Parent Guide > The Blue Dress

This week in class, we’re reading "The Blue Dress" by Saeed Jones.

In "The Blue Dress," a speaker's free-flowing thoughts guide the reader through an emotional contemplation of what it means to feel whole, accepted, and seen — or the opposite.

As we read, we will be discussing the themes of Friendship & Family, Gender Roles, Identity, Loneliness & Isolation, Love, and Prejudice & Discrimination as they relate to the text. We are trying to answer these big questions :

"What makes a family?", "What makes you who you are?", "What does it mean to feel alone?", "How are we changed by love?", "How do we define the roles of men and women?", and "What are the effects of prejudice?"

Ways to support your child:

• Ask your child about this poem at home:
  • What was "The Blue Dress" about?
  • What did you learn about Friendship & Family?
  • What did you learn about Gender Roles?
  • What did you learn about Identity?
  • What did you learn about Loneliness & Isolation?
  • What did you learn about Love?
  • What did you learn about Prejudice & Discrimination?
• Watch the following clips with your child at home:
  • 'Saeed Jones Reads at the 2014 Dodge Poetry Festival | Dodge Poetry'
  • 'Saeed Jones: I will take poetry to whatever I do | Overheard with Evan Smith'
  • 'LGBTQ+ Southern Survey Shows More Discrimination Among People of Color, Transgender Communities | 11Alive'