Perhaps one of the forces that shaped Poetry Out Loud (POL) was Reading at Risk, a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) study that identified an accelerating decline in the reading of literature. Perhaps one of the benefits of a national poem recitation contest with a 20,000 prize was that it would reward students who demonstrated a deep level of understanding about three poems respected as literature (by literature I mean a collection of words that holds significance for a group of people) . Here, for example, is Ocil Herrejon reciting “On Virtue” by Phyllis Wheatley.

The good news is that many of the POL participants are passionate about performing their own work. For several years at the California State Finals, students have performed their original poems for each other. Here is Herrejon’s original poem she recited at the dinner before the 2010 California POL finals:

The Women’s role

My mother once told me that a mujer debe

Trabajar en la cocina,

Que debe cuidar de los hijos

Que debe servir al hombre,

De niña me decían

As I got older

They taught me

To cook

To clean

To serve

& not talk back

To stay quiet

, and do as your told.

When time went on I learned new ways

I learned the power that a mujer has

&

How blessed we are to be Cihuatl

To be able to create another life

In our own body.

One that grows for nine months

en la vientre de uno.

I learned that we are not less than a man

&

We are also not more.

we    as males and females are equal

and need of each other

To create duality

Now I’m becoming a mujer

I am a Xicana una Mexicana

In search of my identity

I am gaining knowledge and speaking the truths

Now my mother says . To fight

for what I believe is right

To become independent and not dependent of any man.
To be a           mujer             &   a strong one

Because now she as well as I has learned the blessing and strength

We have as mujers.

Perhaps it’s because March is National Women’s History Month that I see a similarity between the two poems. If the poems in POL can inspire new writing, continue the conversation between creative writers across history, then it goes beyond its original conception and accomplishes what many hoped it would.

It should also be noted that Herrejon uses code-switching—using words from two or more languages. Like the “duality” of male and female, code-switching can reflect the thoughts and feelings of people who live in more than one culture. For one of her poems in POL, Herrejon recited the code-switching classic “Bilingual/Bilingue” by Rhina P. Espaillat:

One of the areas of evaluation in the POL competition is “Level of Understanding.” Although there is no category for “Application of Understanding,” it is marvelous to see students making use of the poetry they’ve recited to write their own.

This week in Sacramento (March 20 & 21), high school students from all over California will

I will use my time,
but it will not be like the minutes,
ticking away after you were gone.

I will be loved,
but not like the love
that you gave to me.

I will be cold,
but not like the coldness
that I felt when I pet you the last time.

I loved you,
And you were special,
And I’m glad you were my pet.

Sleep soft, Sugar.
Sleep soft.

By Sierra N Carrel, a 4th grade student

“Sleep Soft” was originally published in My Song is the Light, the California Poets in the Schools 2007 statewide anthology. Buy a California Poets in the Schools anthology to read more poetry from CPITS students and teachers.

A poem isn’t a rip in the sky

where evil lives

A poem isn’t a hint of darkness

in a peaceful meadow

A poem is a faint light

in a pitch black room

A poem is a familiar seed

in a foreign land

A poem is a forgotten rose

in a field of poison ivy

A poem is life

in a graveyard

By Brian Go, a 5th grade student

“A Poem of Hope” was originally published in What the World Hears, the California Poets in the Schools 2009 statewide anthology. Buy a California Poets in the Schools anthology to read more poetry from CPITS students and teachers.

Cheryl Evans recites Gwendolyn Brooks' "The Mother" on the floor of the California State Senate at the 2010 Poetry Out Loud competition.

In 2010, Cheryl Evans was a senior at Deer Valley High School in Contra Costa County. She was also a founding member of The Wolverine Writing Club. Evans was one of three county champions that night who introduced themselves as interested in “educational reform.” Poetry Out Loud was something they said our educational system should keep and develop. Members of the current U.S. House of Representatives majority, however, have mentioned the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which organizes Poetry Out Loud, as a program to cut for deficit reduction. Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, whose name is often mentioned as a presidential candidate for 2012, has described the NEA as “fluffery.”

As evidence that the NEA is an essential partner to quality education, watch & listen to Evans recite Gwendolyn Brook’s “The Mother” on the floor of the California State Senate:
As impressive as Evans’ public speaking skills are, it was what she wrote herself that most impressed me at Poetry Out Loud in Sacramento. At the dinner for California’s county champions, Evans stood and said from memory an original poem on the need for education reform. Given unrelenting arguments–such as in Wisconsin–to once again reduce budget deficits with policies that further diminish public education, Evans’ poem is sadly the news of the day a year later:

AMERICA, america by Cheryl Evans

I thought you were great.
Everyday I stand to not just recite,
But to confess the pledge of allegiance
Even if no one else does.
I believed in you.
Even though you became dishonest, cold-hearted and untrue.
And in 1992, I don’t even think you were prepared to raise me for society.
How you promised to protect me, and my brothers, and my sisters.
You lied! Because I sat back in 2001
And through innocent eyes I witnessed you cross the line.
But I was okay with the excuses you gave
To take my siblings away from home
To fight in another country’s gates.
But at that age I would have forgiven you for anything, America.
You were my hero.
However, as I grew older, each year you grew colder.
But maybe it was because of the man in the House at the time.
He had you in so much turmoil I thought you would never recover.
But in 2004, to my surprise, did I discover
That you still wanted him around.
Despite how my brother’s blood continued to be shed
On that other country’s ground.
Wow, America, you truly are unpredictable.
But I just sat back and laughed,
As you allowed him to take you deeper in turmoil
Then, BAM!! In 2008 your markets crash.
So now your Americans have to sit back
And watch the government fix itself.
And it remained like that for a number of months
It was the government and then it was everybody else.
But, luckily, later that year Obama is elected.
So, “YES WE CAN!”
Meant that we were no longer neglected, right?
Wrong. Because remember that we take pride in the last lines
Of America’s freedom song:
“The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave”
Marianne Williamson was right.
She said, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”
So I’m taking Obama out, but America…
You took that power to a whole nother level.
Especially when you put your foot on my education.
If anything, these college campuses and universities
Should be your primary obligation to invest some dedication.
And really, America, this shows how much you know.
Without education, how do you think Corporate America is going to grow?
And this is a problem how education is becoming
Harder and harder to afford.
And I always looked at it as a necessity
To maintain the flow of this world.
But how does that happen
When nearly 22,000 teachers in my state is pink slipped?
The audacity of you America. You and your budget cuts,
No mercy, just snip at whatever you care to snip.
I wonder if it has ever dawned on you
That these present Economists and Congressmen will eventually grow old,
So whose next in line to take up the load?
Now excuse me, America, as I become even firmer.
But my education is being put on the back burner
And I don’t think you understand.
You talk about health care,
Without education there will be no doctors here.
And the present doctors today will eventually grow old
So whose next in line to take up the load?
And the media is blowing up these unemployment rates.
Well have you heard what employers are looking for in employees today?
For one, their looking beyond a diploma from a high school graduation.
But with these budget cuts, tuition is expensive
And if we can’t pay tuition then we can’t get that college education.
So your unemployment rates will remain high.
And, again, the presently employed today will eventually grow old
So whose next in line to take up the load?
I’m not hating on you, America.
I am still proud to be an American.
I just hope that you remember what I’ve said, remember me.
Stop while you’re ahead before you cut us too deep.
It’s when you can first admit you have a problem,
Take different steps of action so we can live out our true creed.
So God Bless You, America because His blessings is what you need.

Jason’s love of poetry and sports was a difficult mix as he prepared simultaneously for Poetry Out Loud and the California Interscholastic Federation Championships in wrestling. Sometimes the conflict is not from people’s assumptions about poets but from the limits of time. For his poems in Poetry Out Loud, Jason between meets learned Mark Doty’s “Golden Retrivals” and Gregory Djanikian’s “Immigrant Picnic” and practiced Jonathan Swift’s “Elegy on the Death of a Late Great General” on the flight to Sacramento.

On his way to compete in Poetry Out Loud, Jason Klingerman stood for a moment by the San Diego County diorama in the state capitol.

Jason, however, was hooked on poetry’s sound. He received a football scholarship and declared literature as his major. The football program where Jason first attended college advises the players on their studies, so Jason asked to have his schedule adjusted so he could handle the reading for his upper-level literature course. The coaching staff decided that the literature course wasn’t the right course for Jason because he was “wasting too much time on reading.”

After participating in Poetry Out Loud, Jason continued to perform poems and started writing them. Literature has become a life study to him, so he transferred to a college that would let him pursue it and football.

Here’s a poem he recently sent me:

Douglas County

Once again, a patch of land is stamped,
in red dye it reads: ACCESS GRANTED,
permitting Deep Pockets to feast on their prey

This royal and ancient land—
A King presiding over his Kingdom: The Plains.
The Rocky Mountains his Throne,
and Pike’s Peak his Crown,
decked in the purest essence of ordinary brilliance,
with jewel encrusted robes
of jade, lime, tan, basil, burgundy;
adorned with lakes and mountains,
ravines overgrown with thickets of Pinon,
willow, wild rose, Choke Cherry, juniper scrub,
and, woven in the threads, sylvan designs of Ponderosa Pine, Spruce, and Fir—
is given another burn, treated as if it were Man’s ash-tray;
sections cleared, cleansed and purged away,
then paved.

The wound is treated with maggots
in the form of Bobcats and cement trucks.
Earth folded over earth, pressed,
splattered with asphalt and concrete,
then steam-rolled to perfection.

Below are a few lesson ideas that focus on positive emotions, like gratitude. These are meant as outlines for lessons and will require additional research or preparation before being used in the classroom.

• Odes of Gratitude: Ask students to write down three things that they feel thankful for. Take a few minutes to let the class share some of these things aloud, while you make a list on the whiteboard/blackboard/overhead projector. Next, read a poem that is an ode and work with students to define what makes a poem an ode, and to determine the common characteristics of that type of poem. Writing Prompt: Write an ode for one thing that you are thankful for in your life.
• List Love: Read “Learning the Trees” by Howard Nemerov and talk about it with students. Writing Prompt: Pick something that you like a lot, or that you are very interested in. List what you know and like about this thing. Expand on what is in your list to write a poem that is all about the different ways you think of this thing. Consider, what does it mean for you to know so much about this one thing? What is it you don’t know yet but would like to learn about this object or topic? Note: This could also be turned into a small research lesson as well by asking students to pick something they want to learn about and then doing some research before writing poems.
• Happy Narratives: Ask students to write down three good things that happened to them today (or in the last week). Writing Prompt: Write a poem that tells the story of something good that happened to you, or something that happened that made you feel happy. Be sure to include specific details and lots of descriptive language.

For other ideas and poetry of the happy slant, check out the Academy of American Poets webpage on poems of gratitude.

Reading, writing, and talking about gratitude and joy in poetry class will encourage students to pay attention to those things outside of class, too. In that way, every lesson taught is a small opportunity to influence the kind of people your students will become. While your students may not all come away from writing class loving poetry, at least you can help them leave armed to seek happiness and enjoy life.

summer poetry class

In teaching poetry to young people, I tend to focus first on generating excitement about reading and writing poems. I design lessons to nurture creativity and open-mindedness about what poetry is and who can write poetry. I want to dispel the idea that poetry is always hard to write. Students need encouragement to realize that poetry is not too difficult for them to comprehend and connect with. Good poems, powerful poems, can come from simple ideas and be written with language that is easy for people to understand.

I consider it part of my job as a poetry teacher to help students conquer their inhibitions about facing, and filling, a blank page. Once students gain confidence about the fun to be found in writing and deciphering poetry, they are more ready think about word choice, line breaks, poetic forms, and revision work. Those topics help students build a shared vocabulary within a classroom for analyzing what they read, what they write, and expressing their ideas about what they want to write.

As students begin to feel successful in poetry, I hear a lot more talk about what they want to write next and how they want the poem to work on the page. That’s when I really know that students are gaining something from poetry as a writing exercise and an art practice.

A book-bag and t-shirt design created by cartoonist Mathew Digges c.2009

Last January I made a commitment to support the arts in a number of ways. As the new school year gets underway,I find myself reviewing my yearly goals and checking in this last quarter to see how I’m doing–because for artist-in-residency programs, this next year is going to be one of the toughest yet, in terms of garnering funds to support our students in their classrooms.

Some of the ways I decided to support the arts:

• Straight cash donations
• Signing up for subscriptions to literary journals and magazines
• Purchasing books straight from the independent publisher or independent bookstore
• Purchasing art

I haven’t been too consistent with my straight cash donations; when I think about it, I send money–but if it falls off my radar, I don’t. One idea I had at the beginning of the year was to just send five or ten dollars in cash a month to a cause I cared about (Like California Poets in the Schools). What I quickly realized was that my small, monthly donation cost the organization a good chunk of that donation since they are required to send me an acknowledgment and receipt! (To do–if I want a receipt, include my own Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope!) Still, five or ten dollars a month adds up to 120 dollars a year–and for California Poets in the Schools, that’s almost the cost of 2 full poetry workshops! Besides that, I learned this year that as organizations are able to show their support and donations, when revenue increases, they are then eligible to move up on the non-profit food chain, qualifying for much larger grant brackets–a difference between requesting a $5,000 dollar versus a $25,000 grant. That’s big money for an organization like CPITS– in sending it in small amounts, it feels pretty painless, too.

Signing up for subscriptions has been extremely successful for me this year as well–I realize that the subscriptions are much cheaper when I buy them for the whole year, and also, ordering a subscription ensures the organization I’m supporting that they have money to count on for the year. Pre-purchasing an anthology is also a great idea–one I’ve taken advantage of this year!

Purchasing books straight from up and coming poetry publishers, like NightBoat Books, for instance, is a great way to stay up to date on great contemporary poetry, but also support the independent publishing industry that we each care about.

Finally, I’ve spent time seeking out opportunities to purchase artwork–support the artists directly! While it’s difficult to directly support poets, visual artists who work with text, like book artist Ellen Sheffield (and many others), deserve our attention and money when we have it.

As teachers, literature supporters, parents, and writers, it’s up to us to keep the industry we love thriving despite the economic downturn. I’ve been thinking about what I’m willing to give up in order to direct my money and energy toward these organizations–I was surprised at how easy and painless it was.

No matter where you’re at financially, any little bit can help–even the change from a fancy coffee purchase. And with programs like Kickstarter.com, you could even get in on the ground floor supporting an artist’s project–feel good and put more art into the world!

Better yet, why not fold up a $5 dollar bill in a piece of paper right now, stick it in an envelope, and scrawl the following address on it–

CPITS
1333 Balboa, Ste 3
San Francisco, CA 94118

Anonymous donations are always welcome–and it only takes 14 people to send $5 to fund a poetry workshop!

“The poems we need, even when we might not know we need them, will find us, if we are looking, if we are open.” -Nick Flynn & Shirley McPhillips

“Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.” -Albert Einstein

“The young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.” -William Faulkner

“Practice is Art. If you leave off you are lost.” -William Blake

“If you do not breathe through writing, if you do not cry out in writing, or sing in writing, then don’t write, because our culture has no use for it.” -Anais Nin

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” -Annie Dillard

“A voice is a human gift; it should be cherished and used, to utter fully human speech as possible. Powerlessness and silence go together.” -Margaret Atwood

“What writing does is to reveal. ” -Rita Dove

“The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.” -Gustave Flaubert

“Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.” -Hermann Hesse

“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” -F Scott Fitzgerald

“And poetry, because it is timeless, takes time.” -Cynthia Ozick

“All writing is a risk and a trust; all writing is critical as it pertains to consciousness, and every word of it is for the record.” -CD Wright

“We, too, can divide ourselves, it’s true. / But only into flesh and a broken whisper. / Into flesh and poetry.” -from “Autotomy” by Wislawa Szymborska