Poetry Friday: Clifton's Collected Poems

I was sitting yesterday in a bookstore cafe with poet Ginny Crawford, several books of Lucille Clifton's poetry filling our small table. Then I went hunting for Clifton's newly released Collected Poems, which just about collapsed our table. It is a book as mighty, inside and out, as Clifton was in life.

Celebrating the recent publication of
Clifton's mammoth Collected Poems.

Ginny and I are planning an event for this month's Baltimore Book Festival (9/28-30) -- a tribute to Clifton's work both as a poet and as an active, generous member of the literary community. She lived here, in Columbia, Maryland, and taught at St. Mary's College in the southern part of the state.

Me, CityLit Project's Gregg Wilhelm, and
Ginny Crawford at the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival.

Officially:

A panel of local poets and authors who knew and worked with Lucille Clifton discuss her poetry and legacy. Featuring: poet Linda Joy Burke, Little Patuxent Review contributing editor Susan Thornton Hobby, Edgar Silex and Lucille's daughter, Alexia Clifton. Moderated by poet Virginia Crawford and LPR editor Laura Shovan. The panel will include readings of Clifton’s poems from the newly released The Collected Poems of Lucille Clifton 1965-2010. Attendees may be invited to write on-the-spot poems in response to Clifton’s work. This program is presented as part of the 100,000 Poets for Change annual global event. 

Saturday, September 29, 12-1:30 PM in the CityLit Tent.

Clifton died in 2010 and our local community misses her a great deal, so there is a lot of positive energy around this event.

Ginny and I will be inviting attendees to write poems using first lines of Clifton's work as a prompt, something I invite you to try at home.

Going through the Collected Works, there were so many evocative first lines to use that we had to stop at forty. As Ginny and I scanned the poems, we stopped and read, shared favorite pieces and surprises -- again, more poems than you can imagine.

For those of you who teach older children, middle and high school, I am suggesting Clifton's poem, "Miss Rosie" as a model piece.

Many teens like to write about social issues because they are newly awake to the larger world. In judging teen poetry contests, I've read my share of poems about the homeless. What's usually missing, and what Clifton does so well, is the specificity that takes a problem and invites the reader to see an individual person.

miss rosie
by Lucille Clifton
when I watch you wrapped up like garbage sitting, surrounded by the smell of too old potato peels or when I watch you in your old man's shoes with the little toe cut out sitting, waiting for your mind like next week's grocery I say when I watch you you wet brown bag of a woman

Read the rest at Poets.org.

Like me, Ginny is a poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council. We came across a Clifton poem with this title, "We Do Not Know Very Much About Lucille's Inner Life."

Wow. What a great prompt for middle and high schoolers, "Insert your own name and go with it."

Be brave if you do this prompt with your students. This is a BIG invitation to speak the truth. That's what Lucille Clifton was all about. She spoke the truth through her poetry. She spoke difficult things in a way that invited everyone to listen and to be brave themselves.

Stop by Katya's place at Write. Sketch. Repeat. for more Poetry Friday posts.

Poetry Friday: Voices Fly

My new book is in!

It has the fabulous title Voices Fly -- so fitting for an anthology of student poetry. The subtitle is a bit more weighty (but important): "Exercises and Poems from the Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Residence Program." The Artist-in-Residence program funds my schools visits and those by other Maryland poets and artists.

Fellow MSAC artist-in-residence Virginia Crawford and I have been working on the book for about eighteen months. It includes a foreword by Maryland's Poet Laureate, Stanley Plumly!

When the arts council asked me and Ginny to edit a book of student poetry from the program, we were feeling a little more ambitious. What if we designed the book so that it was more than an anthology? What if we invited Maryland's poets-in-the-schools to share their favorite lessons? This way, teachers could actually use the book to teach more poetry in their classrooms.

Christine Stewart, our wonderful administrator at MSAC, agreed to the plan.

Inside Voices Fly, you'll find eight chapters. Each one features a MSAC poet-in-the-schools describing one of her favorite residency workshops, ranging in age levels from kindergarten through high school. Each workshop is followed by student poems written in response to the lesson. The book includes some back matter -- resources recommended by the eight Artist-in-Residence poets.

There will only be a limited number of copies available from the Maryland State Arts Council. However -- GOOD NEWS! -- MSAC's website will have a PDF of the book. In other words, anyone can download Voices Fly for free and make use of the lessons. The website is www.MSAC.org (be patient, the link may not be up yet).

Today, I am sharing a portion of my chapter on writing odes:

Chapter 6: Simple Odes

Laura Shovan

Upper Elementary through High School

Tone is an elusive concept, yet it crosses over two areas that educators are often required to teach as part of their writing curricula – voice and word choice.

When I began doing school workshops on simple odes, my focus was on use of simile, hyperbole and sensory detail. In working with students, I saw that they also understood the concept of tone as it works in a simple ode.
 

I like to pick up something random in the classroom. It might be a blackboard eraser, a paperclip, or a tissue. Together, the class brainstorms all of the things we can do with that object. We exaggerate -- a good time to introduce hyperbole -- in order to highlight the object’s value. With the eraser, all of our mistakes can disappear. The paperclip is like a secretary for our school work, keeping it organized and making us efficient. The tissue comforts us when we are sick, dries our tears when we are sad.

At this point, we read and discuss Gary Soto’s “Ode to Pablo’s Tennis Shoes.” We look for similes, hyperbole and description.

Elementary children need the structure of a specific prompt, so we all write odes to our shoes. Middle schoolers still need to have something on hand to write about but are ready for more freedom. My students have written odes to their desks, binders, a bookmark, even the EXIT sign over the door.

The key in an ode, as the children quickly pick up, is that we are making a persuasive argument. The words, similes and descriptions we use – the tone of the poem – needs to convince the reader that these sneakers are the best sneakers in the universe. Through tone, simple odes remind readers to stop and pay attention to everyday objects that deserve praise.

I recently did the workshop on odes with a group of fifth graders at Swansfield Elementary. Here are two of their poems. I bent the rules about having something on hand for Fahd, because he was itching with enthusiasm to write this ode:

Ode to Firefighter

by Fahd K.

Strong and brave

Fights fire with

Cool water

Gallons and gallons

of water coming

from a hose

like a black snake

A big, hard helmet

protects a face

mighty like a god

of fire

Happy as a winner

for saved children

Tired, happy, good

Back to the

fire station.

Tyler understood that odes can easily go from praising an object to over-the-top rhapsodizing. I love his sense of humor in this simple ode:

Ode to My Pants

by Tyler D.

Dear Pants

Thank you for

Protecting

my legs and

knees from

scrapes on the

sidewalk.

You protect

me like armor

in a war and

steel on a vault.

And for giving

me good style!

Pants you

have the

Biggest meaning

on my body.

I hope you'll all stop at the Maryland State Arts Council website and download a copy of Voices Fly for your classroom or your library. Thanks to Swansfield E. S. and the poets' families for allowing me to share the students' work.

Carol at Carol's Corner is hosting Poetry Friday today. Please stop by Carol's blog for more poetry news and reviews.

Living Poems at 2011 Baltimore Book Festival

Yesterday was our big 100 Thousand Poets for Change event.

Gregg Wilhelm of CityLit Project was awesomeness itself, hosting our Living Poetry Flash Mob at the CityLit Stage.

Me, Gregg Wilhelm of CityLit Project, and my co-conspirator, poet Virginia Crawford.

Ginny and I designed this family literacy activity for the 100 Thousand Poets for Change event happening worldwide on Saturday, 9/24/11. You can visit the 100 TPC website to watch video and see photos of events in Afghanistan, Egypt, Australia, Washington, DC, etc.

I tried to convince Baltimore's Best Hon to be in a living poem. She had too many adjectives to fit in one line of verse.

Here are my favorite Living Poems from Saturday.

Courage waving toward time

Face the path beyond fear

I become fire and kiss everyone out of time

May you inspire poetry

The path beyond fear feels change become courage

And my favorite poem, because it captures the 100 TPC spirit:

Everyone human become a revolutionary innocence

We donated the "gently used" tee-shirts to a local charter school, where a fifth grade teacher wants to try Living Poetry in her classroom. I'm happy to report 100 TPC founder Michael Rothenberg got a big kick out of the Living Poem photos.

Tomorrow, I'll post about the "Poets for Social Justice Panel," sponsored by Little Patuxent Review. What a valuable discussion about Social Justice issues in the U.S! LPR will have video of the conversation available online later this week.

Reminder -- LPR is accepting submissions for our Social Justice issue through November 1.

UPDATE: One of the surprises about this project -- revision! One poet would begin a poem, but others in the crowd would switch out or add a word. Fascinating to see revision in living process, not on the page, but with people.

Join the Living Poetry Flash Mob

Credit goes to my fellow MSAC Artist-in-Education Virginia Crawford for noticing that the date of 100 Thousand Poets for Change (Saturday 9/24) coincides with this year's Baltimore Book Festival.

Since Ginny and I both lead poetry workshops for children, we wanted to plan a fun, hands-on activity for families at BBF. How would this connect with 100 TPC? Read my interview with the organizer of this global event, Michael Rothenberg. Playing with poetry gets kids excited about language, eager to share their original poems, and teaches both self-awareness and empathy.

There are three ways you can join our Living Poetry Flash.

1. Show up at the CityLit Tent on Saturday, 9/24, between 12:00 PM and 12:30 PM. You'll see a group of people wearing t-shirts with a word or short phrase on the front and/or back. Line those people up to combine words and create your living poem. Be sure to take a photo. Send it to me or upload it to the 100 TPC Facebook page.

2. So, you want to be part of a Living Poem? Ginny Crawford and I will hand out a limited number of free t-shirts on Saturday morning (CityLit Tent). The words on these shirts will be taken from a Lucille Clifton poem that's in keeping with the "Poets for Change" theme. Come back to the CityLit Tent at 12:00 sharp to get versified. Your poet awaits!

3. If your house is like mine, you have glitter, fabric markers and puffy paint on hand. Or maybe your creativity ends with a black Sharpie. Either way -- grab an old t-shirt or get a new one.

My blank t-shirt.

Pick a word (family-friendly, please) that would inspire a poet. Write that word, or a short phrase, on the back of your shirt. You can use the front, too.

It will look like this:

I wrote my phrase with fabric markers and I'm ready for the Living Poetry Flash Mob.

Remember -- all parts of speech are welcome and needed. Small words carry as much weight as big words in a poem. We love articles, conjunctions, nouns and verbs equally.

With all that craft gear on hand, my middle schooler and I had to add some bling to our tees. Here are our Living Poetry Flash Mob tees-in-progress. The bandanna -- that's for my dog. He wants to be in a poem, too.

Questions? Leave me a comment. I will answer you pronto.

For grown ups, we will follow the Living Poetry Flash with another 100 Thousand Poets for Change event. Little Patuxent Review is sponsoring a panel discussion, "Poets for Social Justice." You'll find the list of panelists at the Baltimore Book Festival website.