Letter to a Parent Poetry Activity s1

PONGO TEEN WRITING ACTIVITY

Name:

Date:

INSIDE ME

Activity Instructions: The purpose of this exercise is to express some of the many different feelings you hold inside. Read the poems below, and then complete the writing exercise on the next page.

THE GIRL INSIDE

by Judy

I am a happy girl jumping up and down

I am somebody who doesn’t eat any of her vegetables

I am lightning and thunder

I am an empty room

I am a whole bunch of kids throwing rocks at another kid

I am a parent holding her baby for the first time

I am a contorted face that only sees red and black

I am the ugliest wallpaper in the prettiest house

I am the most interesting book cover

I am a girl teasing a guy

I am somebody crying with her face all red and bunched up

I am the girl that doesn’t show her feelings on the outside

INSIDE ME

by Edgar

Inside me you will find someone who is relentless and not afraid of a fight.

Inside me you will find a person who makes dumb decisions but who is also smart—like the time a guy swung on me and I pulled a pistol on him when I could have walked away.

Inside me you will find a person who doesn’t care what you think.

Inside me you will find a father who loves his son.

Inside me you will find a person who doesn’t always trust you.

Inside me you will find a person you can’t always trust.

Inside me you will find a person who wants to go to college.

Inside me you will find a person who wants to build things.

Inside me you will find a caring and thoughtful person who thinks his mother is the most important person out of the 6.5 billion people on the planet.

Inside of me you will find a person who wants his mother to trust him.

Inside Me, continued.

Fill in the blanks in the poem below. Use the words suggested or choose your own words to communicate your thoughts as clearly and powerfully as you can. Feel free to add lines of your own, to remove lines, or to change words to fit your purpose.

INSIDE ME

Inside me you will find someone who dreams of

______

(of being loved and respected, of butterflies drying their wings in the morning, ???)

Inside me you will find someone who is like a lonely star because

______ (I’m cold without the ones who love me, it takes a long time for my light to reach you, ??)

Inside me you will find someone who is like a winter storm when

______

(I see injustice, I need to protect my little sister, ???)

Inside me you will find someone who is burning to show you

______

(that I am that father and that son, that I can change if you just believe in me,???)

Inside me you will find someone who is like a ______

Inside me you will find someone who is determined to

______