Healing

For this fifth and final day of the  November 5 Day OpenWrite with Dr. Sarah J. Donovan's Ethical ELA, the inspiration was "heal."  I decided to write to this additional inspiration that was offered - 

As an alternative and in the spirit of naming harm and cultivating healing, I invite you and your students to spend some time before Thanksgiving break disrupting the myths of the first Thanksgiving.

Furthermore, Dr. Donovan suggested we consider writing with the poetic form we didn't use yesterday... therefore I wrote a diamante poem (specifically, an "antonym diamante")- my first ever:

hurting

Indigenous, American

terrorizing, displacing, racializing 

disease, abuse, transparency, justice

examining, rethinking, transforming

acknowledgeable, thorough

healing

My goodness - this has been a fabulous five days, with so much reflection and deep writing. I have really enjoyed this poetic interlude!

Here are the comments I received on the Ethical ELA website for today's poem:

Sharon B.

I love this, Maureen. A very straightforward description of the direction our country needs to go in. I read this morning that Biden is considering appointing Deb Haarland, a native American, as Secretary of the Interior. I hope we see positive changes like this…

Sarah J. Donovan, PhD

Maureen, I deeply appreciate your presence here and your trust in this space to share your poetry and heart these past few days. This poem is so striking its form and economy of word — the diamante really gets us thinking about speech parts and word order, right? I am hovering over the word “acknowledgeable” — it is staying with me for all the syllables, unpacking them.

Peace,
Sarah 

Glenda M. Funk Maureen,
I just started reading Eric Gansworth’s memoir “Apple: Skin to the Core” yesterday, and your poem mirrors so much of his story. The words that capture our history Best are “terrorizing, displacing, racializing.” I really struggle w/ the holiday traditions and need to revisit that NYT article about why NAs celebrate Thanksgiving.

Jordy B Maureen, I agree with your beginning statement of how much healing has occurred in its own way throughout these past 5 days. I agree with the direction you are seeking our nation to go. Beautifully worded!

Anna Roseboro From hurting to healing, with chosen words that show feeling that sends us kneeling in thanks for Thanksgiving.
We have time to thanks each contributors for speaking truth in love!

Savannah Blue Gordon Maureen, I like that you centered the experience of Indigenous Americans first before talking about how to go about healing. The first step in healing is witnessing, listening, and acknowledging what has caused harm. Thank you for your honesty and hope.