It’s not just in some of us It’s in everyone.Īnd, as we let our own light shine, We unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. We are all meant to shine, As children do. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking So that other people won't feel insecure around you. Your playing small Does not serve the world. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? It is our light, not our darkness, That most frightens us. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Do you most closely resemble a “flower” or a “weed” according to Polanco’s definition? Explain your answer. Who I am when EVERYONE is looking Who I am when NO ONE is lookingĤ. Fill in the boxes below with either words or drawings. Highlight what you believe to be the most POWERFUL phrase in the poem and explain below why you believe it to be so powerful.ģ. What two words stick out the most? Why?Īfter reading the whole poem, complete the activities belowġ. What do the first 2 stanzas mean to you?Ģ. If I could stand alone, strong and free, I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed.Īfter reading the first 2 stanzas of “Identity,” answer the questions belowġ. I'd rather smell of musty, green stench Than of sweet, fragrant lilac. I'd rather be unseen, and if Then shunned by everyone, Than to be a pleasant-smelling flower, Growing in clusters in the fertile valley, Where they're praised, handled, and plucked By greedy, human hands. To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea, Carrying my soul, my seed, Beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre. To have broken through the surface of stone, To live, to feel exposed to the madness Of the vast, eternal sky. I'd rather be a tall, ugly weed, Clinging on cliffs, like an eagle Wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks. Let them be as flowers, Always watered, fed, guarded, admired, But harnessed to a pot of dirt.
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