Families in Las Vegas' Cimarron High School
Family Writing Project wrote about frustrating aspects of their
personalities and lives. Then, the parents and children,
with the help of facilitators Elizabeth Campbell and Jennifer,
turned those frustrations into poems.
First, the parents' poem, "Frustration
Breakthroughs"
I feel like I'm going crazy when
I lose my temper
When you lose your temper,
how bad is it?
I am frustrated when I lack will
power.
Does it make you feel like
you're inadequate -- because you're not!
I don't like that I can't speak
Spanish yet.
Could you give yourself a
goal of learning something specific by a certain
time?
I hate it when I'm disorganized
and mislay my stuff.
Could you forgive yourself
the occasional mislay of stuff due to the fact that you are so
incredible, dedicated and committed in the other areas of your life
that are most important?
I dislike when I give up too
easily
Do you take any positive
steps to fix this?
I hate when I'm too
short-tempered with my family.
What could you do to cool
off before snapping at everyone?
Sometimes we're too close to our
own frustrations.
Trust and friendship let us
look at them with another's eyes.
And now, the kid's thoughts turned into a
statement/question poem
I don't like when I get myself
in trouble.
What do you do to get in
trouble?
I hate when I don't have any
money.
Why is money a
problem?
I'm embarrassed when I
snore.
Have you ever tried
breathing strips?
I hate when I lose
things.
What can you
remember?
When I sing in choir, I wonder
if people are laughing at me.
Do you really care what
people think of you?
I don't like when I think too
much.
Have you tried to write your
feelings down and express them on paper?
I'm frustrated when my father
doesn't answer me when I'm talking to him.
Do you think he knows you're
talking to him?
I get frustrated when I
procrastinate.
Maybe you should reward
yourself when you work hard!
I don't like not being
right.
Is there really such a thing
as wrong and right?
I get mad when I lose the
phone.
Do you think before you
talk?
I always lose things.
Could you put a button on
everything you want so when you look for it, it
barks?
Why is it that our biggest
frustrations
Are often over life's
smallest problems.
After writing these poems,
family members placed the strips of paper with their frustrations
written on them and ceremonially buried them by placing them in
a small black box. Frustrations gone and buried,
they then finished by writing obituaries for their
frustrations.
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