Join us for a celebration of student photos and essays! Students from The Literacy Project’s Northampton Classroom will be sharing their work on:
Wednesday, May 8, 11 a.m.
In the Coolidge Museum at the Forbes Library, Northampton
This project was made possible by grant funding from the Northampton Cultural Council and the Mass Cultural Council. Thank you!
Update, May 9:
Northampton students with their teachers Dara and Thane at the Forbes Library reading on May 8.
The event was a wonderful experience for students, teachers, volunteer tutors and friends of The Literacy Project. Students showed photos and read their work, including this poem:
A Child Sheds a Tear, by Bill Sorel
As I look through the lens,
a child sheds a tear.
This is the house that made you
who you are.
It stole your soul.
As I look through the lens,
tears come in waves.
“Let it forth my child,
tears will cleanse your soul.”
Your heart was as cold as snow.
This is the house that holds all your
pain.
Pain.
Pain.
A child sheds a tear.
As I look through the lens,
memories come in waves.
Memories flow like tears.
“Let your pain be heard.
Scream.
No more hiding your
pain,
tears,
memories.
No more smiles
to hide your pain.”
As I look through the lens,
I see your pain.
“Hear my voice child.
You are smart, not dumb.
You are strong, not weak.
You are beautiful, not ugly.
Your pain made you
this way.”
I shed a tear.
As I look through the lens,
I see the child holding my hand.
We walk through a new door,
shutting the door to the past.
Our tears made us one.
As I look through the lens,
this house stole our
childhood.
In the years that have come and gone,
my eyes are open to the fact that
we are
smart,
strong,
beautiful.