I was privileged to hear Dennis Lee share poems from his new collection of poetry, Melvis and Elvis, last Monday at Reading For The Love Of It 2015. I love Dennis Lee's poetry and always have. His sense of rhythm mixed with his poet-philosopher outlook have always produced fun poetry that digs into the truths of life and being. That is a pretty big statement, but it's true for me. When I was young, my book Aunt gave me Nicholas Knock and Other People and I read it innumberable times. In university when discussing rhythm in Oral Narrative, I shared Nicholas Knock with my class and when I'm out biking, even today, I still hear, Nicholas Knock was a venturesome boy. He lived at number eight. He went for walks in the universe and generally got home late. reverberating around my head to the rhythm of my pumping legs. That poem has never left me. Another interesting poetry related event happened last week. I had my adult book club read Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson. I thought that exposure to poetry would be a nice change. I also thought that a novel in verse would suit book club well, as there was still a story. It was an interesting experiment. This beautiful, political, award-winning book bombed. Of course, a couple liked it, but I tried to figure out what went wrong. These were readers. We have tackled some pretty hefty books over our fourteen years. What was it about a Young Adult novel in verse that was inaccessible? In listening to our discussion, I discovered it. They were afraid of it . They said they didn't know where to pause. They weren't sure how they were supposed to read it. They asked why it didn't rhyme. They didn't know about free verse poetry. No wonder they couldn't enjoy it. I felt like I had given them the unsuitable brick book we are told never to give our students. There were a couple that liked it, and I certainly did, so what was the difference. Dennis Lee's speech a week later clarified it for me. He stated we must, "read poems aloud & let the students discover they love listening to poems." Then we must allow them to discover "their own ability to read & hear the poem as a living thing, " in a safe and positive space. We need to start young. We need to play. With only the exposure to the "gruesome poemicide of poetry" thati most of us received at school with the analysis of literary devices and meaning of important poems, how could we enjoy it. He also stated it wasn't the fault of those teachers, they probably had been taught the same way. He explained we need to ground our students in the enchantment of poetry. He inspired me to explore the idea of teaching poetry in the poetry itself. I've always wanted to write a sestina, so here it goes! Stepladder Over Poemicide
Inspired by Dennis Lee’s keynote speech at Reading For the Love Of It 2015 For me poetry is beauty, I love the mix of words Different order, different meaning Playing with the sound To create a feeling Exploring a topic of passion People without exposure to the passion Can worry too much to see the beauty Tangled in punctuation, left feeling Scared of the words Afraid they’ll miss the sound Positve, they’ve confused the meaning To help them find meaning Enunciate your passion out loud so they hear the sound Repeat again and again to appreciate beauty Build a love of words Wrap your tongue around the feeling Comfort in that feeling And rhythm can move one on to meaning Words on top of words Building passion Exploring beauty Reading a lot aloud accustoms ears to sound So that poems never even said, a sound Inside their head, creates a gut feeling, A direct pause, recognition of beauty Ability to trust the discovery of meaning Perhaps, to find their own passion Reflected in the words Of others, building connection through words Learning that in pain we all make the same sound Just as in passion Empathy in life can be a feeling Of not being alone, creating meaning Seeing all around us the beauty Some will find beauty in their own words Some will create meaning, playing with sounds Exploring their feeling, finding their passion S. Cole Feb 2015 Thank you, Dennis Lee, for what you've given me and thank you for creating a new book of poetry which will help bring new readers into a world of enchantment.
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Who Am I?I'm a Teacher Librarian and Grade 7 Language Teacher. Many thanks to these forums which inspire, educate and promote collaboration & communication!
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