The Success of 'A Few Choice Words'

“Poetry has the ability to create entire moments with just a few choice words. The spacing and line breaks create rhythm, a helpful musicality, a natural flow. The separate stanzas aid in perpetuating a kind of incremental reading, one small chunk at a time.” – Jason Reynolds

Born in Washington, DC, on Dec. 6, 1983, Reynolds writes poetry and novels, primarily for Young Adult and Middle School audiences.  Among his many award-winning efforts are Ghost, a National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature, and When I Was The Greatest, winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent.  His 2017 book Long Way Down, combined both genres as a novel in verse, won a Newbery Honor book and won awards from the Mystery Writers of America.

      For Saturday’s Poem, here are Reynolds’ “I’ve Never Been” and “For Everyone.”

                                       I’VE NEVER BEEN

in an     earthquake.

Don’t     know if this was

Even     close to how they

are,      but the ground

defi      nitely felt like

it o      pened up

and      ate me.

For Everyone

Your dream is the mole

behind your ear,

that chip in your

front tooth,

your freckles.

It’s the thing that makes

you special,

but not the thing that makes

you great.

The courage in trying,

the passion in living,

and the acknowledgement

and appreciation of

the beauty happening around

you does that.