Sometimes Small Voices Speak Volumes

The instructions are simple, yet very strict.

“When scoring,” the guide informs me, “please use two individual numbers for each work. Give a number between 0-5 for creativity/originality, place a comma, then give a number between 0-5 for adhering to the theme. For instance, 3,4 or 2,3 or 5,0.”

Then the tone gets tough. Insulting, even.

“DO NOT TALLY YOUR NUMBERS in the total column. We will do that.”

Now how am I supposed to feel about that? The PTA from Balboa Boulevard Magnet School in Northridge may think I’m qualified to judge the literary efforts of their children. But they won’t trust me with simple arithmetic.

OK, so maybe I should just feel honored to be a judge. So what if their first choice was my colleague Al Martinez and Al told them to give the new guy a chance. So what if I’ve been assigned the entries of grades 1, 2 and 3, while other judges are handling those sophisticated sixth-graders. Perhaps they don’t realize that I am a graduate of the Harvard of north Orange County.

But it’s too late to back out now. Besides, the essays and poems from these munchkins should be a refreshing break from the firestorms and violence and racial strife of life in Los Angeles. The theme is “If I Could Give the World a Gift . . . “

Now here’s a poem by A-12. (Sorry, but I just know the authors by code. Anonymity guarantees integrity, you know.)

It’s titled “Colors of Peace.”

I had a paint-palette-- Each color appealing to the sight; I had a paint-palette with colors Warm and cool and bright. I had no black for an orphaned child, I had no white for the face of the dead I had no red for wounds and blood, I had no yellow for burning sands, I had orange for joy and life, I had green for buds and blooms, I had blue for clear bright skies, I had pink for dreams and rest. I sat down and painted Peace.

Well, now. I rather like that. There’s realism and optimism there, plus a nice rhythm. Makes me wonder if somebody made a mistake. I realize that Balboa is a magnet school for “gifted” students, but still . . . this poet is just a third-grader?

Whatever. To paraphrase my idol Gary Franklin, “It’s a 5,5!”

Let’s see what’s next. A haiku from D-17.

The title is “Stop.”

Stop shooting people It is not nice to shoot them Please stop the shooting

And to think: I wanted a respite from reality. When you were in third grade, did you have such worries?

It’s so stark, yet so simple and innocent and polite. Only a child would say that gunfire is “not nice.”

And it’s haiku, all right. Three unrhyming lines. Five syllables, then seven, then five. That’s two entries down, only 25 to go.

Let’s see . . . Here’s a poem titled “No More Prejudice” and another called “Friendship.” Many kids, it seems, want to give the world a gift of clean air and clean water. Some want to plant trees and flowers and be good to animals.

And here’s a short story titled “My Gift of No Fires and Everyone Getting Along.” The author is H-24, a first-grader.

*

Once upon a time there was a world that has lots and lots of people and cities and they did not care for the earth. And they were littering and they were fighting and being mean to each other. One day I was walking around with a friend and she said, “Come with me and I will show you how to make a fire.” “That’s not good! Do you know what a fire can do?” I asked. “No.” “It can burn you and me! And some more children! We should tell people not to play with matches, cigarettes and of course fire!” My friend and I have decided that we should tell people the right thing to do and to treat each other nicely. There would be no fires and everyone would be nice to each other. This would be my gift to the earth!

*

Balboa, which will be showing off its students’ efforts this Friday at the school auditorium, is just one of many, many schools participating in the national PTA’s Reflections program, an annual endeavor in which children express themselves through literature, art, music and photography.

If you get a chance to see what the kids at your local school are doing, my guess is that the sentiments will be much the same.

Their voices don’t get heard enough.