Sailing

INTRODUCTION
July is a time for water sports including sailing. Or you can sit by the side of the water and watch to boats come in. But imagine if you were trying to describe the scene to your blind grandfather.

POEM

A POEM FOR JIM NAGATAAK’W (JAKWTEEN)
MY GRANDFATHER, BLIND AND NEARLY DEAF
By Nora Marks Davenhauer

I was telling my grandfather
About what was happening
On the boat. My father
And his brother were trying to
Anchor against the wind
And tide.

I could smell him, especially
His hair. It was a warm smell.
I yelled as loud as I could,
Telling him what I saw.
My face was wet from driving
Rain.

I could see his long eyebrows,
I could look at him and get
Really close. We both liked this.
Getting close was his way of
Seeing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blum, Joshua, comp. 1996. THE UNITED STATES OF POETRY. By Joshua Blum, Bob Holman and Mark Pellington. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. ISBN 0810939274

EXTENSION
Have eye masks and a bag filled with odd objects available. After everyone in the group has been blindfolded, give each person an object. Let them call out descriptive words which the leader writes down. Then remove the blindfolds and let them see if the words made a picture of their object or not.

Photo courtesy of http://images.google.com.