On this last day of April, Sarah over at Ethical ELA has invited us to claim the title writer or poet modeled on the poetry collection I Sing: The Body edited by René Saldaña, Jr. The collection of poems thread struggle and celebration within what we are told and what we believe about ourselves. The poems uncover memory and anger and hope. I decided to explore the identity of writer in today’s poem.

I Sing: Writer

As a child I played with words

tossing them

bouncing them against each other

sharing them

experimenting without fear

I learned later

words could be weapons

sharpened to aim

or twisted back

piercing the heart

silencing the tongue

Today I wield my words

with care

gently guiding them

squeezing them together

splaying them wide

freeing them to find their own rhythm

testing both friction

and

space

redefining myself

as I write

@kd0602