Written during a Poetry Center Writing Your Community residency, Natalie's poem expresses fear and wonder: the speaker eperiences the universe as simultaneously familiar and astonishing. Writing Your Community is a school-based creative writing program for K-8 students with the goals of developing creative and critical thinking skills, promoting a love of reading and writing, and helping students find their voice. The Spaceflight exhibit, of which Natalie's poem is a part, will be on display at the Center until November 19th. Audio of Natalie reading her poem appears at the bottom of this post.

5, 4, 3, 2,1 blast off.
I am being sent
Away to the moon
As I land I am scared
And confused
As I look at earth
I see many different storms
As I look around me
I see many different sized rocks pass by me
And very little color
On the moon I spot
These amazing big craters
And mysterious rocks
As I look in front of me
I see this big red ball
And then a smaller planet
And then I see the brightest star
In some places it is bright
And others dim
This is an amazing discovery