Spontaneous Poem!

As Elaine's class was finishing their crayon resist watercolor paintings, Noah made a comment that began a group poem that just happened. I wrote it down as it evolved. For the crayon resist technique, the students planned their compositions by drawing softly with a crayon, and then worked to press hard with the crayons to create lines, textures, patterns, and shapes. The next week they went over the crayon with watercolor.

Poem

When we finish a painting
it feels like a baby is born,

like a flower is blooming,

like a monkey
who found out how to crack a nut.

It feels like a dolphin
that has come out of the water,

like a bird that has just taken flight,

like a tree that just lost a leaf.

When we finish a painting
it feels like a butterfly
sucking nectar from a violet,

or coming out of a chrysalis,

or a baby bird who just ate its first worm.

Sometimes it doesn't feel like anything.

When we finish a painting
it feels like a caterpillar
coming out of an egg,

like a water drop
that has just touched the ground,

like you just found a treasure.

It feels like I'm exhausted.

When we finish a painting
it feels like getting new origami paper,

like you have just one more idea to fit in there,

like you have just finished a masterpiece
and you're proud of it.

It feels like there's air around you.

You feel like a real artist.