Poetry Friday: Mummy of Lady Teshat

It's a very happy Poetry Friday for me. By the time you read this, I will be in Florida, meeting my brand new nephew, Jagger Max. Jagger was born on April Fool's Day which, to anyone who knows my brother, shows that our newest family member already has a sense of poetic justice.

For the past week, I have been blogging about my portrait poem workshop. This is one of the most powerful lessons I do with kids. Encouraging students to write from a stranger's point of view works magic on their brains.

Today, I'll share a story from the poetry classroom, along with a student poem.

During April and May, I was in residence at Swansfield Elementary in Columbia, MD. On portrait poem day, the school's wonderful art teacher provided us with dozens of fine art posters. PTA President (and residency organizer) Jen Mallo put the artwork up all around the classroom. When Ms. Salazar's students walked in from lunch, there were walls full of faces looking back at them.

If you want to try the lesson (I've used it for grades 3 through HS), you can read my full portrait lesson here. After I shared the model portrait and poem, the fifth graders had a few minutes to select a work of art.

Malaika N. chose this:

Mummy Case of Lady Teshat
worldgallery.co.uk

I usually circulate around the room while students are writing. Malaika was quite absorbed in her work. When you read her poem, notice that it follows the structure I modeled. It begins with what you can see in the image -- the "facts" of the portrait. The point of departure, "what I can't see," begins with the word "Inside." From that moment, Malaika's imagination was working deep into the heart of the mummy.

Malaika stood and read this poem to her classmates as the period was ending. The room was silent. We all felt something amazing had happened. With words, Malaika made a strong emotional connection between herself, a 3,000-year-old mummy from approximately, and her audience.

Mummy of Lady Teshat

by Malaika N.

Mummified lady.

The casket resembles her.

Triangles and designs are all over.

She has dark hair and big eyes.

Inside, she screams to come out.

The gathering anger of 10,000 years

with a powerful kick will set her free.

Now she roams free.

She also roams unseen.

Now she is as weak as a baby bird.

She crumples to the ground.

Her dust finds it way back.

She is forever trapped in what she calls

the box of the afterlife.

Lady Teshat "lives" at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts

I took a second to check in with Malaika before I left for the day. When a poet connects with an audience, the words take on energy as she speaks them. It is a physical sensation, hard to explain but unforgettable if you have experienced it (either as a poet or as an audience member).

"You felt that, didn't you?" I asked Malaika. She did. It was a transformational moment for her, but also for her classmates.

The Swansfield fifth graders have been revising and typing up their poems. I know Malaika worked on "Lady Teshat." I can't wait to see what she's done with the poem. You can read up on this work of art here.You can even share information about the mummy's recent CT scan with your science buffs.

Thank you to Malaika's family and to the Swansfield team for allowing me to share this poem.

Have a great Poetry Friday. I'll be posting more student poems next week. For now, please visit Linda at Teacher Dance for more poetry posts.

Portrait Poems Part 3

Last week, we looked at writing portrait poems with elementary schoolers.Part one of the lesson is here, where I introduce the concept of starting with "what I see" in a picture or newspaper photo, then adding "what I imagine" to extend the poem.

Part two of the lesson is here. It includes a model pairing of painting and poem by artist Shonto Begay.

Picasso is a great choice for the
portrait poem workshop. The image
invites storytelling.

In some schools, the art teacher will provide fine art portraits for the kids to choose from. I'll share some art-response portraits from fifth grade students tomorrow.

At Northfield Elementary, we like to display the portrait poems with their images. This means the children are asked to bring in newspaper or magazine clippings. Two rules: it has to be an image of a person, it should not be someone you know. We can bend this rule for celebrities. I don't like the students to write in response to photos of themselves or family. (See part one of the lesson for my reasoning.)

I recommend having extra photos. Newspaper clippings work best, because they often have a story built into the image. In finding good photos, look for expression in the face or body language, a person in action, or an interesting setting or "props" within the image.

When the students are ready to write, some like to use a T-chart for brainstorming: "I see" or "Facts" listed on one side, "I can't see" or "Imagination" on the other.

Kyle's portrait is also a narrative poem. I think he was inspired by our conversation about Shonto Begay's painting, "Down Highway 163." This poet has a natural sense of rhythm.

Run Away Slave

by Kyle S.

I've been working so hard

all day and night

but now I get to run

away from my king's sight.

I've been running through forests.

I've been running through fields.

I've been swimming through rivers.

Ouch, there's an eel.

And now I'm in a cave

with rocks and a boulder.

Oh NO! A dead end.

I must roll the rocks over.

Yay! Look, there's an exit

behind all of these rocks.

Out in the sun

and away from the locks.

Oh NO! It's my king

with the guards on his wing.

Now, the chase is on.

 

With a poet this advanced (even in third grade!) I feel comfortable making a comment on the eel line: "Does this funny line fit the tone of your poem?" Kyle will think that over when we revise.

Two students had the same photo -- a magazine ad showing a girl with a jar of fireflies. The class got to hear both poems. It was fascinating to see what different responses each poet came up with. Here is one (I added line breaks):

As She Sits

by Katie T.

As she sits on the stone fence,

her face gleams with light.

She held a jar

with rocks and plants plus light.

What is that glow in the jar?

Then fireflies shot out.

Her face lit up.

She watched them fly free.

In the darkness an owl hoots,

but she still watched.

The lid was in her hand.

A firefly landed on the lid.

The gold color shined bright

from the light.

The dark doesn't scare her.

animals.howstuffworks.com

The class talked about the owl -- an addition from Katie's imagination. There was no owl in the starting image.

Abby wrote in response to a post card I brought. It's a photo from a series of famous women. This one was of a statue of Sacagawea in Portland.

I See a Woman

by Abby Y.

I see a woman

reaching out

feeling her furry dress

with a stray coat

that's very gray.

The wind blowing

through her thick hair

with a baby on her back

standing there like she

is a frozen statue

not happy.

I read somewhere that Sacagawea is the subject of more U.S. statues than any other single person.

We'll look at some fifth grade portraits in response to fine art tomorrow.