What Are We Making?

During the fourth week of the writing marathon intended to inspire both with my first year writing students and the Just Write virtual writing group, we focused on the values that we hope America will embrace. Just as we did in our earlier sessions, see Writing Our Way Into The Journey and Exploring Our Humanity and What Is Our Story, we opened with a grounding prompt: I am a writer from…

As my students were going to draft their own American Creeds that week, I chose three poems to provide inspiration for our writing marathon sessions:

I know my own writing was particularly inspired by these excerpts:

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,

others by first do no harm or take no more

than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

  • Praise Song for the Day by Elizabeth Alexander
  • Which left me afraid for the small creature,

    to run around all exposed that way, to have

    to live its entire life requiring something else
    to feel safe.

  • Something You Should Know by Clint Smith
  • Can one then separate the dust? 

    Will mankind lie apart, 

    When life has settled back again 

    The same as from the start?

  • Common Dust by Georgia Douglas Johnson
  • What do you believe we are making as Americans? What do you wish we valued?

    Educators: See Crafting Our American Creeds and 3 Reasons To Teach With American Creed.

    Image by Peggy Dyar from Pixabay