Ten years ago, I partially wrote this poem and performed it as a final project for a summer class–Interracial Communications. This elective course was about a week, or two, I don’t recall, but I do remember that it was 9 hours a day. The instructors, Laura and Renee promised us we would not leave the class the same, for that, I say thank you.
The story behind the post is the class itself; the opening is the chaos of the world around me–audio from a previous poetry post, so if this is your first time popping in my page, scroll on down and start from the beginning. It leads to a cameo from my cat “Challa” and of course, me finding my final project from ten years ago and the hearts.
The hearts are from the class. Every day there was a bowl of plaster and glass hearts that we could give to others if they said something that touched us or opened their eyes to something. These are the hearts that were given to me; of my favorite is the glass heart; its story reminds me always to leave space to have hope in this world and people.
I’ve recited this in pockets of time since then and recorded once before over three years, but in creating this website and this vision, I knew that I needed to end it with this one.
More to come in 2021.
it's Cassaundra 