Beauty is...

A poem by Samuel

Beauty is...
Bold
Elegant
Artistic
Unicycle
Television
Youth

I sense the poem started taking a different direction in Samuel's mind somewhere around the word "Unicycle." :-)

For school, Samuel wanted to enter a poetry contest, the theme being "Beauty is..." First of all, I will move past my complete shock that Samuel actually wanted to enter a poetry contest. Don't get me wrong. I was THRILLED when he asked if he could enter. Just a little shocked because it doesn't seem to be the type of activity that would be of interest to him. But with his teacher's help, he decided to write an Acrostic poem. When he came home and showed me the poem, as I read it to myself, I kept going back to that word... unicycle... Hmmmm, should I ask him about this word, or should I skip it and simply marvel at his ambition, creativity, and desire to write poetry? I mentioned the word!

Well, first I told Samuel that he should be really proud of his poem. And I told him that it showed great creativity on his part. I told him about his Aunt Becky who loves to write poetry. And I told him that we should go to the local library and check out some books of poetry. And then I asked him why he picked the word unicycle over something perhaps like unity or universe. He told me that he didn't like those words, and he asked me if I'd ever seen someone riding a unicycle. Then he said, "The way they sit up on top real tall and balance and ride the unicycle around is beautiful." I told him that he had a very good point and that I LOVED the fact that he used the word unicycle. I would have gone with unity or universe. And that's why I don't write poetry. :-) But to him, unicycle was the best choice... really the only choice. Unicycles are beautiful! I REALLY truly hope the judges can look past the more obvious/typical words that he could have used, like unity or universe, and see the beauty that is behind the word unicycle!

What is beauty to you? Yesterday for me, it was being given the opportunity to see something in a whole new light, through the eyes of my child.