Hello NUA community! This is Michi, from the Untitlement Project!!!!!! 

This summer, I participated in one of New Urban Arts’ summer programs known as the Untitlement Project. The main idea or main goal was to have high school teenage writers expand their writing using the themes of identity, gender issues, and social injustices. We were led by two awesome poets (Jamila Woods and Jorge Vargas) and we were separated by two groups; (A boys group, and a girls group). Girls met on Monday, and Wednesday. Boys met on Tuesday and Thursday. Then on Friday the two groups met together and discussed about topics that involved the two genders. When we met on our days separately, our mentors would give us prompts that were based on the themes we were doing that summer. 

My favorite prompt was the Paradelle activity. It is a poem of four six-line stanzas in which the first and second lines, as well as the third and fourth lines of the first three stanzas, must be identical. The fifth and sixth lines must form completely new lines by using only the words from the preceding lines. The final stanza must contain every word from the first three stanzas, and only those words, again only using them once, to form completely new lines. Find more information on Paradelles here. The theme of our Paradelle activity was our bodies and what we like or dislike about our bodies. I believe that every poet should at least experience this form of writing. 

I hope you enjoy this Paradelle poem I came up with because I do. ☺ 

Paradelle (My Body) 

I love when you’re alone; your eyes begin to sweat. 
I love when you’re alone; your eyes begin to sweat. 
Joy or pain, we get the same result. 
Joy or pain, we get the same result. 
We get the same sweat when joy or pain. 
Your eyes begin to sweat pain. 

Drop by drop, 1/100 of an emotion is released. 
Drop by drop, 1/100 of an emotion is released. 
My soul is in the atmosphere. 
My soul is in the atmosphere. 
1/100 of my soul is in drop by drop. 
My soul is an emotion. 

Hold your tears when looking. 
Hold your tears when looking. 
Maybe I’m not human. 
Maybe I’m not human. 
They’re not human hold your tears. 
I’m your tear I’m not human. 

I love your not human tears. 
Drop by drop; I’m your pain. 
Your sweat is my atmosphere. 
Pain is your emotion. 
1/100 of a human, I will hold your tears. 
When you tear, I begin to sweat.