Thinking Out Loud Thursday - Word Weapons

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  Thanks for joining me and Vanessa at X-tremely V for this week's linkup.  

Has everyone recovered from losing an hour on Sunday?  Amazing what taking that one hour out of our lives can do to your schedule.  I feel like I've been trying to catch up all week.

I'm excited to share my post with you today.  My best friend, Linda, is a instructional coach and teaches middle school in the Kansas City area.  Someday we're going to write a book together (she's going to do all most of the writing and I'm going to offer moral support) -- but that a post for another day.  

Today I want to share a poem she wrote to her students.  She did a poetry unit in her class, and at the end of the unit, every student reads a poem they wrote.  At their poetry reading, bullying and painful experiences many of the students had faced in middle school were the topics of many poems.  Linda wrote this in response to their willingness to share their experiences with each other, and she wanted them to know that there is power in putting your experiences into words, especially if you share them with others.  

Linda's poem is a finalist in her school district's poetry contest.  She'll be reading it at a poetry reading mid-April where she'll find out how it places.  If I were a judge, it would definitely get first place!  Hope you enjoy it and share it with your children.

Without further ado, 

Word Weapons

A Message to My Students

For the students who wrote poems about the actions of bullies,

             the stealthy vipers lurking in spaces no adults venture;

For putting your pain into the spaces between the letters of your edited words;

For braving the smiling mouths which will later hurl sniggering weapons against you;

For sending out tendrils of empathy,

 hoping to cross the social chasm to reach a fellow soul;

Know that your words provide

            Power to the isolated,

            Solace to the desolate,

Hope to the lost,

            Encouragement to the despondent,

And nothing can destroy your words.

by Linda Brock

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

A Handful of Everything
Hodges Podges
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
All Life's Little Adventures
The Deliberate Mom