The 10-Year-Old Birthing

Fondest Memory Poetry Contest

The 10-Year-Old Birthing My fondest memory of them all was the day I could read the word “vegetable.” At 10 years old I had reached an age where I made up my own words for the printed page, from pictures, my stories to be had. My non-reader state was very sad. But, a Reading Specialist, Ms. Mary Lou Redd, ignited the process, asleep in my head. One day when others were in reading reframe, I discovered I could do the same. They paused at a word they did not know. "Vegetable, Vegetable", my lone voice let go. "Vegetable," I cried out loud. My inner self was oh so proud. Lord, Lord, Lord, word recognition. Think what you have done, metacognition. From that point on, I could read. No limitations to succeed. Junior High, high school, college, and grad, MS. Edu., Reading Specialist License of my own to be had Vegetable, vegetable, my first decoded word At 10 it is to some completely absurd. This process- strange, was familiar to me. The hidden world was at my mind’s decree. My heart holds great fondness for 1962. When at 10 years old, I learned what many already knew. It was a birthing epiphany, renewal of my soul. A birthing, a birthing at 10 years old.