Inspiration

Yesterday I biked home from work as fast as possible, rushed into the kitchen, warmed up some leftovers as Eli and Theo ran pellmell up and down the stairs. I was quickly washing up the dishes as Jon and Theo sprinted down to his soccer game. Minutes later Eli and I jumped into the car to go watch. Yes, we drove, even though the fields are 4 blocks from our house. But the game was from 6 to 7, and I had to be back at my school by 7 to watch and grade some senior presentations. So the driving would win me an extra 5 minutes at Theo's game on this hectic night.

Eli was given the choice to stay at the game, be dropped at home, or join me for the presenations. Lucky for me, he chose to be my date for the evening. We got to my school too late to listen to the young man who had converted his car from gas to run on used vegetable oil. I have heard him say that he now has a constant aura of fried chicken about him, since he gets his oil free from a greasy little place down the street from school. We got there just in time to hear one of our National Merit Finalists present about his year-long writing project. I thought this was perfect for Eli, since he spends so much of his time writing himself. He listened intently as Lee described how the year had gone, detailing his 'failures' and what he learned from them, chuckling a little when Lee read his ode to Costco, smirking at the mock-angry letter to the fellow student who cut Lee's piece from a lunch-time poetry reading. Lee then read a little fictional piece that was actually more of a performance than a reading. By the end, when Lee had set his paper in flames, Eli was dying of laughter. I do love bringing him somewhere that will induce that all out belly laugh. Eli doesn't usually do extremes, so the fact that he was tearing up a little was quite beautiful to watch- all produced by the efforts of a fabulous young man's high school project.



Then the next student got on stage. This was also a fabulous young man who was going to talk about his poetry. He is passionate and confident, and quite an orator. But the poems are fresh, they need a little more seasoning, a little more aging, a little more time spent soaking up poetry of others. Eli, my sweet fourth-grader, could sense this and was casting me sideways looks. Then came the Q&A, and someone asked the presenter which poet he found most inspirational. The student responded passionately about this poet from Atlanta, whom he had watched read her poems on youtube. About abstinence. Eli immediately shot me a glance and whispered, "Ms. Williams would KILL me if I used youtube as a source!" On the way home he got the giggles in the backseat, thinking about the youtube resource. Then he said, "If someone would have asked me that question, I think I would have said Langston Hughes." The windows were open and I couldn't hear well, but after a moment I realized that he was back there reciting Dreams by Hughes. The kid just loves language and I could hear him repeating the lines to this short poem, turning the words over in his mouth, tasting them, savoring them. Taking quiet pleasure in someone else's art. It was a fabulous way to end a frantic evening, sitting out front in our parked car as Eli finished up reciting another short poem.