Writing With A Fire In My Hands

One of the challenges of writing a story is to be able to zone in on a small moment. And then from there to choose not just a small moment but a meaningful moment.

Writers use mentor texts to gather up ideas and to think about how to take those ideas and turn them into published pieces.

A Fire In My Hands is a collection of poetry written by Gary Soto. His poem Oranges is the most anthologized poem in contemporary literature. How's that for a fun fact?

To get students brainstorming, first show students four images: oranges, a bench, a football, a clock. Model how to make a list of ideas for each of them and give them time to write their own ideas that come to mind. 

Then read Oranges, Some Words About Time, and Manuel and the Football Scrubs and show students how one small moment can be a poem. Ask them to notice what stands out to them and then have them try some of these techniques and craft moves in their own writing. They might even have more ideas for stories to write after reading what Gary Soto wrote about in his poems.

Of course, I tried this myself and suggest you try it too! I decided to use the first few lines of Oranges to get myself started.

The Clock Tower

The first time I saw the Clock Tower

with my friend Mike, I was 18? 19?

We took off driving

rolling down the windows and turning up the music.

College kids with nothing to do, 

meandering through cornfields in my white Suzuki Sidekick.

Eventually we found ourselves in Rockford,

stopping to get gas at a station next to the Clock Tower.

I wrote about this with my 8th graders 

the morning of the attack on the Capitol.

It was January 6th, 2021.

I taught my 7th graders about the Bill of Rights that afternoon.

The next day I thought about how to show up for my students.

How to talk to them about freedom in America. 

How to talk to them about injustice and how to speak out against it.

I decided we'd write and we'd talk

and I'd give them space and hopefully hold them up.

I reminded them to enjoy the moments

to cherish the times

when they can be themselves

hang out with a friend

roll down the windows

turn up the music

go for a drive

through cornfield after cornfield

and end up at the Clock Tower in Rockford. 

Because it's moments like that

two friends

happy and spontaneous

not a care in the world

young and free

that remind us what we are fighting for 

in moments like this.