It was Writer’s Club at my local library last night and we were looking at the poem ‘I am Taliesin’ by the infamous and legendary bard of the same name (he was real but his story is interwoven with the magic of the Arthurian legends).

It is a poem of self-pride and boastfulness and is bursting full of energy. (You can read it here.)

Our challenge was to produce our own boastful ‘I am…’ poem. I chose to write mine about my feisty little almost-four year old rather than myself. And this is the result:

I am Tori.

I am Tori. I am the best balancer,

When fighting with naughty socks.

I know why the bus is noisy when it stops;

Why Arthur is crying; why Simba is lost; why there’s only one shoe;

Why the bookshelf is empty; why Teddy is in the bath;

Why Mummy is cross; why Caius is laughing;

Why Arthur has no juice left; why the biscuits are all gone.

I know where the sun goes when it’s sleeping; where the stars go in the day;

I know where the stickers are hidden and when it’s safe to bring them out to play.

I know what you want for dinner and what you’re going to say.

I know how many sweets I can eat when no-one is looking;

How many toys fit in my bed.

I know why the drawers are wonky; why there is crayon on the wall;

Why the kitchen floor is wet.

I have been a roaring tiger,

I have been a cake, a monster, a knight in a castle,

A princess, a frog, a cat up a tree,

A stick for a dog in a meadow of grass.

I was thrown with abandon, left there to grow,

Picked up and nurtured,

Then passed on again.

Strange places and people, all bigger than I,

I met them, I charmed them,

And made them all smile.

I am Tori.