Back

Yesterday, I stood, walked around, bent over, packed books, carried a crate into the car, climbed into bed.  Sounds pretty normal, average, routine.  I did all these things without thinking of my back, without rehearsing every single move necessary to position myself, without internally wincing.

Wanting to capture that experience, I started to think in verse.  Why does verse seem to come to me more easily than prose when I have strong feelings to express?  That's the subject of another blog, I think.  For today, the verse led me to thinking about my back, and being back, being back in my routine, for the most part.  The play on words and the opposition sent me to the diamonte poem.  Would that form capture the moment?  Here's my effort.

Back

painful  unco-operative

complaining  creaking  stabbing

awareness  improvement  flexibility  movement

stretching  walking  lifting

normal  expected

back

I've used this form with students in many different contexts.  Now, there's a wonderful site that provides the organizer and the format.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/diamante/