Depending On When You Met Me

Welcome to Verselove, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are gathering every day in April to write– no sign-ups, no fees, no commitments. Come and go as you please. All that we ask is that if you write, you respond to others to mirror to them your readerly experiences — beautiful lines, phrases that resonate, ideas stirred. Enjoy. (Learn more here.)

Our Host: Britt Decker

Britt lives in Houston, Texas where she spent 10 years writing, reading, laughing, and learning alongside 10th graders, and now writes, reads, laughs, and learns alongside brilliant 7th graders!! She began participating in writing communities in 2020 and has discovered the powerhouse poets of the monthly Open Writes. When Britt isn’t in the classroom or writing in her notebook, you can find her drinking black coffee and discussing educational inequities with her husband while wrangling her three boys (aged 1, 3, and 5 years old).

Inspiration 

When I participated in the Slice of Life Story Challenge back in 2021, my friend Leigh Anne “hosted a party” for all the bloggers committed to the 31 days of writing throughout the month of March. Leigh Anne presented the “Depending On When You Met Me” mentor text by Devon Gundry below –

I loved this “party” theme and invitation so much that I also played with turning my writing into a poem! Below is a snippet of my original writing (and a link to the whole piece). 

Process

Write a poem starting with “Depending on when you met me” in which you introduce yourself depending on what era of your life we would have met. What I found most challenging was choosing what events to include and which to leave out – of course, share whatever you are willing to share! 

Britt’s Poem

Depending on when you met me, 
you might have admired my
manipulation of letter tiles,
chasing the highest scoring words;

you might have listened to me
singing alabanzas al Senor,
sitting in the second pew
next to mami;

you might have received
a warm latte or iced americano
from me at the local Starbucks
first thing in the mornings;

you might have witnessed me
falling in love with a boy 1200 miles
across the country, a relationship
held together by Skype and texts;

you might have ooh’d and aaw’d
at my growing belly, eager to hold
son number 1 and then son number 2
and then, unexpectedly, son number 3;

you might have empathized at my stumbling
through my first years of teaching 10th grade
right out of college, working 16 hour days, 
committed to becoming my best; 

you might have sat next to me as I 
scribbled my way through journals, 
returning to my love of writing, 
plunging into posting and poetry.

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers.