Scars

Welcome to Verselove, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are gathering every day in April to write– no sign-ups, no fees, no commitments. Come and go as you please. All that we ask is that if you write, you respond to others to mirror to them your readerly experiences — beautiful lines, phrases that resonate, ideas stirred. Enjoy. (Learn more here.)

Our Host: Bryan Ripley Crandall

Bryan Ripley Crandall lives in Stratford, Connecticut, where he directs the Connecticut Writing Project and is Professor of English Education at Fairfield University. He gained his teaching legs at the J. Graham Brown School in Louisville, Kentucky, a K-12 public school with a mission for diversity, inclusivity, and equity, and is a proud teacher-leader inspired by LWP XXI. He co-hosts National Writing Project’s The Write Time. 

Inspiration 

Early in my teaching career I read an article written by Sara Corbett that introduced me to the historical experiences of children uprooted by war in Sudan. The story redirected all I hoped to achieve as an educator, including how I might use the power of words to change the world for the better. Katherine Applegate’s middle-grade verse-novel, Home of the Brave, details the story of Kek, a Sudanese child relocated to the U.S. as a refugee-background  youth.  One of the poems in the book, Scars, details a  remorse felt  for not having a gaar ceremony , the Dinka tradition of scarring a young boy’s forehead as an initiation into adulthood.

You’re lucky, Ganwar says.
Why would you want such scars?
Here they mean nothing.

There they meant everything, I say. (p. 175)

Process

I like to  pair Applegate’s “Scar” with a song by Emmanuel Jal, author of War Child: A Child Soldier’s Story. The  song, “Scars” features Nelly Furtado, and has helped me to get students and teachers  writing for years. The refrain, My scars are what got me this far / And now I can touch the stars / Coz it don’t matter who you are (who you are) / We all got scars allows me to ask others: What scars do you have? Where are they? What stories do they tell?

Directions: Write about a scar, one that may be physical in nature or one that might be more  emotional. To get started, think about these questions: Where did it come from? How did you get it? Who was with you at the time? What is the story that goes with the scar?  What would the scar say about you? etc. I went with a broken finger that never healed right (with a slight illusion to Cat Stevens). 

Same Old Story

Bryan Ripley Crandall

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe.