I SHALL (2015)

The "My Voice" project was a warm collaboration between the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, Writers in the Schools (WITS) and Houston Grand Opera Community Outreach (HGOCo). Children in HISD schools were given the opportunity to learn how to craft poetry. Select composers from the Moores School of Music set some of the resulting poetry to music which was performed by Houston Grand Opera musicians. I Shall by Kyle Rivera uses a fun and heartfelt text written by Kashmere Gardens student Alani Skinner.

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https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/2015/April/0527MyVoice.php

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Text by Alani Skinner:

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I will put in my box a dark brown face

and I just might kiss him

I will put in my box a big

bold voiced boy that will fight

in a heartbeat

and I will love my creation

I will put into my box

a pair of flying shoes

My box is made of a lion, ogre

bear, rats, skin

I shall save my entire family from

going back to slavery

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