Portia Nelson (102--2001) was a cabaret singer, a poet, a songwriter, a painter and an actress on the long running afternoon television drama a.k.a. soap opera a.k.a telenovela All My Children. When throat cancer threatened to stop her career late in life, she developed a new way of singing and speaking. She was talented, resourceful, tenacious and she explored and expressed many talents. Small wonder she wrote the poem below about choosing new life directions.
The poem has been a staple of self help movement books and meetings. But it was new to me. I heard it in synagogue Bible study as we read the book of Exodus. Our teacher Rabbi Janet Marder talked about how even though the Hebrews had fled their lives as slaves in Egypt heading for a new land, as soon as it got tough wandering in the desert, many wanted to turn back--the certainty ofslavery being preferable to the unknown.
I would have shared this poem earlier in January as a New Year inspiration, but I wanted to test it out first as a teaching tool. It works. The language is simple enough to be used in ESL classes for reading, speaking and discussion. If your students speak English as a first language, you can pair it with the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken.
Whether you walk on urban sidewalks or roads that diverge in a yellow wood, I hope that you learn from the obstacles along the way!
Autobiography in Five Chapters
by Portia Nelson
Chapter One:
I walk down the street.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I’m lost.
I’m helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I’m lost.
I’m helpless.
It isn’t my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.
Chapter Two:
I walk down the same street.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in this same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don’t see it.
I fall in again.
I can’t believe I’m in this same place.
But it isn’t my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.
Chapter Three:
I walk down the same street.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I fall in.
It’s a habit.
But my eyes are open.
It is my fault and I get out immediately.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I fall in.
It’s a habit.
But my eyes are open.
It is my fault and I get out immediately.
Chapter Four:
I walk down the same street.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
There’s a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
Chapter Five:
I try walking down a different street.
