A community is a group of people living in the same place and having common experiences. We want you to bring the people of your community alive. Make a list of all the people that come to mind when you think about “Your Neighborhood” even if you don’t know them that well. Who is well known and who isn’t? How do these people interact with you on the day to day? How are these people the same as you and how are they different? Explore all of these things and share the stories of the people in your vicinity and share their stories.

If you get stuck maybe look at this poem “Neighbors” by James Crews in which the poet chronicles all of the people he is likely to encounter while talking a stroll through his community. Think about the people in your neighborhood and write a little about what you know about them. Explore how these people are the same and how they are different or how they fit or don’t fit into your neighborhood. Tell the good, bad, strange, and otherwise funny things that you notice about these people.

Or consider “Neighbours” by Benjamin Zephaniah where he compares and contrasts what people think about him when they first see him and the things that people come to understand once they get to know him. Who is unlike you in your neighborhood? How are they unlike you? What is something you previously thought about them that you no longer believe? What is something that you think people would miss about this person upon meeting them? Set up a comparing and contrasting poem for one or multiple people around you.

One of the things that makes your neighborhood distinguishable, regardless of how big or small, is the landmarks. The corners, and parks, and playgrounds, and stores you grew up going to largely shape who you are and are full of nostalgia because many of them have been around for longer than we have been. Think about all the places you hang out or that people congregate in your neighborhood. Write a poem that is a love letter to these places. You can share their history or what they mean to you and your family/friends. You can use your own specific memories to create a timeline of this place or just pick one specific moment to write about but make sure you describe the space and its meaning in as much detail as possible.

If you need inspiration check out “Good Hotdogs” by Sandra Cisneros. She vividly remembers her favorite hotdog shop in town and how she would frequent it as often as possible. She describes the hot dog in detail but also, she describes the shop and how this food memory still resonates with her all those years later. Do you have a favorite restaurant? Or Snack shop? Or vending machine? Or place to take your food to eat it? Write a “five senses” poem using all five senses to describe what this place looks, feels, smells, tastes, and sounds like.

Or perhaps this “What It Looks Like To Us and the Words We Use” by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limon which explores not just an individual place but rather the open space we occupy. Think of the nature around your neighborhood; think of the trees, the grass, the parks, the skies, the clouds, all thing things that occupy this place. Think about these things influence how your neighborhood looks or how you’ve interacted with your space. Explore what is missing or how the passage of time changes these things from season to season or year to year.

Sometimes our neighborhoods can feel like they are too big to navigate and sometimes they are too small, and we want bigger adventures. We take souvenirs home from vacation and put them on our shelves to remind us of these times. Think of your neighborhood like a vacation, step outside how you see it every day and think about the things someone would want to collect from it if they came to visit for the first time. What item or items best represent where you are from? Would it be a souvenir cup? A random rock? A trinket from a store that you know well? Pick an item and write a poem from its perspective of your neighborhood. Think about how this object will travel to see new places but it will always remember where it came from.

The poem “POT (MUSEUM ARCHIVE“) from Shamshad Khan describes a piece of pottery in a museum and the author tries to explore its back story and how it must have gotten from wherever it was from to here. She uses the pot to describe so many people’s stories of relocation and how moving from place to place changes us. If you can’t decide what to write, pick something from your neighborhood and explore how it got there like Shamshad does in this poem.

Please reach out to the EY coordinator in your building if you would like any assistance with your poem or with your submission.