{"id":732,"date":"2012-08-07T13:05:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T21:05:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=732"},"modified":"2012-08-07T20:40:51","modified_gmt":"2012-08-08T04:40:51","slug":"student-poem-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kathleenflenniken.com\/blog\/?p=732","title":{"rendered":"Student Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s poem is by Rose, age 16, who participated in the Pongo Teen Writing Project<\/a> in the King County Juvenile Detention system. Her poem is featured in There Had to Have Been Someone,<\/a>\u00a0one of 13 print poetry anthologies that Pongo has published over the past 17 years. Please watch a short video by John Sharify,\u00a0Poetry flows from teens behind bars<\/a>, featured on KING5 News yesterday, for more information about Pongo’s important work with distressed youth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ice Cream Man<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know
\nthat sometimes I\u2019m afraid of you.
\nI don\u2019t mind you rep\u2019ing the gangs,
\nbut sometimes when I look into your eyes,
\nI see violence against me,
\nI see violence against your grandma,
\nand it hurts me inside.<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know,
\nI want to work in here someday,
\nhelping kids that went through what I went through,
\nhelp them understand why I ran away from home,
\nbecause my parents beat me,
\nbecause the stress in my life
\nmade me do something stupid.
\nI was the girl who stopped going to school,
\nI was the girl who stopped listening to her parents,
\nwho started drinking and smoking.<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know
\nthat one side of me wants to be with you
\nand one side of me does not,
\nand the side that does not is confused,
\nfeels like a lost sheep.<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know,
\nI see myself with a happy family
\nin a park, Oakland, CA, eating barbequed lamb
\nnext to the swimming pool while dads play tennis
\nand moms talk and serve food
\nand all the Tongan people speak to the ice cream man.<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know
\nI\u2019m tired of seeing what people do on the streets,
\nand I\u2019m tired of being part of it.<\/p>\n

I just thought you should know,
\nI want to say hello again to the ice cream man.<\/p>\n

—
\nDedicated to Z<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Ice Cream Man” previously appeared in There Had to Have Been Someone,<\/em> <\/a>2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rose, age 16, wrote “Ice Cream Man” with the Pongo Teen Writing Project,\u00a0<\/a>which\u00a0teaches and mentors personal poetry by distressed teens all over King County, especially those who have a hard time expressing themselves. Pongo is the brainchild of poet Richard Gold, <\/a>who has worked tirelessly to create, maintain, and promote this program that helps \u00a0youth understand their feelings, build self-esteem, and take better control of their lives. Pongo’s trained volunteers establish writing projects inside juvenile detention centers, psychiatric hospitals, and other sites. \u00a0The Pongo web site<\/a>\u00a0provides writing opportunities and invites youth to write poetry on the web site. \u00a0They also happily share resources and teaching methods with counselors and teachers, all for free.\u00a0The program was featured on KING5 News<\/a> in Seattle yesterday.<\/p>\n