Dictionary Entry: Me

This is the Open Write, a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We are here every month. Glad you are here.

Our Host: Leilya Pitre

Leilya lives in Ponchatoula, LA, a small town celebrated for its strawberries and kind, generous people. She teaches and coordinates the English Education Program at Southeastern Louisiana University. Preparing future English teachers, she hopes they become caring, competent, and effective educators. She is an editor and contributing author of Where Stars Meet People: Teaching and Writing Poetry in Conversation. Her other books are devoted to teaching young adult literature in high school. Leilya loves people, cultures, and their rich traditions. She reads, writes, listens to music, visits her children and grandchildren, and enjoys traveling with her husband.

Inspiration

Before we define the world around us, we are defined—by names, by labels, by early words spoken over us, sometimes long before we fully understand them. Some stick. Some sting. Some we shed or reclaim as we grow.

What is a word someone once used to describe you? Maybe it made you feel special or small. Maybe it never quite fit. Maybe you’ve come to redefine it entirely.

Today, we write a dictionary poem—not the kind you’d find in Merriam-Webster, but one shaped by your personal truth. It can be heartfelt, playful, critical, or full of contradictions—just like the word itself.

Process

Choose a word you were once labeled with—something someone called you (or something you believed about yourself): loud, smart, bossy, sweet, wild, shy, helpful, weird, dramatic,   different or any other word… It can also be your nickname. 

Then write your poem as if it were a dictionary entry from your life. Include some or all of the following parts:

• Etymology: Where did this word enter your life? Who gave it to you? When did it start to matter?
• Definition: What does this word really mean to you now?
• Synonyms/Antonyms: What words shadow it? What words have you replaced it with?
• Misuses: When was the word used unfairly or wrongly?
• Example Sentence: Include a personal memory or story that shows this word in action—your version of how it lived in your world.

The form can be structured with headings (as in my example below) or flow freely in verse—whatever feels most comfortable for you.

What word have you carried? Write your own life-definition poem. You may follow this format closely or bend it to suit you. You may completely disregard the prompt and/or the instructions and write whatever brings you joy today.

Leilya’s Poem

Shy (adj.)

Etymology
In a small classroom with too many eyes,
the teacher whispered, “She’s very quiet.”
It echoed louder than my voice ever could.

Definition
Not afraid. Not fragile. Not weak.
Listening like a full moon gathers light.
A quiet power learning how to rise.

Synonyms
reserved, observant, thoughtful,
star-watcher, heart-keeper.

Antonyms
loudmouth, show-off,
boy who never raised his hand but always got called on.

Misuses
“Speak up.”
“She’ll never be a leader.”
“Why don’t you smile more?”

Example
At eight, I read a poem aloud in public
and watched the silence filled the auditorium

like a surprise they didn’t know I had prepped for them.

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.