An Unnecessary Boundary
by Amy LV
Students - This poem is about long car trips and it is about making lines and it is about being sorry and it is about admitting mistakes. Have you ever done anything that you've later regretted? I sure have.
Sometimes writing ideas arise inside of us from the past and they mix up with ideas we are thinking about in the present. Today's poem is one of those. I played around with the words for quite a while in my notebook, moving around line breaks, listening for sounds that wanted to come forward.
Do this. Read your words out loud. And don't be afraid to admit if you make a mistake. We all do. Poems are a free and open field for talking about mistakes.
Poems forgive.
Carol is hosting today's Poetry Friday roundup over at Beyond Literacy Link. Please visit her place to learn about what's happening poetry-wise all around the Kidlitosphere this week.
Please share a comment below if you wish.
Oh, the memories this poem pokes at! So many memories of the backseat with my sister. And, what I love about this poem is that though it's clearly for children....we adults can ponder a greater meaning for our community, our nation and our world. Bravo Amy, Bravo! Have a great week. I love visiting the Poem Farm.
ReplyDeleteOh long car trips, before the days of in-van dvd players. Before iPods and kindles. Bench seats on vinyl in summer, when the sun would superheat the car. Endless looping around mountains in WV. Or when we finally reached the great lakes, and they just looked the same, despite their different names. Ontario. Erie, Michigan, Superior. Vast, endless and blue. You've taken me down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteI remember these long trips and the Wall. It is never a permanent as we think. Isolation is never the answer. This is a profound poem for our day, Mi amiga!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful lesson. "Poems forgive."
ReplyDeleteI love the ending of the poem, Amy. My expectation was that the tape, when pulled off, was going to leave a sticky mess in the car (with two younger brothers and many family car trips in my past, you can imagine why I thought that!) This is a sweet resolution.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah. I remember doing that and then undoing that. We used the line down the middle of the cushion.
ReplyDeleteI imagine many will connect to this, Amy. My brother is 7 years younger, so really there were few arguments. I probably paid less attention to him than he would have liked, but your tape shows how it can be. Hopefully, others see that being alone is not so good either.
ReplyDeleteMy husband's family loves to tell stories about their road trips years ago driving down from Canada to Disney Land with two boys in the back seat of a small car...I think a tape wall might have actually been a blessing during those long trips! ;-)
ReplyDeleteAmy, your poem is not only one of boundaries for children but has bigger implications for adults. There's hope in your poem as siblings come together in a peaceful territory. Thanks for sharing your gentle voice. I also think Xenophobia is one for the times.
ReplyDeleteYour poem brings back memories of long hours in the car with my brother. I'm sure our parents sometimes wished for tape to put down the middle. I love the thought that poems forgive.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up, my older sister and I shared a huge bedroom. We had an imaginary line down the middle of the room with my side and her side. We lived with this "wall" for many, many years. Thanks for digging out that memory!
ReplyDeleteLike others, this poem brought back memories. I also love your reminder about mistakes in writing.
ReplyDeleteIt seems the long car trips of others are as memorable as mine! Is it because our senses were heightened by confinement and a lack of options? I love the message of your poem, of course, but it is entirely unrealistic. My brother would never have respected that boundary for even one minute, let alone hours!
ReplyDeleteNow kids watch movies built into the seatbacks--each their own--and don't crayon signs like "Honk if you're a goose" (one of our favorites).
Thanks for sending out the continuous flow of peace and love messages!
Oh, and *Tillie and the Wall.*
ReplyDeleteThis poem is really about me and my brother, right? No, it's about that dang wall for Mexico. I know it's really about the walls we put up between ourselves and others. Gotta love poetry!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful on the surface, and also beautiful for everything unsaid that resonates below the surface.
ReplyDeleteNo more tape lines, indeed.
Lovely poem, Amy! I bet my parents wish they had thought of this tactic. They tried everything else! :) My youngest brother only understood time in terms of the length of his favorite show so it was always, "How many lassies" till we get there?
ReplyDeleteYes, thank goodness poems forgive. "Alone was not as perfect as I thought it would be," a truth I have faced in my life for sure. Thank you, Amy. This is a great message to keep in mind as we write. Hugs to you, Amy!
ReplyDeleteNo wonder I like poems--they forgive!
ReplyDeleteThis poem was so real! Loved it!