Forever Young

My sister Erin emailed me two poems that my niece Sophie wrote the other day. She just barely turned 9. I don't think I even knew what a poem was when I was 9 and I think my first attempt at one in 4th grade English had something to do with a paper cutter being like a tiger. In fact, I think it was a haiku. Paltry compared to her verse.

But Sophie isn't like other little girls. She doesn't like loads of girly stuff or what ever the Disney Channel is slinging. At 4.5yrs she loved dinosaurs. I took her to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum where she shocked me by looking at the skeletons of these huge lizards and listing off their names: Dimetrodon, Iguanodon, and Archeopteryx. Did I mention she was only 4.5? I looked for the name plates to make sure she was right and thought she might be able to visually associate the name (she couldn't possibly be able to read dinosaur names at under 5yrs could she?) with the dinosaur. The name plates were on the far end of the exhibit...too far for anyone to read. This tyke knew her stuff. She got all of them right. I was even more impressed because these weren't your run of the mill dinosaurs like the Triceratops, T-Rex or even the Stegosaurus.

At this time she also loved ghost stories and preferred to have them as her bed-time stories. Of course they were never too scary, but spooky enough for a 4.5 year old. I was surprised by her requests.

A few months later my sister told me a story about how they had been driving to their local Rec Center when Sophie (now 5) recited a poem that she had written.

I died for what I had not known
I didn't see the girl coming to squash me
I am dead
I am dead
I am dead

At first Erin didn't believe her and asked her if she learned it in school (Halloween was coming up) or heard it somewhere else. But Sophie explained that the poem was about a fly that she had squashed in the car. She also explained that when you said "I am dead" it got quieter each time. Huh? What? Since when do 5 year-olds use that type of syntax? I don't even know what to call that type of sentence structure. So you see, Sophies' creativity started early.

The following summer Sophie composed a song. Again, Erin didn't quite believe that Sophie created it on her own, but she did. I don't remember all of the lyrics but it is sung with harmony and has depth. My sister took her to a Cowboy Poetry reading where she mustered up the courage to stand in front of seasoned poets and weathered cowboys to shyly sing her song.

Going back to her most recent poems. I called Erin almost immediately after I read them and asked for the story. Once again, Erin was a little skeptical on if Sophie had really written them. Poor girl, can't catch a break. When Erin asked about the "copper witches", Sophie told her casually that she just thought it sounded good, not recognizing the symbolism (pennies) that they have and how they make her fall to her knees. As far as a "lopper"? Well, she just made that word up because she liked it. When asked what it means, she replied, "it's kind of like a loser." Erin asked if they should change it to say "loser," but Sophie thinks "lopper" sounds better. So do I.

This girl is brilliant.

I didn't post her poems...yet...because I want her to get them published and I don't know if blogging them would interfere with her chances. Any suggestions?