1 00:00:18,369 --> 00:00:19,830 The Opposites Game 2 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:22,311 For Patricia Maisch 3 00:00:23,971 --> 00:00:27,921 This day my students and I play the Opposites Game 4 00:00:27,921 --> 00:00:32,621 with a line from Emily Dickinson. My life had stood 5 00:00:32,621 --> 00:00:36,661 a loaded gun, it goes and I write it on the board, 6 00:00:36,661 --> 00:00:40,161 pausing so they can call out the antonyms – 7 00:00:40,161 --> 00:00:42,545 My Your 8 00:00:42,545 --> 00:00:45,105 Life Death 9 00:00:45,105 --> 00:00:48,945 Had stood ? Will sit 10 00:00:48,945 --> 00:00:50,925 A Many 11 00:00:50,925 --> 00:00:53,275 Loaded Empty 12 00:00:53,275 --> 00:00:55,785 Gun ? 13 00:00:55,785 --> 00:00:57,565 Gun. 14 00:00:57,565 --> 00:01:00,345 For a moment, very much like the one between 15 00:01:00,345 --> 00:01:04,349 lightning and its sound, the children just stare at me, 16 00:01:04,349 --> 00:01:08,979 and then it comes, a flurry, a hail storm of answers – 17 00:01:08,979 --> 00:01:14,656 Flower, says one. No, Book, says another. That's stupid, 18 00:01:14,656 --> 00:01:18,626 cries a third, the opposite of a gun is a pillow. Or maybe 19 00:01:18,626 --> 00:01:24,471 a hug, but not a book, no way is it a book. With this, 20 00:01:24,471 --> 00:01:26,311 the others gather their thoughts 21 00:01:26,311 --> 00:01:30,053 and suddenly it’s a shouting match. No one can agree, 22 00:01:30,053 --> 00:01:35,693 for every student there’s a final answer. It's a song, 23 00:01:35,693 --> 00:01:39,653 a prayer, I mean a promise, like a wedding ring, and 24 00:01:39,653 --> 00:01:44,993 later a baby. Or what’s that person who delivers babies? 25 00:01:44,993 --> 00:01:49,803 A midwife? Yes, a midwife. No, that’s wrong. You're so 26 00:01:49,803 --> 00:01:54,363 wrong you’ll never be right again. It's a whisper, a star, 27 00:01:54,363 --> 00:01:59,093 it's saying I love you into your hand and then touching 28 00:01:59,093 --> 00:02:03,664 someone's ear. Are you crazy? Are you the president 29 00:02:03,664 --> 00:02:08,054 of Stupid-land? You should be, When's the election? 30 00:02:08,054 --> 00:02:12,742 It’s a teddy bear, a sword, a perfect, perfect peach. 31 00:02:12,742 --> 00:02:17,759 Go back to the first one, it's a flower, a white rose. 32 00:02:17,759 --> 00:02:21,529 When the bell rings, I reach for an eraser but a girl 33 00:02:21,529 --> 00:02:25,659 snatches it from my hand. Nothing's decided, she says, 34 00:02:25,659 --> 00:02:29,049 We’re not done here. I leave all the answers 35 00:02:29,049 --> 00:02:32,939 on the board. The next day some of them have 36 00:02:32,939 --> 00:02:37,259 stopped talking to each other, they’ve taken sides. 37 00:02:37,259 --> 00:02:42,756 There's a Flower club. And a Kitten club. And two boys 38 00:02:42,756 --> 00:02:47,016 calling themselves The Snowballs. The rest have stuck 39 00:02:47,016 --> 00:02:49,996 with the original game, which was to try to write 40 00:02:49,996 --> 00:02:53,036 something like poetry. 41 00:02:53,036 --> 00:02:56,296 It's a diamond, it's a dance, 42 00:02:56,296 --> 00:03:00,406 the opposite of a gun is a museum in France. 43 00:03:00,406 --> 00:03:03,488 It's the moon, it's a mirror, 44 00:03:03,488 --> 00:03:08,178 it's the sound of a bell and the hearer. 45 00:03:08,178 --> 00:03:11,840 The arguing starts again, more shouting, and finally 46 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:17,100 a new club. For the first time I dare to push them. 47 00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:21,510 Maybe all of you are right, I say. 48 00:03:21,510 --> 00:03:26,918 Well, maybe. Maybe it's everything we said. Maybe it’s 49 00:03:26,918 --> 00:03:33,668 everything we didn't say. It's words and the spaces for words. 50 00:03:33,668 --> 00:03:36,798 They're looking at each other now. It's everything in this 51 00:03:36,798 --> 00:03:37,728 room 52 00:03:37,728 --> 00:03:42,578 and outside this room and down the street and in the sky. 53 00:03:42,578 --> 00:03:46,808 It's everyone on campus and at the mall, and all the people 54 00:03:46,808 --> 00:03:51,839 waiting at the hospital. And at the post office. And, yeah, 55 00:03:51,839 --> 00:03:56,178 it's a flower, too. All the flowers. The whole garden. 56 00:03:56,178 --> 00:04:01,058 The opposite of a gun is wherever you point it. 57 00:04:02,028 --> 00:04:08,478 Don’t write that on the board, they say. Just say poem. 58 00:04:08,478 --> 00:04:13,711 Your death will sit through many empty poems.