Haiku slam!

Nikola did her first public poetry reading tonight. Robert Parks is one of the teaching assistants in the school. He’s been very helpful for Nikola, supervising her daily temperature checks and tutoring the students in math. He also gives music lessons. From time to time, he has hosted performance nights for the West Woodland kids at Egan’s Ballard Jam House. It is an intimate venue, with maybe a dozen small tables around the stage. The kids mostly play guitar, violin, piano, or sing. Because he has worked with Nikola a lot, he suggested that she come to read some of her poetry aloud. She is particularly enjoying haiku, finding just the right combination of words to fit the 5-7-5 syllabic structure.

This is the first time that anyone has turned it into a poetry slam. One of the other kids did a bit of stand-up comedy (well, what passes for 4th grade stand-up comedy). Nikola was particularly taken with his act. She was almost starry eyed. When it was her turn, she strode up to the mic and started right in. She used her notebook for reference, but she actually projected more than we thought she would. It was well received. In the video, you can see me sitting in the back at the piano. Since piano lessons have been going along swimmingly, Nikola wanted to conclude her session with us playing a duet of “Silent Night”. The key action on the piano was quite different than I was used to and I actually lost track of where we were. Nikola recognized this and stopped. “Let’s take it from this part,” she said calmly. And we picked up and finished together. We’re so proud of her!

Snow

Like powdered sugar,
Time for lots of fun outside.
Falling everywhere!

Woods

Full of animals.
Beautiful smells in summer.
Running rivers flow.

Water

Shimmering turquoise
Rushing in quickly towards you
Full of sea creatures

Bunny

A white furry ball
Perfect for cuddling with
Bounding everywhere.

Eagle

Swift on silent wings
Ruffeled [sic] feathers feel the wind
Keeping watch for prey.

Books

Go on adventures
Full of mythical creatures,
Magic all around.

Christmas

Opening presents
Time to be with each other!
Joyful everywhere!

Drawing

Anything you want
Loops and squiggle, curves and lines
Let your hand be free

Rain

Plip plop, drip drop drenched
In tears of crying clouds.
Sunlight piercing my drops to
Make a rainbow.