Kids say the darndest things

Wow! She has a knack for it, for sure.

My daughter's (age 13) creative outlet is through her digital art, which I'm not going to share here. Some of it is fan art, but she has a lot of original characters as well. And on more than one occasion, she's told me these complicated stories explaining her art. I've begged her to write them down, but she won't do it. I've even offered to take dictation, just so she can have a record of these creative impulses, but she hasn't taken me up on it. I want her to be able to remember it, just because I know that she barely has any memory of the characters and universes that she created when we would play toys together in her early childhood. I've also tried explaining to her that when she gets older, these stories could serve as a good basis for something to revise and put out there into the world.

Could you record the conversations with her?

Well, it's been a while since she has brought up any of the stories around her art. When she shows me her new characters, I still ask if there is any background. If there is, she hasn't let me in on it. The longest stories that she told me were probably a year or so ago. Maybe I'll ask if she still remembers them and would be comfortable with recording them. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here's Opal's latest poem. I'll stop sharing all of these, it's getting too much. This one she described as her "Shakespeare Poem", we're not sure what she means by that, she's never read Shakespeare or had any read to her, she's only had the plot of Romeo and Juliet described to her. I think she thinks it's deep and uses the word "thee" and thus is Shakespeare. Also note, this is firmly tongue in cheek. She's written some sad ennui-filled stuff in the past, but this is a joke to her for sure, apparently the title is a phrase she repeats over and over again to annoy two of her classmates.

"
Floating in a void of only blank existence
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I love thee
more than we can see
For "no us" means
nothing and there's always
a new beginning
and we are floating in a void of
blank existence.
Yes my dear, listen and hear.
We are floating in a void in
a void of blank existence.
Floating in a void of blank existence.

-opal
"

Opal's (very good) poem reminds me of:

"This is not about a kingdom which is in the past, but it is about a kingdom called Not, which although it is not, yet is”
— Sun Ra, KINGDOM OF NOT, rec.1956

Which is also good (and also repeated to annoy)

I'm enjoying Opal's poems.

thanks.

https://y.yarn.co/c4c95f9b-86f9-42bc-8319-95ccc3e7b392_text.gif

Whereas my 9yo managed to insult the whole of Wales when we were out walking in Cardiff (we live in England) - he saw a sign and said "Why does that sign look like a child typed random letters on a typewriter?" - he wasn't trying to be clever, I think it hadn't occurred to him what the Welsh language looks like, despite having a friend who speaks Welsh with his family...

You're child's right about what Welsh signs look like!

One day when she's older Opal's going to google and find all of these and get really mad at me for sharing them. Sunday we took the train into the city and as we neared the station Opal noticed a tiny "tree" had sprouted on top of the stairs (the little roof over the stairs). Apparently she wrote this in school yesterday, folded it up and put it in her shoe. My wife just found it and sent me a pic. I added the paragraph breaks. That's my license and prerogative. It is definitely what I needed to read this morning.

A BURST OF GREEN

One day, in may
on my way to manhattan,
on top of the station,
I saw something to
start a conversation.

A tiny tree!
Something to see!
It inspired me,
that little tree.

I smiled. It was something
that would cheer up any
little child.

That little tree inspired me,
and I hope this poem inspires you.

Jeez Opal find an illustrator and publish already

Something very Margaret Wise Brown about that one. It also reminds me of Madeline - the big city, and even the rhythm of it

Totally get that. Madeline for sure.

Opal needs her own thread if not published book of poetry.

Agreed.

She started a book of poems for mother's day but when i asked her about it this morning she said it might not be done and she has a back-up plan. I said you don't need to fill the whole thing with poems, and you have a bit more time. I really wanted to see the rest, when she showed it to me last week it was just a cover and one poem. I asked her what the back-up plan was and she said it was a secret. I have to say this is a nice shift from times when I'm trying to figure out what to do for my wife's birthday/holidays/mothers day etc and also have to help her get something together. Soon I'll just let her take the lead and I'll give her some cash or something and ask to sign my name to whatever she comes up with.

She does have a habit of starting these projects and not finishing. We've bought a few boxes of these little blank notebooks and there's so many that are just a cover and like, a table of contents. Sometimes there will be a synopsis and author's blurb quotes on the back, but no story! I'm not saying I want to pressure her into finishing things now, she's 7, but I really wanted to see more of the mother's day poems.

She made a library in her room. Taped up some boxes and it says "opal's library" and it has all her books in it and she asks us if we want to borrow any.