It's Poetry Friday!

It’s been three weeks since the Dodge Poetry Festival. But I’m not ready to leave the spirit of the festival behind yet. Here’s one last interview.

Today and tomorrow, we’re visiting with Khalil Murrell, Poetry-in-the-Schools Assistant at the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation’s Poetry Program. Khalil is a former high school teacher, now in his second year at Sarah Lawrence College’s well-respected creative writing program.

Khalil works on outreach – bringing Dodge’s poetry programs to struggling school districts in New Jersey, where the Foundation is based.

AA: Khalil, how did you become involved with the Dodge Poetry Program?

KM: Years ago, I taught secondary English in Philadelphia, during which time my colleague asked me to help bring a group of students from our school to the 2004 Dodge Poetry Festival. Needless to say, it was the muddiest experience I have ever had!

(Photo: Khalil Murrell, left. Poetry Assistant Michael Z Murphy, right.)

But it was not only great to see so many prominent names – i.e., Sandra Cisneros and Lucille Clifton -- but also poets whom I had recently seen on Def Poetry Jam, such as Marty McConnell and Roger Bonair Agard. And our students enjoyed themselves immensely, even helped to push our bus out of the muddy ditches. [One of the parking areas at the 2004 festival was called "Mud Lake." It lived up to its name.]

AA: What is it like working for the Poetry Program?

KB: Working here [at the Dodge Foundation] has surrounded me with writers in a way I never imagined. The camaraderie itself has affected my work and my drive to write. There are also tons of books of poetry all over our office, so I have access to a huge library and I’m reading poets now that I would not have considered otherwise.

AA: Readers, I was a festival assistant in 1996 and 1998. Working with festival organizer Jim Haba (left) was surreal. It looked and felt like a typical office most of the time, but one minute you’d be doing data entry and the next Jim Haba would be saying something profound and poetic. What a great job!

Khalil, can you describe the festival’s Student Day?

KB: At full capacity, the Concert Tent holds a little under 2,000 seats, and to see it filled with over a thousand young faces hungry for poetry makes you speechless.

We all hear stories about the non-attentiveness encouraged by our quick-paced society. So many poets ran up to me joyous about the striking and prolonged connections they had made with students during their Poets on Poetry sessions or in their individual readings.

Tomorrow, Khalil tells us how Dodge is reaching out to New Jersey's big city schools in need.

Visit Becky's Book Reviews for more Poetry Friday offerings: http://blbooks.blogspot.com/2008/10/poetry-friday-round-up.html

Amok at "That Play"

The fabulous Karen Nitkin -- freelance writer and friend extraordinaire -- took me to see "the Scottish Play" Friday night. Our local Shakespeare troupe, the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, stages great productions of The Bard's plays. They perform outdoors at the ruins of a women's school in old Ellicott City. We've taken the kids to two summer productions -- A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest. Both excellent. Are the kids too young for Shakespeare? Nay! We prep by reading picture book versions together. Maybe watch "Shakespeare -- The Animated Tales" and they are good to go. Being familiar with the plot, characters, and a few famous speeches is enough for kids to enjoy live Shakespeare. The costumes, props and acting do the rest. However -- Miss J was not so sure about seeing Macbeth. Her "Stories from Shakespeare" --retold by Nicole Baxter -- has a drawing of Banquo's ghost that gives her nightmares. She settled for my promises to tell her all about it. Both kids were hysterical and intrigued about the "curse" on this play. I taught them that they must call it "That Play" or "The Scottish Play." Check out this article on the curse from the Austin Chronicle. Karen and I chatted as we trudged up the hill to the ruins. Then we realized the play was starting in the parking lot. No fourth wall tonight! We trudged back down -- good thing it was a beautiful night. The audience participation was cool. During the early scenes of the play, the audience followed the Scottish generals around on a dark battlefield as if we were infantrymen. Another scene that worked well was the banquet where Banquo's ghost appears (great acting, BTW). We sat around tables as if we were partying with Macbeth and his cohorts. It added depth to a scene where Macbeth's cracks are starting to show. But, as Karen pointed out, it was a bit much. We never sat for more than 15 minutes and often stood, wrangling for a view. The last scene was played in near darkness. Here comes Macduff with -- what is that he's holding? Macbeth's head on a stick?! Glad I didn't bring the kids. The prop head looked enough like the actor to be freaky. So, Karen and I got our exercise. The leads were terrific. Loved the "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" speech. Loved how Lady Macbeth appeared physically smaller as the weight of her actions caught up with her conscience. Look for a link to Karen's theater review in the Baltimore Sun later this week. Next summer, the troupe has the comedy "Twelfth Night" on its schedule. It's Miss J's absolute favorite. We can't wait! I know it's been over two weeks, but I can't let go of the Dodge Festival yet. A bit more on that this week.