Hidden Power

from Nikki Grimes's Ordinary Hazards:

"You know," she said, eyes firmly fixed
on the six o'clock news,
"Writers are a dime a dozen."
And just like that--bam!--
she slammed my heart
in the door of her words.

Sitting in the wooden desk in the front row right by the window, I listen as Mrs. Morgan, my English I teacher, explains that she is trying something new.  She had gone to a training and wants to see how we respond to an activity she learned there.  Leaning against the wall, just below the blackboard, is a large framed picture.  We cannot see the front since it is facing the wall.  Mrs. Morgan is asking us to take out some notebook paper, explaining we will have the entire class period to write.  She says we can write whatever we want, using the framed picture for inspiration.  Writing like this is a new technique she learned at the training.  She turns the picture around.

A typical framed picture that most people during this Spring of 1983 hang over the back of their sofa leans against the wall.  It is a country scene with a red barn on the left and green, rolling hills and large shade trees.  Was there a boy?  My memory is unclear about the boy, but I will forever remember what I wrote.  Studying the picture, a story develops in my mind.  I begin writing.  I am describing the scene, the adventure ahead, even the concerns of the day, but once I get to a certain point, I reveal to the reader that the barn is telling the story.  It is from the barn's perspective.  The bell rings so I hand Mrs. Morgan my writing and go to my next class.

Sometime in the next week, Mrs. Morgan gives the class some overall feedback on what she had gleaned from our writing.  Then, she asks me if she has my permission to keep my writing.  She loves how I used a creative perspective and wants to use it with future classes.  My heart swells!  I am validated as a writer.  

For the first time, I had written and received praise for writing from a trusted person, someone I admired.  Almost forty years have passed, but when I read Nikki Grimes's poem this morning, that moment in Mrs. Morgan's class is as fresh in my mind as if it happened just yesterday.

As I sit here in my recliner, writing for the 21st day of the Slice of Life writing challenge, I know that Mrs. Morgan could have easily crushed our spirits, expecting perfection with punctuation, verb tense, capitalization, spelling, everything.  I have that power as an LA teacher.  But not only do we as teachers have that power, many others do as well:  parents, friends.  A kind word goes a long way!  Building people--writers--up!  Who will you affect today?