She’s the First Poetry Month 2012 Submission!

             Students were asked to write a poem answering the question: 

           If the World Was Your Classroom, What Would you teach a girl?

                                                        ——

I would teach you to enjoy the silence. 

It’s happy silence, heavy and wrapping.

Breathe in the turbulence of the world and

Release it to the wind, filling the hungry lungs of women just like you.

Women in Vanuatu, and Bhutan, and Arkansas.

I would teach you to be kind,

For every woman is gripped by the struggle.

A face dusty and haggard has its own elegance and beauty.

Understand the wrinkles in a woman’s brow, 

Even if you do not understand where they were born from,

Because they go down all seven layers.

I would teach you, finally, to teach yourself.

Weave curiosity and eccentricity into your life.

Find the gems in the fields that have long

Since been plucked of glittery rewards.

Carve your own paths into the mountains

That aren’t yet leathery and traveled.

Remember this, for eternal learning makes one eternally young.          

-Katherine, High School Student                                                

——

This poem was submitted to the She’s the First Anthology via Zinch.com! Those who enter on Zinch.com are entered to win a $500 scholarship! Chegg for Good is MATCHING that with a $500 scholarship for Jancy, a student we sponsor at Shanti Bhavan!