Weekly Tot 3/12/2023

Hello there! Remember the Tot on the 26th? It was a poem, called Do Something, with no other context or story. I chose to not include any background information to emphasize the problem at hand: global warming. Today, I'm going to break down Do Something, since every line seems to be a different topic.

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Do Something

Don't you dare close your eyes

This world is broken

1 and a half degrees will shatter

You can't divide by zero

Luminous darkness looms

The world is not lucid

We're not invincible

Open your eyes

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I started the process of writing the Tot by listing out words or phrases that came to my head, typing as I thought. This was what I came up with.

don't you dare close your eyes [I thought of it because A Whole New World from Aladdin was stuck in my head]

starcrossed [I was looking for synonyms for 'unlucky' before writing the Tot, and this came up]

invincible

divide

undividable [not a word, but I wrote anything and everything I thought of]

you can't divide by zero

burg [relates to an assignment I'm doing in school]

cogent [also relates to the assignment]

placid

lucid [sounds like 'placid']

centenary [is used with the word 'lucid' on a vocabulary practice website I use in school]

I then skimmed through the list, and decided to start with a passionate "Don't you dare close your eyes". I still didn't know what the poem would be about at this point.

I was looking at 'invincible', 'divide', and 'undividable', and thought of 'broken', so "This world is broken".

In Language Arts, I'm writing a speech on how young people can make a different in their communities. I was researching quotes from Greta Thunberg, and the first line of my poem reminded me of her speech "How Dare You", which is when the poem shifted to climate change. 1.5 and 2 degrees (Celsius) have a big impact on the Earth, which is a whole other topic that could have its own article about some day. For now, I kept it to "1 and a half degrees will shatter [the Earth]".

Looking at the list of words again, I decided to write "You can't divide by zero", referencing all the work that needs to be done to restore our planet, and no one actually willing to help. You can't distribute roles and ways to help amongst no one.

I googled what 'lucid' meant just to be sure, and one of the synonyms I found was 'luminous'. If this poem is about climate change, how can I work 'luminous' into this... an oxymoron! If you want to use a word, but it's the exact opposite of what you need, try combining it to create an oxymoron, or a contradicting phrase. Some other examples of oxymorons are silent scream, or loud whisper. 'Looms' felt like it went with the other two words, so I got "Luminous darkness looms".

I still wanted to use the word 'lucid' though, which can also mean 'crystal clear'. "This world is not lucid" seemed perfect.

Back to the world list...invincible! "We're not invincible", the Earth isn't invincible, etc.

I was going to end the poem there, but as I skimmed through the poem and word list again, I saw "Don't you dare close your eyes". I can end the poem with a poignant "Open your eyes."

I hope this makes up for the relatively short post a few weeks ago! And yes, I wasn't short on time, I actually wrote this tot and my previous one in the same sitting, weeks before it's scheduled to air. Have a nice day!