's loupe to look even closer at particular objects. What does this object really look like? What does it remind you of? With a jeweler's loupe a fingerprint can look like a road map. Keep a notebook of your observations including comparisons or analogies that describe this object to others. Pick one object or sense observation and use it to write your own poem.
Project #2: Inner Landscape: Cultural Snapshots
Curriculum Focus: Multicultural Studies
Scott Momaday: I think it takes a lot of resolve. You have to believe in what you're doing, and you have to do it to the best of your ability. That calls for reaching down inside yourself and coming up with resolve, determination. That may be the most important thing, as I think of it. Writing is a way of expressing your spirit. So there's much more to it than the question of material success. You are out to save your soul after all, and be the best thing that you can be in your whole being. In the Plains culture, which is my ancestral culture, and a warrior culture, there were four principles. A warrior had to live by these principles: bravery, fortitude, generosity and virtue. When I learned about those principles, they have been extremely important to me, you know. I would like to live my life according to those four things. I would like to do it in my writing, as well as in my other activities. That's what I believe. I would and do tell students, writing is the expression of your spirit, but you must live by certain ideals, and they must inform not only your writing, but the way in which you have breakfast with your mate, as well.
Challenge: The inner landscape of writer, N.Scott Momaday was formed by his Native American culture. Its warrior principles helped formed what he believed and how he tried to live his life. They also influenced his writing. Think about the culture you live in. Think about the culture your family originated from. What principles have you been taught by your culture or your cultural heritage? How have you been told to live your life? How might you describe these principles to someone else?
Outcome: Create a poem, collage, or drawing that captures the cultural ideas and principles that influence you. How does your culture or cultural heritage (which includes many things such as religion, personal habits, what makes a good person etc.) enrich your inner landscape?
