through the maelstrom of middle school

fighting through the doubts

“I discovered I like being on stage.

I like everybody looking at me!”

and she released herself into a powerful performance on stage,

a venturing forth of the will, an assertion of self,

that same assertion we work on in writing:

craft a strong thesis statement, assert it,

venture an opinion in discussion,

risk to draw, to sing, to learn an instrument,

middle school can feel as a maelstrom,

with swirling winds that deny you a perch, a foundation,

a sureness of where you are,

a sureness of a path forward,

a sureness that you can do it,

we should celebrate every time

a young person fights through the doubts,

we should celebrate each step forward,

when the doubting winds calm enough

that the self learns itself well enough

to step forward, again and again,

and feel the rightness of unleashing

that which is awesome

within the doubting self.

by Henry H. Walker
May 11, ‘18