I did not tell him I had actually spoken those words many miles away, at that exact moment on that night, because I could hardly understand how it happened myself.
Kids who wonder how they will ever afford college. Kids whose parents don't speak a word of English, but dream of a better life; kids who look to us to determine who and what they can be.
By some estimates, kids from more advantaged backgrounds hear an average of 30 million more spoken words in the first few years of life compared to kids from less advantaged backgrounds.
And having Maya's poem as an example not only of written word but also incredible spoken word that she brought to it, I wanted to continue to participate in that tradition of hope-making in every single poem that I wrote.
I never saw any one so shocked. He could not speak a word for full ten minutes. My mother was taken ill immediately, and the whole house in such confusion!