Poetry:
I have been writing poetry since I was eight years old. I love the way words combine and create images and experiences. One of my dreams is to one day write a novel which incorporates poetry, and the depth of personal growth that I have gone through in my life. Poetry's main charm lies in imagery. Some of my favorite poets are Emily Dickinson, Sharon Olds, John Donne, Maya Angelou, and W.S. Merwin. One of the more recent poems I wrote after we sold my grandfather's property because he had to be placed in a nursing home, and a poem I wrote to my class on my last day at West McDowell Jr. High.
Bonnie View
by Danielle Earley
What remains are fallen trees, branches and twigs.
Shattered are the windows.
The shutters have been ripped away.
The stairs have been hacked with an ax.
The doors disappeared.
I can look straight through
where the blackberry bushes once grew.
Now all I see is mud.
On my last day of class I say good bye
by Danielle Earley
In the light of day,
I open my eyes slowly.
Here I stand walking across the snow.
The crunch of the walk reminds me of sounds and sights of my classroom.
In time, the walls will fade in my mind from yellow to black.
The faces I so strongly see now will become old newspapers locked away in a library vault.
Others will ask me of the first time,
The time I first walked through the halls.
The crowded bodies looking like a mass of cows herding toward the future.
What will become of these minds I have seeded?
The movement of the walk home echoes old songs and forgotten memories.
I too was once fourteen.
I remember how strongly I believed that I would be my own star.
How I have become frayed in time?
As the lockers are closed and the books collected, will I be able to express what I have learned here.
The wind knocks the windows and they rattle calling me to the unwritten sound of tomorrow.
In truth the sadness will come,
For it is too hard to not feel the bond of minds.
Even when the world comes together for a moment.
It is in that moment that the calm and the beauty silence us.
I will be leaving behind the white flowered sign of my name.
Will I stop in the future and find myself loving you and remembering?
On the last day of the last class
When time stops for a moment.
I stop with you and share my heart,
so that no matter what took place yesterday you will remember that you were successful.
As the snow comes,
My feet crunch more and more.
It is colder now as I leave this place I held for a while as my home.
I leave behind the knowledge and the caring of who I am.
I understand now what I could not see before.
The flowered nameplate will always be a part of this room's door.
Children:
I always thought I would be one of those people that would have ten children because I love children so much. I feel this is what made me first want to be a teacher. It does not matter how old the children are. They can be as young as kindergarten or as old as high school, I just enjoy being with them. Nothing brings me more joy then when I see their faces, and I know somehow my being there has made a difference in their lives.
As part of my free time, I have spent time volunteering at Unity Church in their nursery and at IRA B Jones Elementary school.
Community Involvement:
A community can be created any where their are people joining together for a singular purpose. I have had the privilege of participating in such a community in my pursuit for self improvement. I spent three years working with other individuals of like mind learning what it means to live a life in integrity, and with an open heart. I attended workshops during this time in what is called The Mastery of the Heart School. This time was very valuable to me because I created bonds with individuals as well as gaining a deeper understanding of myself. I loved knowing that my time and energy went to help others as well as myself.
I also have read a lot of Louise Hay's books she is a woman who believes in self empowerment through positive thinking.
Unity:
Unity Center of Christianity is the church I have attended since I was seven years of age. It was there that I learned to care for others and strengthen my spiritual commitments as well as my physical ones. I feel that with out the time I spent volunteering for this church, I would not have learned about love in action. It is from this place that I have learned to take what my heart feels on the inside and use it to help the world. I feel that my church is a very prayer based church, and that in my worst times I can go to God for comfort and solace. The open minded philosophy of this church has enabled me to become respectful of all religions, and I feel this is a true asset to me as a teacher in a multicultural world.
Page Author: Danielle Earley
