Go Beyond the Plot: Example from VEGA kids reading Fahrenheit 451

In this lesson, our goals were to focus on turning more of the reading over to kids as opposed to having them listen to the recording. We also wanted to reduce the cognitive load of reading for plot so that we could really get to how one makes inferences, focuses on how the author develops the character, and how the author uses the plot elements to communicate his theme/message.

Set objective: Tell me what you know about the term "spoiler." Spoiler: on a car - helps you to go faster. That’s what we need to work on in English as well. You need to work on your reading speed so things don’t take you so long to complete. Spoiler: on a movie - someone today is going to have a spoiler about the next section of the chapter. As advanced readers in English classes, we need to be able to read for more than plot, so the activity this morning is going to get you ready to go deeper in understanding the text so you can make inferences, understand what Bradbury is saying about the characters and about life/society. We’re going to read for plot first, then we are going to re-read for meaning.

Model: Read page 107 aloud. Model how to compose the Who/What statement about the plot elements on this page.

Assign students to partners: Partner A creates the document and shares it with Partner B.

Assign students to pages to read aloud. (As you assign page numbers, have them circle, bold, or highlight the pages you have assigned. Otherwise, they won’t remember They read aloud in paris and compose the notes for each page. Partner A reads his section first. Partner B serves as the scribe to record the plot elements. Partner B reads his section section. Partner A serves as the scribe to record the plot elements.

Students meet with other pairs to collect data from other partners. Consider having students line up by page number and then bend the line to gather the plot elements from each group. Then they can shift the line until they have collected data from each page. (Another approach is to have students sit in a circle and go around the group, one at a time, sharing while the pairs add the plot details. We tried this, but there was much less discussion.)

Sample Student Document:

Page

107………...M. About to have his house burnt  B. Knew all along that Montag had books

108……...Mildred raced out the door

109………...B. is fascinated by the fire and burns the house.

110……..Montag begins to burn his home, trying to get rid of his passed.

111 B. And Montag Finish burning the home. Montag is arrested after learning Mildred turned him in.

112…………..Montag burnt his home with a flamethrower, with Mildred still inside. B. tricked Montag into giving up Faber.

113……….Montag then took the flamethrower  and burnt B. alive. Then hit two other firemen on the head with the flamethrower.

114…………..The hound attacked Montag and then injects him. Montag then burns the hound.

115…………Montag leg was burnt while trying to save the books.

116…………..Montag takes books and runs. He thinks B. wants to die and then he does.

117…………….Montag running with books With the city after him. Then Faber gets killed.

118………….Montag is running to Faber’s house because he is worried.

119…………...Montag goes to a gas station to get cleaned up, so he wouldn’t be noticed, then goes to Faber’s home. War is declared

120………..Montag is being chased with a beattle

121………….Still being chased by a beattle

122

123

Discuss: Who has the spoiler? Highlight it.

NOTE: Not all responses will be correct. Remember, students didn’t have all the pieces. Discussion can focus on areas that need to be clarified with rereading or further questioning.

Discuss: Now that you have read for plot, you are ready to go deeper. Let’s re-enter the text to see what we can learn about Bradbury’s craft, characters, or message. As you reread, make sure you revisit the plot elements from each page before. If there are inaccuracies or additions, please fix up those elements as well.

Model: Explain the meaning and deeper inferences that are on page 107. Here are possible things to address:

• Three ring circus - this is a spectacle, going public, dangerous because now the government will have to control and retaliate;
• Beatty realizes that Montag did believe in Clarisse;
• Montag is numb again, he was growing and feeling inside, now he is watching things happen to him again

Students re-enter their text assignments to reread in pairs for meaning and inferences. They discuss their ideas and add key text evidence and inferences using the comment boxes to the side.

Example for Page 107:

Have students complete the section for homework and be prepared to discuss their findings at the beginning of the next period.

Possible additions: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/fluency-norms-chart Discuss fluency norms and setting goals to increase fluency to grade level expectations or above.

Kelsey Ansley

Shona Rose

Create a Model of a Successful Performance

Students need to know what it is that we wish them to accomplish. Sometimes, this means composing a draft before class, writing with them in class, or modeling a process in front of them.

Below is the paper I composed to model how syntax can help communicate the author's purpose and meaning. The revision is in yellow.

Link to Rough Draft Original
Link to the Lesson Sequence  - 4 -6 days of reading and writing instruction

Quicklist:

1. Kathryn and the green rags
2. The time I cussed, self control
3. hooky/church, dread/stop

Theme: What does this anecdote communicate about what I think is important?

Peace is important to me.
Relationships are important to me.


I'm not sure what started it. Doesn't matter. The essence of it was this: two naked, wet and spitting angry 8 year olds slipped and sloshed in the bathtub, smacking and slapping each other with wet washrags. Kathryn, my sister, could roll up the thin cotton terrycloth and snap it against my skin. On the other hand, I only managed a full flat flop of the rag against her back or arm.  Snap! Pop! Sharp shocks! Loud cracks! Her rag was a whip while mine was a soggy saturated wet lasagna noodle flying limp against her arm and sliding harmlessly away. Like a boxer, jab and sting, she peppered my body with red, bloody whelps. Not landing any significant returns, I just became more frustrated. About the time I decided to rush her and slam her to the tile floor, mom slammed open the door. "What. is. going. on!?"

My parents banned me from my best friend. Imprisoned me in solitary confinement. Alone. Bored. Separate. The long summer days waking to take the change from the mason jar, pedaling barefoot to Toot-n-Totum for a Big Gulp and Zero bar before heading to Southwest pool until dusk, finishing with stories and laughter until mom and dad threatened for the last time for us to go to sleep...all gone.

Devastatingly empty. Not worth it. 

When the wardens finally let us out for PT, we made a pact in the corner of the garden. Pinky Promises of blood sisters: We. Will. Never. Fight. Again.

I'm 49. And we haven't. 

Students took markers and underlined every other sentence to examine their own sentence lengths. Then they chose a place in their writing where they thought playing with sentence length might help communicate their message better.

Finally, we had small group sharing of their revisions and discussed this question: Look back at your theme: How did that revision help you communicate your meaning more clearly? I explained that by adding the short sentences with onomotopoeia, I hoped to help the reader feel the sting. It also helped me make a big contrast with the ineffective sloppy way I was hitting. Exploring the contrast helped me emphasize the break in our relationship that needed to be repaired.

And if you haven't read it before, here's what a student writer composed. 

Asking Comprehension Questions ISN'T Teaching Comprehension

"What are you planning?"

Teacher" "We are reading Fahrenheit 451."

"Why?"

Teacher: "We have copies of this novel, and that's a freshman text." 

"What are you teaching? What standards are you focusing on?"

Teacher: "Well, comprehension." 

"What elements of comprehension do you wish to address?"

Teacher: "..."

"Let's look here and see which ones seem important to you http://www.benchmarkeducation.com/best-practices-library/comprehension-strategies.html"

Teacher: "These look good: Determine Text Importance—Readers (a) distinguish between what's essential versus what's interesting, (b) distinguish between fact and opinion, (c) determine cause-and-effect relationships, (d) compare and contrast ideas or information, (e) discern themes, opinions, or perspectives, (f) pinpoint problems and solutions, (g) name steps in a process, (h) locate information that answers specific questions, or (i) summarize."

"Great! So which ones seem most relevant to Part One?"

Teacher: "Cause and effect, themes. Making connections and predictions about what is going to happen next."

"Good ones to select. I think visualizing is also a good one to add at the beginning of the novel because it helps the kids get into what they are reading. Let’s add this one too: Visualize—Readers make the printed word real and concrete by creating a “movie” of the text in their minds. You can write these words on your board to explain your objectives."

Teacher: “Ok, great!”

“So let’s talk about how you are going to teach comprehension. They are listening to the book aloud today. How are you going to teach them to use cause and effect relationships, predict, or to visualize in order to comprehend the text?”

Teacher: “I found these comprehension questions online.”

“Great, so how are you going to teach this?”

Teacher: “…”

“Let’s take the first question: How are the books that are being burnt described? I think most kids could go directly to the text, highlight the words, or copy them to answer the question.

“Does this recitation of text evidence demonstrate comprehension, cause and effect relationships, visualization, or understanding of what Bradbury is doing here?”

Teacher: “Well, not really. I never thought about it that way. This is how my teacher taught us this book.”

“Yes. That’s true. There’s nothing wrong with a set of questions to prompt and guide your reading – to check for comprehension and monitor student progress. That hits the surface level of comprehension and focuses on the CONTENT of the TEXT. But it’s not the same thing as teaching comprehension in a way that applies to ANY text.  And it certainly doesn’t get to the deeper elements of comprehension involving what the author communicates.

"Remember, you're teaching the TEKS, not Fahrenheit 451. In the end, no one really cares about how the books are described. That's not the enduring understanding we should leave with. 

“One of the best ways we have in teaching is to model our thinking as we use the comprehension strategies ourselves. See if this makes sense:  

• The first thing I do when I read, is I try to make a movie in my mind about what I am reading. Let’s take just this small part of the text that the question asks us to examine. As I read it, I try to see it in my mind: “while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and the lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.” So in my mind, I make a picture of a house and a porch. I see books on that porch and the front lawn. The books are on fire, the white parts turning red and then black. The pages are flapping with the flames and probably the wind too. The wind makes the fire burn faster and the pages move with it as they burn and crumble.

That’s just the first step. Now I need to understand what that means, not just see it.

• Now, I’m going to make some connections. Bradbury compares the books to pigeon wings. What do I know about pigeons and their flapping wings? If you’ve never gotten close to pigeons, here’s a sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WulG_eVnwk . It’s kind of a cause and effect relationship: They fly away when they are in danger. They are escaping because they are afraid. These books on the porch and on the grass are escaping – all the ideas and characters inside them are trying to leave…to escape the danger of the fire. But Bradbury tells us that they don’t escape, they die. That means that all those ideas and characters inside the books are dead too. Gone.

• Next, I’m going to think more about what else I know about pigeons. Authors compare nonliving things to living things on purpose to help the reader understand things that would take a lot more words to really explain. When authors compare non-living things to people, it’s called personification. When authors compare non-living things to animals, it’s called anthropomorphism. So I think about the characteristics of pigeons.  Pigeons are wild, uncontrolled, and unwanted pests in most places. They make huge messes. No one can really control where they go and what they do. Now I connect that to what Bradbury gains by comparing the books to the pigeons. By choosing to compare the books to animals that are pests, Bradbury might be showing the reader the very reason the books are being burned! Somehow, the ideas in the books can’t be controlled. Somehow, the people burning the books think of them as pests to be destroyed.

• Going further with that idea, I can think about when people try to ban books or destroy them. When people try to control what other people read and write, that’s called censorship. In a way, that’s a kind of death, too-- one that attacks your personal choices. That the books are being destroyed with fire, Bradbury adds an element of violence and pain into the death of  personal choices and expression of ideas as well.  

So to make sense of what I am reading, I use some tools to help me notice important things that lead me to what the author is communicating on a deeper level than what’s happening literally.

Visualizing

Comparing

Cause and Effect Relationships

Literary Devices (personification and anthropomorphism)

Now it’s time for you to try: Let’s take that second comprehension question about Montag’s job and whether or not he likes it.

“At this point, you would make a decision. Do you want to keep everyone at the whole class level and work through another example? Or do you want to turn them lose to explore the ideas with a partner or small group and share out after they have had time to read, think, and discuss?”

Teacher: “This is overwhelming.”

“Yes. Yes, it is.”

Identifying syntax is a waste of time...

We had just finished a lesson sequence involving several key mentor texts and analyzing how the authors used syntax, dialogue, details, and imagery to express more about a character, develop the plot, or express a theme. Identifying syntax is a waste of time, but understanding why it is used and then asking students to show evidence that they can employ the same strategy in their own writing? Keep reading to see if you agree: 

Clarissa was trying to communicate that "telling the truth is important to me." Watch her writing transform as she applies details and syntax to her message.

Before: “A light bulb appeared. For two reasons, I decided to carve the name Marcus. Firstly because it was easy to spell. Secondly Marcus was just an easy target. After I did the deed I put the box cutter where I found it and left.”

She underlined this sentence: “After I did the deed I put the box cutter where I found it and left.” She explained to the teacher in her group that she wanted to go deeper into how deliberate she was in carving her brother’s name – to emphasize later why it was so important for her to tell the truth about what she did to her brother. 

On her reflection paper, she said that her revision “emphasized when I was carving my brothers name in the bathroom sink.” She wanted the reader to see her complete that act, and she circled that she used details and imagery to accomplish that. Although she didn’t explicitly mark syntax, her revision utilized a long sentence to explicitly draw out each deliberate act:

After: “A light bulb appeared. For two reasons, I decided to carve the name Marcus. Firstly because it was easy to spell. Secondly Marcus was just an easy target. Holding the box cutter in my hand, I carefully carved out the name Marcus, slowly spelling it out in my head M…A…R…C…U…S...once finished I took a step back to admire my work. Satisfied, I put the box cutter where I found it and left.

In reflecting on her learning from the day, Clarissa proved she internalized the lessons about details, imagery, and syntax: “a longer or short sentence can affect the way you perceive a story.” THIS. THIS child’s work proves that she understands the TEK! She can complete a literary analysis of her own writing as well as utilize author’s craft purposefully to communicate her theme. And I bet, when she enters a published text, she will be successful in analyzing the author’s craft and the reason behind it.

Today, I’m Clarissa’s raving fan!

Essential Lesson Structure: Charting

This one ended up being harder to do than I thought. Aimee Coates and I were working on STAAR test prep again. We wanted to work up these essential lesson structures with Tea Party, Charting, and Card Sort to show how you could use the same passage with any of the structures. When I started to create the materials for this example, I was stumped for a while. And then, the connections started to come. I had already read and explored the passage to develop the Tea Party example, but I hadn't worked all the way through the 25th paragraph. It wasn't until I had all the pieces plotted, and text highlighted that I began to really see the connections. For the purposes of this TEK, examining the influences of the setting on the plot, I think this lesson structure is probably my favorite choice.

Exploration and Gathering Information: 

1. For this activity, it is best that plot diagram has already been taught and students have already read the passage. We used the same text as the previous post. The one on Anne of Green Gables.

2. Students work in small groups and draw the Freytag's Pyramid on the chart paper.

3. Students have one marker per group. The teacher calls out an element or definition (setting, conflict, etc.) while students take turns passing the marker, and plotting the correct term on the chart. Tip: Give each group a different color marker. You'll see the reason when we get to the Refining and Reflecting stage of the lesson.

Consolidating and Collaborating: 

4. Students work in small groups to annotate the chart with the details from the text that belong with each element. Note: I have them take turns with the marker. This information is all in blue on the chart. (I forgot to take a picture before I added the next steps.) For this lesson, I really wanted to focus on what happened in the setting because it is critical in deeply understanding the rest of the text. What happens in the setting, really  - I'm sorry, but  - it sets the stage/scene for what happens next. I created a small character sociogram between Anne and Marilla to tease out the important details and text evidence phrases that clarified their personal conflicts.

As I worked through this process, I realized that this helped me focus more on the main conflict of the story. Many times, kids get an idea in their head and don't adjust the ideas when text evidence presents itself. I was guilty of this as well. Throughout the first reading, I'm pretty sure I did the same thing. I kept focusing on the conflict between the Aunt and Anne and lost some of the influence of how that relationship colored every other relationship Anne would develop. I had totally missed something important about why Diana was so important. More later on that.

Then, I plotted the rising action. It wasn't until this point that I realized that at first reading, I hadn't ever really figured out what the climax was. And I didn't really even consider that the author left us hanging. Sometimes, I think that when we give kids a form, they expect everything to have a space, a blank to be filled. Stories don't all work that way. I loved how this helped kids see where the climax really showed up. (I've had kids ask - when does the rising action end and the climax begin. This excerpt makes that pretty clear.) 

Note also the amount of summarizing and inferring can be done - "Anne does silly things at when she is introduced." 

Refining and Reflecting: 

5. Now students are ready to make the connections between the elements on the chart. Here's what it looked like when I placed it on the chart. 

I kept looking at paragraph 25, wondering what in the heck this paragraph was doing. At first, I thought it was overly done description just added in because it was a classic text. But what was it doing? I went back to the setting and reread the parts about the flowers on the hat and realized what was going on: Anne loved flowers. This garden was a treasure. It was Diana's garden. Maybe Diana would be someone who was more like her - even though her Aunt didn't approve! From there, the connections and similarities just flew as I was able to draw out more text evidence. 

If I were teaching this, I think I would model it first with how the setting influenced and increased the tension for the conflict in the story. Then I'd let the small groups tackle the rest together. We'd see what others discovered. I bet there are more ideas than I listed here. 

Whole Class Debrief: 

At this point, we'd post everyone's ideas and let each group read the posters of other groups. Each group would have a different colored marker. 

• Star: Most Interesting Idea - Groups would be ready to discuss why they felt this way. 
• Question Mark: Confused or Check - Groups would mark ideas they think need to be supported better, explained, or corrected Groups would compose a question on a sticky note they could use in the whole class discussion. 
• Plus Sign: Added detail, quote, information - Groups would add missing detail, provide text evidence, or alternate ideas to consider. 

Using the highlights from the annotations, each group would take a turn bringing up ideas to discuss as a class. 

For independent practice or closure, students would use one of the rehearsal and practice strategies or evidence from learning strategies from the Lead4Ward  I'm leaning toward 3 Way Thinking, One Minute Paper, or Ping-Pong Summary to describe what they have learned about the influence of setting on plot and how a reader can think through those connections. 

Essential Lesson Structures: Tea Party/Open House/Speed Dating

Kylene Beers taught us a strategy called Tea Party a long time ago in a session on the San Antonio Riverwalk. (It's also in her book, When Kids Can't Read, What Teachers Can Do?) And there was a spelling session in the evening with lovely wine and cheese pairings, but I digress with such gustatory delights. Time and time again, Tea Party becomes a structure that I can use easily to engage kids with text and set the stage for repeated readings. Try adding this strategy to your Essential Lesson Structures menu! Aimee Coates, a teacher at XIT in Dalhart, helped me develop this lesson for her EOC review. We used a passage from Measuring Up (see masteryeudcation.com to purchase a copy).

Preparing the Materials: 

1. First, Aimee and I cut up the passage into sections. We tried to divide the text into enough pieces for each child, including the teacher, to have a section to read. In preparing the text, we decided to leave the paragraph numbers next to the text. But we left a space, so we could cut them off if we didn't want the kids to have the additional support of knowing the order of the text. Since we were working on plot and how isolated scenes contribute to the plot, we thought giving away the order of the text would give up too much information up front. This text divided nicely into 9 sections. Her class had about 12 kids, so we decided to make two copies. (Some kids would have duplicate sections of text.)

2. Then we prepared the note-taking guide for the students. We simply folded a blank piece of paper and labeled the sections. (The note-taking guide usually matches the text structure of the article. This one uses the plot elements, but the sections really could be anything you choose for your TEKS focus.) We also adapted questions from the sidebars of the text passage that we would use later to help students reflect on how the story elements compared to influence the plot development. We didn't have kids write these at first. They were added later - but we needed to plan our our questions.

3. Next, we prepared the teacher model. We decided to model the first four paragraphs of the text. We wanted to have a concrete model of what the student work needed to look like. And we needed to have specific ideas to reference when we did our think aloud.

Exploration and Gathering of Information: 

1. Choose a metaphor that will work with your class. Then talk with them about what happens at these events. Basically, all of them are about gathering data, meeting people, and exchanging information and ideas. I found these neat open house tours of college dorms that give a visual for the ideas.  https://plus.google.com/+universityofkentuckyofficial/posts/jZLUPU7baSf 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdGU0LVJ-Qg  Basically, this activity will allow you to do the same thing for the text you are about to read. You'll visit with others to gather information about the text and begin to form some ideas about the text before you "move in" to the text and read the whole thing.

2. Model the process, using a Think Aloud and Modeled Writing Approach to show what students will complete individually first. Read the text aloud, record the salient details on the chart and explain your thinking.

3. Have the kids make the note-taking guide. Tip: I usually number the passages so students can make sure they are talking to everyone. I have the kids record the number of the sections they need to collect information from. They circle the passages as they meet with others to make sure they get information from each person. Distribute sections of the text to the class. Allow them time to read the section silently or in partners. Students fill out the information that comes from their portion of the text.

Consolidation and Collaboration: 

4. Students mix and mingle with others in the class to collect as much information about the text. They should listen to the person talk about what their section of the text includes and then record the information they gathered from that person. Note: When I have done this activity, students try to just hand each other their papers and copy. Don't let them do that. We need them to discuss, reflect, and write in their own words.

5. When students return to their home groups, they can review and compare the information they have collected. They should make changes and additions.

Refining and Reflecting: 

6. Now students are ready to focus on diving deeper into the text to apply the TEK focus/objective for the lesson. The teacher models how to use the information and questions to focus their purpose for reading.

7. Model the process for paragraphs 1-5. In this case, the details in the setting intensify the problems that will continue in the rest of the passage. Note: use bullet points and cite text evidence. Be specific about highlighting the text as well as labeling the parts in your notes.

Show students this text to model how the notes can turn into an analytic paragraph. By combining all the notes, students will have a complete essay planned by the end of class. Now you have a model of what the notes look like and how they turn into a paragraph.

 "In the first paragraph, we realize that Marilla finds out about what Anne did almost a week after it happened. Most people don't like finding out things after the fact. The dialogue in the setting introduces the two characters and shows the disconnect between how each of them think about proper behavior. At first, Anne thinks she is in trouble for wearing the wrong colors. But she soon realizes that her aunt was more upset that Anne put flowers in her hat. Anne couldn't see that this would be a problem because people have flowers on their dresses. Already, the author has established that Anne and her aunt have very different perspectives that we, as proficient readers, should expect to cause more problems. It also establishes that the time period in this story must not be contemporary, as most people wouldn't use words like "called Anne to account" or be bothered with flowers on a hat at church." 

8. Have students return to the text to read independently. Students should mark the places where the scene changes and then be ready to discuss the impact or changes in the plot at those times. (Note - in this passage, the students should mark paragraphs 15, 23, and 25.)

9. This independent reading time gives the teacher a chance to conference with individual students  or pull small groups for additional support or extension.

10. Using a shared/interactive approach, pull the class together. Identify scene changes that can be the focus of discussions. Using the note-taking guide, have students record the details that could be discussed about the scene in paragraph 15. Have a student record the bullet points of the discussion on the chart displayed for all to see. Next, have students work in small groups to transform the notes into a paragraph that explains the scene changes and the impact on the plot.

11. Using a collaborative approach, have students work in small groups to complete this same task for 23. They should create notes together, but then compose individual paragraphs to share and compare with group members.

12. Independently, have students complete the same note-taking and composing process to analyze the scene in paragraph 25. Have students put all the paragraphs together as a complete essay.

Whole Class Debrief: 

13. Bring the class together and debrief. You can also have students compose a thesis, introduction, and conclusion to finish the essay. Be sure to discuss how examining the details of setting and character reveal important parts of the plot that we might miss without that careful comparison. It deepens our understanding.

Wet Ink

At a recent conference, we were given this list as a prewriting topic guide. After we read over the ideas, they asked us to pick the one that matched our birthday month. (I didin't follow the rules. I didn't want to write about a free trip. Facial tattoos seemed more interesting.)

1. Describe the biopic of your life. What events will this film feature? What actor will play you? Explain your choices.

2. Write a letter to President Trump advising him for a successful presidency.

3. Hostile space aliens invade your community, and you have five minutes to vacate your home. Your family members are safe. What items would you pack? Explain why these items are important.

4. Identify one characteristic that you like about yourself and explain why you like it.

5. Introduce your reader to your hero, and explain why you admire this person so.

6. For what, if anything, would you be willing to fight or even die? Explain.

7. Write a story or narrative to prove or disprove the following statement: Altruism is a myth; humans are basically motivated by self-interest.

8. What is one skill that you would like to acquire? Explain the value of your chosen skill, and explain why you would like to learn it. (Fun hint: you may choose a superpower.)

9. Someone just have you a free trip. Where would you go and why?

10. Help! I woke up with a large facial tattoo! Write this story.

11. What character from a book or movie would you most like to be? Explain why.

12. Describe the best year of your life, and explain why this year trumps all others.

Next, we had three minutes to write using the Wet Ink Strategy. Acts of Teaching, by Joyce Armstrong Carroll and Eddie Wilson explain: "Wet-ink writing derives its name from the days when writers dipped their quill pens into ink, and wrote until the pen went dry before dipping it in again...its purpose is to allow the subconscious to sneak in an idea" (p. 9). We pretended to write fast, so as to finish before the ink dried or ran out.

Here's my sample:

Wet Ink

The deep ache and surface sting wake me. Mottled blood-ink transfers to my palm when I reach to feel the source. Stumbling to the bathroom, my consciousness fades into dis-associative horror. Blackness creeps to the periphery of vision, spotlighting a freshly inked dragon’s head. Emerging from my ear, filling the side of my face with iridescent green scales, his emerald eye leers at the apple of my cheek. Bio-luminescent flames erupt over my lips and to the other side of my face. Invisible most of the time, they only appear when my mouth fails to enunciate my thoughts. Roiling, bubbling, or steaming depending on the intensity of emotion or repression, I’ve come to recognize the Cheshire appearances that expose with archetypal colors the intimate secrets I formerly concealed. Yet, can anyone interpret the flames? Throughout the day, those who stare only see the dark lines still ringed with red edema and whisper aghast at why a woman would choose to mark - to disfigure- her face. No one bothers to translate my soul, of who I am behind this accidental facade.

Thanks to Lucy Seward, Heights High School, Houston Independent School District for a great session at Abydos, 2017.