t 1998 g r. d teacher’s guide 202 online... · 2020. 6. 3. · lorna dee cervantes and shirley...
TRANSCRIPT
T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D ETHE 1998 GERALDINE R. DODGEPOETRY FESTIVAL
Dear Educator:
This is about something I think you will enjoypersonally and find helpful in your work withstudents.
Fooling with Words is a PBS documentary special produced with young people in mind.We wanted them to see just how vital, com-pelling, and enjoyable poetry can be. So wetook our cameras to the Geraldine R. DodgePoetry Festival in Waterloo, New Jersey, to capture the excitement of “the Woodstock ofPoetry.” We covered the festival as if it were asporting event, with cameras everywhere—onthe poets as they performed; the audience as itwatched, laughed, wept, and cheered; workshops where students and aspiring bards talked face-to-face with the poets about their craftand their lives.
The result is a film that will introduce your students to the power andpleasure of poetry in many guises—from the rhythmic cadences ofAmira Baraka and Kurtis Lamkin (who accompanies his poems on thekora, the African ancestor of the harp) to the haunting evocations ofLorna Dee Cervantes and Shirley Geok-lin Lim, the puckish wit ofPaul Muldoon, the spiritual power of Jane Hirshfield, the wry com-mentary by Deborah Garrison on the life of women in the workplace,and the moving remembrances of “Halley’s Comet” by StanleyKunitz, at 95 the dean of American poets.
This smorgasbord of contemporary American poetry comes at a timely moment. The New York Times says poetry is enjoying a resurgence in America. The Atlantic Monthly says, “the nation’s hotromance with poetry shows no sign of cooling off.” Esquire predictspoetry will be the pop-culture event at the opening of the new mil-lennium. Volkswagen included poetry books as a “standard feature”in all its new cars during National Poetry Month, and poetry is beingcelebrated at events from the recent White House gathering of poetsto poetry slams in smoky downtown bars.
Fooling with Words captures the spirit of this phenomenon. Wehope you will tape the program and use the accompanying materials.
Sincerely,
Bill Moyers
THE GERALDINE R.DODGE POETRY FESTIVAL
The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival is thelargest poetry event in North America. TheFestival, held every other year, was inaugurated in1986 by the Dodge Foundation to help poetryassume its rightful place in the center of our imagi-native and emotional lives.
Situated in historic Waterloo Village in NorthernNew Jersey, the Festival offers four days of poetryreadings and poetry-centered events—discussions,conversations, and workshops—for students, teach-ers, and the general public.
For more information, visit the Festival Web site at www.grdodge.org/poetry/, fax (973)540-1211,call (973) 540-8443 ext.139, or write to Poetry Festival, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation,163 Madison Avenue, P.O.Box 1239, Morristown, NJ07962-1239.
2000 Festival—September 21, 22, 23 & 24
“ We have fallen into the place where every-thing is music. That’s what the Festival feelslike—we feel this vast interconnectedness. It’samazing that this many people can be reallygenuinely excited about fooling with words.”
—Coleman Barks
“One thing I love about the Festival is seeing thethousands of high school kids trooping in, soexcited about the possibility of other ways tolive, about the choice that poets make to dosomething difficult, unlikely, a little bit out ofthe cultural mainstream.”
—Mark Doty
“The great feature of the Festival is its generosity of spirit, its welcome to differentfactions in poetry, different schools of poetry, young and old. That demonstration of the democratic spirit is indicative of one of the most important revolutions in the whole history of modern poetry in this country.”
—Stanley Kunitz
“The beautiful thing aboutbeing at the Festival is that it’slike a carnival, and you’re the ride. You can be a rollercoaster, or whatever.”
—Kurtis Lamkin
SOUNDS OF POETRY—nine half hours of poems by and interviews with many of the poets fea-tured in FOOLING WITH WORDS—will be available from PBS stations after the September 26,1999 broadcast of the two-hour special. Please check with your local public television station for the availability and schedule of these programs. These are the poets included:
Amiri BarakaRobert PinskyMarge PiercyColeman BarksLorna Dee Cervantes andShirley Geok-lin Lim
Stanley KunitzJane HirshfieldLucille Clifton and Mark DotyDeborah Garrison
SOUNDS OF POETRY may be ordered from Films for the Humanities and Sciences, ordering information inside.
A list of the poems in SOUNDS OF POETRY can befound on the FOOLING WITH WORDS Web sitewww.wnet.org/foolingwithwords or www.pbs.org/foolingwithwords
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INTRODUCTIONStimulate imaginative experimentation and cross-fertilization bymodifying, adapting, and re-applying Poet Card activities as yourinclinations and your students’ capacities suggest.
Consider the relationship of printed text to actual performance,including on-the-spot improvisation—as with Amiri Baraka,Coleman Barks, and Kurtis Lamkin.
Consult FOOLING WITH WORDS Online for additional poems,expanded statements about poetry, and a wide range of otherprogram-related resources.
Since 1986, the restored nineteenth-century village ofWaterloo, New Jersey, has hosted the largest poetrygathering in North America—the biennial Geraldine R.Dodge Poetry Festival. For four days, thousands ofpeople gather to listen to, read, discuss, and celebratepoetry.
FOOLING WITH WORDS WITH BILL MOYERS capturesthe excitement of the 1998 Geraldine R. Dodge PoetryFestival. It features performances by and interviewswith some of the most accomplished poets of our time.
BROADCAST: September 26, 1999 on PBS (check local listings)
HOW TO USE THIS GUIDEPreview the programs and read each poem carefullybefore making class assignments, as some poets maydeal with potentially sensitive and/or disturbing subjects.
Decide which segments and/or specific poems to offerto your class, and use the time code on the folder toidentify and cue up each segment. Remember: You cantape programs from FOOLING WITH WORDS orSOUNDS OF POETRY and use them in the classroom for one year after each broadcast.
Familiarize yourself with all Poet Cards, noting thatsome poets are presented on two sides of a Poet Card,others only on a single side. Designed for photocopying,these cards offer poems and a range of other resourcesfor each poet represented: a photograph, a bio note, astatement relating to poetry or being a poet, an introduc-tory question, several questions designed to stimulate dis-cussion, and suggested follow-up activities.
Use quoted statements by each poet to spark discussionabout this poet’s perspective on poetry and/or aboutpoetry in general. Much can be gained by choosing andcomparing favorites, by discussing how each statementrelates to that poet’s poems, by discussing how a state-ment by one poet relates to the poems of another poet,or by assembling these statements into a collage.
Use the single, introductory question for each poet tohelp students enter a poem by reminding them thatpoetry connects directly to their own lives. For exam-ple, start the discussion of a poet by asking students todetermine which poem the large-print, introductory question addresses. Follow the question as it goes intothat poem and back out into life. Encourage ongoingreflection by asking students to make up their own introductory questions.
SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS:
1) Enlarge statements by poets on the Poet Cards and post themaround your classroom.
2) Let students choose poems to read aloud, then review how thepoets actually perform these poems on the video.
3) Distribute copies of selected Poet Cards to small groups of students, and ask each group to define linkages among thepoets and the poems.
4) Provide students with copies of the complete set of Poet Cards,and ask them to organize their own anthologies, according totheir own principles.
A Note on Interdisciplinary Use
This FOOLING WITH WORDS Teacher’s Guide can be usedin classes in the arts and social studies as well as in Englishand literature classes. The poets in FOOLING WITHWORDS and THE SOUNDS OF POETRY represent differentcultural perspectives, determined in part by differences ingender, age, and ethnic background. Their voices can sparkinterest in events, places, or historical periods and bring ahuman scale to large, abstract concepts. In addition to sharing these materials with colleagues teaching other subjects, many teachers regularly invite students to choosepoets and poems relevant to their other courses of study.
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SELECTEDBIBLIOGRAPHYBaraka, Amiri. Funk Lore: New Poems, 1984-1995. Los Angeles:
Littoral Press, 1996.______. Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi
Jones, 1961-1995. Edited by Paul Vangelisti. New York:Marsilio Publishers, 1995.
______. The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader. Edited by William J.Harris with Amiri Baraka. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press,1991.
______. The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones. Chicago: Lawrence HillBooks, 1997.
______. Four Black Revolutionary Plays. New York: Marion Boyars,1998.
Barks, Coleman. Gourd Seed. Athens, Ga.: Maypop Books, 1993.______. The Glance: Songs of Soul Meeting. Rumi Translations. New
York: Viking, 1999.______. The Illuminated Rumi. New York: Broadway, 1997.______. The Essential Rumi. With John Moyne. San Francisco: Harper,
1995.______. The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia: Selections
from Sanai, Attar, Rumi, Saadi, and Hafiz. New York: OmegaPress, 1993.
Cervantes, Lorna Dee. From the Cables of Genocide: Poems on Loveand Hunger. Houston, Tex.: Arte Público Press, 1991.
______. Emplumada. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1981.Clifton, Lucille. The Terrible Stories. Brockport, N.Y.: BOA Editions,
1996. ______. The Book of Light. Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon
Press, 1993.______. Quilting: Poems 1987-1990. Brockport, N.Y.: BOA Editions,
1991.______. Next: New Poems. Brockport, N.Y.: BOA Editions, 1987.______. Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir, 1969-1980. Brockport,
N.Y.: BOA Editions, 1987.Doty, Mark. Sweet Machine. New York: HarperFlamingo, 1998.______. Atlantis. New York: HarperPerennial, 1995.______. My Alexandria. Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1993.______. Heaven’s Coast: A Memoir. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.Duhamel, Denise. The Star-Spangled Banner. Carbondale, Ill.:
Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.______. Kinky. Alexandria, Va.: Orchises Press, 1997.Garrison, Deborah. A Working Girl Can’t Win and Other Poems. New
York: Random House, 1998.Hirshfield, Jane. The Lives of the Heart. New York: HarperPerennial,
1997.______. The October Palace. New York: HarperPerennial, 1994.______. Of Gravity & Angels. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan
University Press, 1988. ______. Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry. New York:
HarperPerennial, 1997.Holman, Bob. Bob Holman’s The Collect Call of the Wild. New York:
Henry Holt, 1995.Kinnell, Galway. Imperfect Thirst. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.______. Selected Poems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1982.Kunitz, Stanley. Passing Through: The Later Poems, New and
Selected. New York: Norton, 1995.______. The Wellfleet Whale: And Companion Poems. Bronx, N.Y.:
Sheep Meadow Press,1984.______. Interviews and Encounters with Stanley Kunitz. Edited by
Stanley Moss. Bronx, N.Y.: Sheep Meadow Press, 1993.______, ed. The Essential Blake. New York: Ecco Press, 1987.Lamkin, Kurtis. El Shabazz (CD). Charleston, S.C.: Jamboco Sound,
1998.______. My Juju (CD), Charleston, S.C.: Jamboco Sound, 1995.______. (Contributor) I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You. Edited by
Naomi Shihab Nye and Paul B. Janeczko. Old Tappan, N.J.:Simon & Schuster, 1996.
Lim, Shirley Geok-lin. What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say.Albuquerque, N.M.: West End Press, 1998.
______. Monsoon History: Selected Poems. London: Skoob Books,1995.
______. Two Dreams: New and Selected Stories. New York: FeministPress, 1997.
______. Among the White Moon Faces: An Asian-American Memoirof Homelands. New York: Feminist Press, 1996.
Menashe, Samuel. Collected Poems. Orono, Maine: National PoetryFoundation/University of Maine at Orono, 1986.
Merwin, W. S. The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative. New York: Knopf,1998.
______. Selected Poems. New York: Atheneum, 1988.Muldoon, Paul. Hay. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1998.______. The Annals of Chile. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1994.______. The Prince of the Quotidian. Winston-Salem, N.C.: Wake
Forest University Press, 1994.______. Selected Poems, 1968-1986. New York: Ecco Press, 1987. Olds, Sharon. The Wellspring. New York: Knopf, 1996.______. The Father. New York: Knopf, 1992.______. The Gold Cell. New York: Knopf, 1987.______. The Dead and the Living. New York: Knopf, 1984.Piercy, Marge. The Art of Blessing the Day: Poems With a Jewish
Theme. New York: Knopf, 1999. ______. What Are Big Girls Made Of? New York: Knopf, 1997.______. Mars and Her Children. New York: Knopf, 1992.______. Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy. New
York: Knopf, 1982.______. Parti-Colored Blocks for a Quilt. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University
of Michigan Press, 1982.Pinsky, Robert. The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966-
1996. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1996.______. The Want Bone. New York: Ecco Press, 1991.______. History of My Heart. New York: Ecco Press, 1984.______. An Explanation of America. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1979.______. The Inferno of Dante: A New Verse Translation. New York:
Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994.Weil, Joe. Fifteen Cinquains (for a rainy day or two). Manasquan, N.J.:
Iniquity Press/Vendetta Books, 1999.
BUILDING A COREHIGH SCHOOL POETRYCOLLECTION(Total approximate cost $625)
B A S I C (cost approximately $350)
GOOD BROWSINGSongs from This Earth on Turtle’s Back: American Indian Writing. Bruchac, Joseph, ed.
Greenfield Center, N.Y.: Greenfield Review Press, 1983. ($10.95)The Forbidden Stitch: An Asian American Women’s Anthology. Lim, Shirley Geok-lin, et
al, eds. Corvallis, Oreg.: Calyx Books, 1989. ($16.95)The Top 500 Poems. Harmon, William, ed. New York: Columbia University Press,
1992. ($29.95)The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology. Bly, Robert, James Hillman
and Michael Meade, eds. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ($17.00)No More Masks! An Anthology of Twentieth Century American Women’s Poetry. Howe,
Florence, ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ($17.00)Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry. Gillan, Maria
Mazziotti and Jennifer Gillan, eds. New York: Penguin Books, 1994. ($14.95)Every Shut Eye Ain’t Asleep: An Anthology of Poetry by African Americans since 1945.
Harper, Michael S., and Anthony Walton, eds. Boston: Little Brown, 1994.($19.00)
Paper Dance: 55 Latino Poets. Cruz, Victor Hernández, Lerou Quintana, and VirgilSuarez, eds. New York: Persea Books, 1995. ($14.00)
Contemporary American Poetry. Poulin, A., Jr. ed. 6th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,1996. ($30.27)
POETRY OF DIVERSE CULTURESAnother Republic: 17 European and South American Writers. Simic, Charles and Mark
Strand, eds. New York: Ecco Press, 1989. ($12.95)The Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from around the World. Nye, Naomi Shihab.
New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1996. ($17.00)The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry. McClatchy, J. D., ed. New York:
Vintage Books, 1996. ($15.00)East Window: The Asian Poems. Merwin, W. S., trans. Port Townsend, Wash.:
Copper Canyon Press, 1998. ($16.00)
ABOUT POETRYRose, Where Did You Get That Red? Teaching Great Poetry to Children. Koch, Kenneth.
New York: Vintage Books, 1990. ($12.00)The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets. Moyers, Bill. (Haba, James, ed.) New York:
Doubleday, 1996. ($18.95)The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide. Pinsky, Robert. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1998. ($16.00)
ABOUT WRITING POETRYThe Poet’s Pen: Writing Poetry with Middle and High School Students. Lies, Betty
Bonham. Englewood, N.J.: Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press, 1993. ($18.00)Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community. Collom,
Jack and Sheryl Noethe. New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1994.($17.00)
The Poet’s Companion: A Guide to the Pleasures of Writing Poetry. Addonizio, Kim andDorianne Laus. New York: W. W. Norton, 1997. ($13.00)
Risking Intensity: Reading and Writing Poetry With High School Students. Michaels,Judith. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999. ($16.00)
E X PA N D E D (cost approximately $150)
MORE GOOD BROWSINGThe Black Poets. Randall, Dudley, ed. New York: Bantam Books, 1985. ($6.99)Woman Who Has Sprouted Wings: Poems by Contemporary Latin American Women.
Crow, Mary, ed. 2nd ed. Pittsburgh: Latin American Literary Review Press, 1988.($13.95)
New American Poets of the Nineties. Myers, Jack and Roger Weingarten, eds. Lincoln,Mass.: Godine, 1991. ($19.95)
Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions. DiYanni, Robert, ed. 2nd ed. NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1993. ($31.00)
MORE POETRY OF DIVERSE CULTURES100 Poems From the Chinese. Rexroth, Kenneth, trans. New York: New Directions,
1971. ($9.95)Contemporary East European Poetry: An Anthology. George, Emery, ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 1993. ($35.00)The Essential Haiku: Versions of Basho, Buson and Issa. Hass, Robert, trans. New York:
Ecco Press, 1995. ($15.00)Returning a Borrowed Tongue: Poems by Filipino and Filipino American Writers. Carbo,
Nick, ed. Minneapolis: Coffee House Press, 1996. ($14.95)
SUPPLEMENTARY(cost approximately $125)
GOING DEEPERThe Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry. Mitchell, Stephen,
ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ($13.00)Against Forgetting: Twentieth Century Poetry of Witness. Forché, Carolyn,
ed. New York: W. W. Norton,1993. ($23.95)Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women.
Hirshfield, Jane, ed. New York: HarperCollins, 1995. ($13.50)News of the Universe: Poems of TwoFold Consciousness. Bly, Robert, ed.
2nd ed. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995. ($12.00)
MORE ABOUT POETRYHow to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry. Hirsch, Edward. New
York: Harcourt Brace, 1999. ($23.00)Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry. Nims, John Frederick. 3rd ed. New
York: McGraw-Hill, 1992. ($23.50)The Poet’s Notebook: Excerpts from the Notebooks of 26 American Poets.
Kuusisto, Stephen, Deborah Tall and David Weiss, eds. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. ($13.00)
Poets on Poetry Series. Various authors and editors. Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan Press. (An outstanding anthology series of inter-views and essays by a wide range of contemporary poets.)
Lucille Clifton“we are running” 00:05-00:30
Amiri Baraka“Monday in B Flat” 00:43-00:53
Coleman Barks interview segment 01:13-01:26
Kurtis Lamkin interview segment 02:01-02:11“jump mama” 02:13-04:50
Stanley Kunitzinterview segment 04:59-05:15
Jane Hirshfield“The Poet” 05:17-06:31interview segment 06:40-07:52“The Envoy” 07:53-09:10interview segment 09:14-09:52
Mark Doty“Messiah (Christmas Portions)” 11:06-15:00
Lucille Clifton“adam thinking” 16:00-16:35“eve thinking” 16:38-17:10
Mark Dotyinterview segment 17:17-17:45“New Dog” 18:00-20:25interview segment 20:40-21:56“Golden Retrievals” 22:50-24:03
Mark Doty and Lucille Clifton dialogue 24:13-24:45
Lucille Clifton“won’t you celebrate with me” 24:45-25:28
Robert Pinskyinterview segment 25:36-27:24“To Television” 27:24-29:32interview segment 29:39-30:25q&a with students 30:26-31:05
Joe Weilfrom “Painting the Christmas Trees” 31:27-31:54
James Haba interview segment 31:55-32:24
David Gonzalez“Cross Bronx Expressway” 32:25-33:39
Amiri Barakainterview segment 33:40-34:10“Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)” 34:11-35:56 interview segment 35:58-36:33“Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)” 36:34-38:37
Marge Piercyinterview segment 38:55-39:20from “The chuppah” 39:22-41:09
Stanley Kunitz“The Round” 42:18-44:05interview segment 44:16-45:02“Halley’s Comet” 45:19-47:35“Touch Me” 47:45-49:50
Kurtis Lamkin“those crazy beach girls” (improvised version)
49:52-53:17
Marge Piercyfrom “What are big girls made of?”
56:06-57:35interview segment
53:23-53:40 and 55:15-56:03from “What are big girls made of?”
56:06-57:35interview segment 57:42-58:36from “For strong women” 58:40-59:47
Coleman Barksfrom “Today, like every other day”
1:00:00-1:00:21interview segment 1:00:50-1:01:27“Jars of Spring Water” 1:02:35-1:04:25“Little Miss Muffett” (by Briny Barks)
1:04:57-1:05:07interview segment 1:05:42-1:06:12“Justice” 1:05:23-1:05:41from “New Year’s Day Nap” 1:06:15-1:07:34interview segment 1:07:34-1:08:23
Robert Pinsky“ABC” 1:08:36-1:09:13interview segment 1:09:20-1:10:18
Bob Holmanfrom “I’ve Got a Rock ‘n Roll Mythology”
1:10:19-1:10:34
Denise Duhamelfrom “Kinky” 1:10:35-1:10:55
Samuel Menashe“Salt and Pepper” 1:10:58-1:11:20
James Haba interview segment 1:11:24-1:11:50
Deborah Garrison“Please Fire Me” 1:11:58-1:12:43interview segment 1:12:48-1:13:32“An Idle Thought” 1:13:34-1:15:00
Lucille Clifton“oh absalom my son my son”
1:15:35-1:16:09
Sharon Olds“The Clasp” 1:16:13-1:17:40
Mark Dotyinterview segment 1:17:49-1:18:33
W.S. Merwin“Yesterday” 1:18:35-1:20:20
Galway Kinnell“After Making Love We Hear Footsteps”
1:20:28-1:21:51
Paul Muldooninterview segment 1:21:57-1:22:26“Symposium” 1:23:10-1:24:45interview segment 1:24:48-1:25:27“The Sightseers” 1:27:51-1:29:10
Kurtis Lamkin“yo body” 1:29:11-1:30:16 interview segment 1:30:16-1:31:02 “yo body” 1:31:03-1:32:06interview segment 1:32:08-1:33:05“the million man march” 1:33:10-1:35:43
Stanley Kunitzinterview segment 1:35:49-1:36:24
Lorna Dee Cervantes“Summer Ends Too Soon” 1:37:01-1:38:10interview segment 1:38:15-1:39:15“Poet’s Progress” 1:39:16-1:42:18
Shirley Geok-lin Lim“Riding into California” 1:42:40-1:43:44interview segment 1:43:50-1:44:30“Pantoun for Chinese Women”
1:45:33-1:47:58interview segment 1:48:02-1:48:38
Coleman Barksfrom “Where Everything Is Music”
1:48:41-1:49:43interview segment 1:49:45-1:51:10“I See My Beauty in You” 1:51:14-1:54:06
This guide was produced by
Educational Resources CenterRuth Ann Burns, Director
PUBLISHER: Robert A. MillerEDITOR: David Reisman, Ed.D.DESIGN: B.T. WhitehillWRITERS: James Haba, Richard KelsoPERMISSIONS EDITOR: Christina L. Draper COPY EDITOR AND PROOFREADER: Sue Young WilsonEDITORIAL ASSISTANT: Kimberly Yuen
COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: Lynn Saville
ADVISERS: James Haba, Poetry Director, Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation
Lois Harrod, Voorhees High School, Glen Gardner, New Jersey
Peter E. Murphy, Atlantic City High School,Atlantic City, New Jersey
Suzanne Snyder Carroll, Hopewell Valley Central High School,Pennington, New Jersey
Ellen June Wright, Teaneck High School,Teaneck, New Jersey
Special thanks to the following teachers:Donald Delo, Peter Herzberg, Betty B. Lies,Judy Michaels, and Therese Mattil
Special thanks to the Geraldine R. DodgePoetry Program and Festival staff:Martin Farawell (Poetry Coordinator), Renée Ashley and Wendy Baron (AssistantPoetry Coordinators), Natalie Gerber andErica Mosner (Assistant FestivalCoordinators), and Egan Davson (Program Assistant).
FOOLING WITH WORDS WITH BILL MOYERS
PRODUCER: Dominique LasseurDIRECTOR: Catherine TatgeEDITOR: Joel KatzDIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Joel ShapiroPROGRAM CONSULTANT: James HabaASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Dahvi WallerDIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION: Felice FirestoneDIRECTOR OF SPECIAL PROJECTS:Deborah RubensteinEXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:Judy Doctoroff O’Neill and Judith Davidson MoyersEXECUTIVE EDITORS: Judith Davidson Moyers and Bill Moyers.
Funding for FOOLING WITH WORDS WITHBILL MOYERS is provided by the Herb AlpertFoundation, The John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Foundation, and Mutual ofAmerica Life Insurance Company.
Funding for this guide is provided by theGeraldine R. Dodge Foundation.
ORDERING INFORMATIONThe companion book to the series,FOOLING WITH WORDS WITH BILLMOYERS, published by William Morrowand Company, is available for $20 wherever books are sold. Videocassettesof FOOLING WITH WORDS, the two-hour special, and SOUNDS OF POETRY,the nine half-hour programs, will beavailable through Films for theHumanities and Sciences by calling 1-800-257-5126 or by visiting their Web site, www.films.com
©1999 Thirteen/wnet
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TIME GRID
A Time Grid for the poems from SOUNDS OF POETRY can be found onFOOLING WITH WORDS Online, www.wnet.org/foolingwithwords
Amiri Baraka
Wise I
WHY’s (Nobody KnowsThe Trouble I Seen)Trad.
If you ever findyourself, some wherelost and surroundedby enemieswho won’t let youspeak in your own languagewho destroy your statues& instruments, who ban your oom boom ba boomthen you are in troubledeep troublethey ban youroom boom ba boomyou in deep deeptrouble
humph!
probably take you several hundred yearsto get out!
Monday in B Flat
I can pray all day & God wont come.
But if I call 911
The Devil Be here
in a minute!
“ I believe you have to be true to people.You have to be writing something thatpeople understand but, at the same time,something that’s profound enough to havemeaning past, say, the six o’clock news.”
Who would ban your“oom boom ba boom”?Why?
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Born in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey, Amiri Baraka(Le Roi Jones) has international stature as a poet, drama-tist, essayist, and political activist. Associated with theBeats in the 1950s, he became a leader in the Black ArtsMovement in the 1960s. Much of his work considers thepolitical situation of people of color in capitalist America.
Baraka’s Poetry Reading as Jazz Performance
Like a jazz musician, Amiri Baraka generally begins with a settext but allows himself liberty to improvise freely in responseto the moment and his immediate context. In addition todeleting from and adding to his printed text, even droppingor repeating whole stanzas, he also sometimes performs longpassages which have no direct print analogues. While hisallegiance is always to the live poem happening now, he basesthat living poem on dedicated practice and preparation.
“Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)” includes excerpts frompublished poems and improvised material. A complete tran-script showing these distinctions appears on FOOLINGWITH WORDS Online.
“Wise I” and sections of “Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section),” including excerptsfrom “So the King Sold the Farmer #39” and “Y the Link Will Not Always Be‘Missing’ #40” from TRANSBLUESENCY, The Selected Poems of AmiriBaraka/LeRoi Jones (1961-1995), reprinted by permission of Sterling LordLiteristic, Inc. Copyright by Amiri Baraka.“Monday in B-Flat” by Amiri Baraka, from FUNKLORE: New Poems, 1984-1995,Littoral Press, Los Angeles. Reprinted by permission of Sterling Lord Literistic,Inc. Copyright by Amiri Baraka.
Amiri Baraka
*from “So The King Sold the Farmer #39” **from “Y The Link Will Not Always Be “Missing”#40”
from Wise,Why’s,Y’z (Africa Section)
The chains & dark dark &
dark, if there was “light”it meant
Ghoosts
Rotting family weghost ate
three
A people flattened & chained &bathed & degradedin their own hysterical waste
belowbeneathunder neathdeep downup under
grave cave pitlower & deeper
weeping miles belowskyscraper gutters
Blue blood hole into which bluenessis the terror, massacre, torture
& original westernholocaust
Slavery
We were slaves
Slaves
Slaves...
We were
Slaves...
They threwour livesa way
Beneath the violent philosophyof primitive cannibals
PrimitiveViolentSteam drivenCannibals*...
It’s my brother, my sister. At the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean there’s arailroad made of human bones.
Black ivory Black ivory...
Think of SlaveryasEducational!**
QUESTIONS
1. Although “Wise I” directly addresses the history ofAfrican Americans, its language remains open to broad-er application. What else could it address?
2. If we “Think of Slavery / as / Educational,” what canslavery teach us?
3. How do these three poems reflect or comment uponone another? How is each unique?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Consider what happens when Baraka repeats, withsubtle variations, the word “slave.” Try to do somethingsimilar with a word that carries strong feeling for you.
2. Develop a chant of your own, using percussive rhythm.
3. Research the history of slavery, focusing on its practice:in North America, in your state, in your town, or in yourfamily. Report on your research, in prose or in poetry.
4. Make an object, mural, dance, or piece of music thatexpresses the Middle Passage as portrayed in “Wise,Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section).”
Coleman Barks
Where Everything Is Music
Don’t worry about saving these songs!And if one of our instruments breaks,it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the placewhere everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notesrise into the atmosphere,and even if the whole world’s harpshould burn up, there will still behidden instruments playing.
So the candle flickers and goes out.We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.The graceful movements come from a pearlsomewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach up like spindrift and the edgeof driftwood along the beach, wanting!
They derivefrom a slow and powerful rootthat we can’t see.
Stop the words now.Open the window in the center of your chest,and let the spirits fly in and out.
by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
“ I like both translating Rumi andwriting my own poems. But inone, I have to disappear—withRumi. In the other, I have to getin the way—get my personalityand my delights and my shameinto the poem.”
How fully is the beautyyou love what you do?
PH
OT
O:
LYN
N S
AV
ILL
E
Today, like every other day, we wake up emptyand frightened. Don’t open the door to the studyand begin reading. Take down a musical instrument.
Let the beauty we love be what we do.There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
In 1976 Coleman Barksbegan translating the poems ofJelaluddin Rumi, a thirteenth-cen-tury Sufi mystic, a poet as famousin the Islamic world asShakespeare is in the West. Hehas since become the primarytranslator bringing Rumi’s poemsinto contemporary English. Bornin Tennessee in 1937, he now livesin Athens, Georgia.
from New Year’s Day Nap
Fiesta Bowl on low.My son lying here on the couchon the “Dad” pillow he made for mein the Seventh Grade. Now a sophomoreat Georgia Southern, driving back later today,he sleeps with his white top hat over his face.
I’m a dancin’ fool.
Twenty years ago, half the formhe sleeps within came out of nowherewith a million micro-lemmings who all died but onepiercer of membrane, specially picked to start a brainmaking,egg-drop soup, that stirred two sun and moon centersfor a new-painted sky in the tiniestballroom imaginable.
Now he’s rousing, six feet long,turning on his side. Now he’s gone.
QUE ST I ONS
1. What qualities of “Jars ofSpringwater” suggest that itstranslator was successful in dis-appearing?
2. What qualities of the passagefrom “New Year’s Day Nap” sug-gest that Coleman Barks wassuccessful in getting his person-ality, delights, and shame intothe poem?
3. Why do we fall “into the place /where everything is music”?Why don’t we climb up to thatplace?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Translate something from anoth-er language or from anothermedium of expression and con-centrate on trying to disappearfrom the process of translation.
2. Write something or make some-thing—a picture, a dance, asculpture—in which you deliber-ately let yourself “get in theway.”
3. In the program Coleman Barkssays, “When you’re in a placewhere music is, you can saythings over and over and over.”With music as a background,say something over and over, asthe music invites. With others,let each person repeat his or herown language to the samemusic. Discuss what you learnabout the rhythm of words.
4. Research the life and work ofJelaluddin Rumi and Sufi spiritu-al traditions. Report on yourresearch or create a display(visual or aural) that allows oth-ers to experience some part ofwhat you learned.
“New Year’s Day Nap” from GOURD SEED by Coleman Barks, © 1993 by ColemanBarks. Used by arrangement with Maypop Books.“Today, like every other day” and “Where Everything Is Music” from THE ESSENTIALRUMI, Translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, A.J. Arberry and ReynoldNicholson. © 1995 by Coleman Barks. Used by arrangement with Threshold Books.“Jars of Spring Water” from The Glance: Rumi’s Songs of Soul Meeting by ColemanBarks, translation and introduction, translation © 1999 by Coleman Barks. Used bypermission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Coleman Barks
Jars of Springwater
Jars of springwater are not enoughanymore. Take us down to the river!
The face of peace, the sun itself.No more the slippery cloudlike moon.
Give us one clear morning after anotherand the one whose work remains unfinished,
who is our work as we diminish, idle,though occupied, empty, and open.
by Jelaluddin Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks
Lorn
a D
ee C
erva
ntes
“
Whe
n yo
u gr
ow u
p as
I di
d—a
Chi
can-
Indi
a in
a b
arri
o,in
a M
exic
anne
ighb
orho
od in
Cal
iforn
ia,w
elfa
re c
lass
—yo
u’re
not
exp
ecte
d to
spe
ak.
You’
re ig
nore
d.Yo
u’re
som
ethi
ng in
the
per
iphe
ry,e
mpt
ying
gar
bage
can
sor
was
hing
pla
tes.
You’
re n
ot e
xpec
ted
to s
peak
,muc
h le
ss w
rite
.”
“Poe
t’s P
rogr
ess”
by
Lorn
a D
ee C
erva
ntes
, © 1
997
by L
orna
Dee
Cerv
ante
s. R
eprin
ted
by p
erm
issi
on o
f Lor
na D
ee C
erva
ntes
.
Poe
t’s
Pro
gres
sfo
r Sa
ndra
Cis
nero
s
I ha
ven’
t be
enm
uch
of a
nyw
here
,bo
oks
my
only
voy
age,
cros
sed
no b
odie
s of
wat
er, s
een
anyt
hing
othe
r th
an t
rees
cha
nge,
bird
s ta
ke s
hape
—lik
e th
e ra
reB
ee H
umm
ingb
ird
that
onc
e ho
vere
dov
er t
he p
rom
ise
of s
alsa
in m
y ga
rden
: a
fur
feat
here
dvi
sion
from
Cub
a in
Bou
lder
,a
wet
back
, sto
waw
ay, r
efug
ee,
fart
her
from
hom
e th
an m
e.N
ow, s
now
spa
tter
s it
s fo
reig
nst
arch
acr
oss
the
law
n go
necr
isp
wit
h fr
eeze
. I
know
noth
ing
trop
ical
sur
vive
slo
ng in
thi
s se
ason
. I
pull
the
last
leek
s fr
om t
he fr
ozen
eart
h, s
mel
l the
ir s
lend
ertu
berc
ular
live
s, st
and
in t
he s
leet
whi
teou
tof
Dec
embe
r: r
oots
draw
in, t
hrea
ds o
f rel
ativ
esex
pand
whi
le s
olit
ude,
the
cor
e,th
at s
lick-
head
ed fi
st o
f sel
f, is
cool
as
my
dog’
s no
se a
nd p
unge
nt
QU
ESTI
ON
S
1. I
n “P
oet’s
Pro
gres
s” L
orna
Dee
Cerv
ante
s de
scrib
es th
e co
urse
of
her l
ife a
s a
poet
. W
here
has
she
been
? W
here
is s
he g
oing
?
2. W
hat d
o th
e an
imal
s an
d pl
ants
in“P
oet’s
Pro
gres
s” te
ll us
abo
ut th
epo
et a
t the
cen
ter o
f the
poe
m?
3. A
ccor
ding
to “
Poet
’s Pr
ogre
ss,”
wha
tis
poe
try?
Wha
t is
“a s
tupi
d lif
e”?
4. W
hat e
ffect
s do
es th
e po
et a
chie
veby
des
crib
ing
a Be
e Hu
mm
ingb
ird a
s“a
wet
back
, sto
waw
ay, r
efug
ee”?
AC
TIV
ITIE
S
1. K
eep
a jo
urna
l of y
our e
ncou
nter
sw
ith a
nim
als
and
plan
ts, o
f all
sorts
.N
ote
how
thes
e en
coun
ters
stim
ulat
eor
refle
ct y
our f
eelin
gs a
nd id
eas.
2.W
rite
your
ow
n “P
oet’s
Pro
gres
s”ab
out y
ours
elf o
r a p
oet y
ou a
dmire
.
3. C
reat
e a
bulle
tin b
oard
ent
itled
“And
that
’s po
etry
.” L
et e
very
one
con-
tribu
te s
omet
hing
—a
draw
ing,
a p
ho-
togr
aph,
a p
hras
e, a
poe
m, e
tc.—
until
it is
ent
irely
cov
ered
.
Wha
t do
you
ris
k in
pra
ying
for
“any
thin
g bu
t /
a st
upid
life
”?
wit
h re
sist
ance
. N
ow w
hen
the
red-
belli
ed w
oodp
ecke
rca
lls h
is r
espo
nse
to a
Cal
iforn
ia
owl,
now
, whe
n th
e w
ound
tran
sfor
mer
in t
he w
omb
slac
kens
, and
I w
ait
for
pote
ntia
l: a
ll th
e liv
es I
hav
e ye
t to
nam
e,
all m
y lif
e I
have
will
ed in
to b
eing
al
ive
and
brit
tle
wit
h th
e ic
y pa
st. A
nd it
’s en
ough
now
, lis
teni
ng, c
ount
ing
the
unkn
own
arac
hnid
s an
d ho
rmig
as
who
sha
re m
y lo
ve o
f les
s sw
eepi
ng.
For
this
is w
hat
I w
ante
d, c
ome
to, l
eft
alon
e w
ith
anyt
hing
bu
t th
e gi
rlho
od h
orro
rs,
the
touc
hing
, the
hun
gry
lead
en m
eltd
own
of t
he h
ours
. O
r th
e fu
ture
—a
roun
d ne
gati
on,
blac
k su
ctio
n of
the
hea
rt’s
conc
epti
on. S
ave
me
from
a s
tupi
d lif
e!I
pray
ed.
Leav
e m
e an
ythi
ng b
ut
a st
upid
life
. A
nd t
hat’s
poe
try.
PHOTO: LYNN SAVILLE
Born
in S
anFr
anci
sco’
s M
issi
on
dist
rict o
f Nat
ive
Amer
ican
and
Mex
ican
ance
stry
, Lor
na D
eeCe
rvan
tes
disc
over
edSh
akes
pear
e an
d th
eEn
glis
h Ro
man
tic p
oets
inth
e ho
uses
her
mot
her
clea
ned.
As
an a
dult,
she
has
wor
ked
to p
ut in
tola
ngua
ge th
e on
ce-w
ord-
less
his
torie
s of
Mex
ican
Amer
ican
s an
d es
peci
ally
Chic
an-In
dias
. She
teac
h-es
at t
he U
nive
rsity
of
Colo
rado
at B
ould
er.
Deb
orah
Gar
rison
“I n
eed
to fe
el t
hat
the
lang
uage
in m
y po
ems
isal
ive,
in t
he s
ense
of t
alki
ng o
n th
e ph
one
to a
frie
nd,s
hari
ng g
ossi
p.”
“Ple
ase
Fire
Me”
and
“Fa
ther
, R.I.
P., S
ums
Me
Up
at T
wen
ty-T
hree
”fr
om A
Wor
king
Girl
Can
’t W
inby
Deb
orah
Gar
rison
, © 1
998
byD
ebor
ah G
arris
on.
Repr
inte
d by
per
mis
sion
of R
ando
m H
ouse
, Inc
.
Ple
ase
Fire
Me
Her
e co
mes
ano
ther
alp
ha m
ale,
and
all t
he o
ther
alp
has
are
snor
ting
and
paw
ing,
kick
ing
up p
uffs
of a
crid
dus
t
whi
le t
he s
illy
littl
e he
nscl
atte
r ba
ck a
nd fo
rth
on q
uive
ring
cla
ws
and
rais
ea
titt
er a
bout
the
fuss
.
Her
e co
mes
ano
ther
alp
ha m
ale—
a m
an’s
man
, a d
ealm
aker
,ho
lds
tank
s of
liqu
or,
char
ms
them
pan
tsle
ss a
t lu
nch:
I’ve
neve
r be
en s
icke
r.D
o I
have
to
star
e in
to h
is e
yes
and
sym
path
ize?
If I
wan
t m
y jo
bI
do.
Wel
l I t
hink
I’m
thr
ough
wit
h th
e w
orki
ng w
orld
,th
roug
h w
ith
war
min
g eg
gs
and
bein
g Ze
nlik
e in
my
deta
chm
ent
from
all
thin
gs E
go.
I’d li
ke t
o go
som
ewhe
re e
lse
enti
rely
,an
d I
don’
t m
ean
Euro
pe.
QU
ESTI
ON
S
1.In
“Pl
ease
Fire
Me,
” th
e po
et ta
lks
abou
tpe
ople
as
if th
ey w
ere
parti
cula
r kin
ds o
fan
imal
s. W
hat d
oes
her c
hoic
e of
ani
mal
ssu
gges
t abo
ut h
er a
ttitu
de to
war
d he
r situ
-at
ion?
Abo
ut h
er a
ttitu
de to
war
d he
rsel
f?
2. W
hat m
ight
hav
e le
d De
bora
h Ga
rris
on to
writ
e “F
athe
r, R.
I.P. .
. .”
? Ex
plai
n w
hy y
ouw
ould
or w
ould
not
writ
e su
ch a
poe
m.
AC
TIV
ITIE
S
1.Ba
sed
on w
hat D
ebor
ah G
arris
onde
scrib
es in
her
poe
m “
Plea
se F
ire M
e,”
writ
e ne
w “
rule
s fo
r the
wor
kpla
ce”
or“r
ules
for t
he w
orld
.”
2. S
uppo
se y
ou w
ere
Debo
rah
Garr
ison
’sbo
ss o
r cow
orke
r. W
hat w
ould
you
do
afte
rre
adin
g “P
leas
e Fi
re M
e”?
Desc
ribe
orro
le-p
lay
the
conv
ersa
tion
you
wou
ld h
ave
with
her
.
Born
in A
nn A
rbor
, Mic
higa
n, in
196
5,De
bora
h Ga
rris
on jo
ined
the
edito
rial s
taff
ofTh
e N
ew Y
orke
rmag
azin
e af
ter g
radu
atin
gfro
m B
row
n Un
iver
sity
. The
poe
ms
in h
er fi
rst
colle
ctio
n,A
Wor
king
Girl
Can
’t W
in,j
uxta
pose
our w
orki
ng a
nd p
erso
nal r
ealit
ies
with
hon
esty
and
hum
or. S
he li
ves
in M
ontc
lair,
New
Jer
sey.
Wha
t m
akes
you
wan
t “to
go
/so
mew
here
els
e en
tirel
y”?
PHOTO: LYNN SAVILLE
Fath
er,R
.I.P.
,Sum
s M
e U
p at
Tw
enty
-Thr
ee
She
has
no h
ead
for
polit
ics,
crav
es g
ood
jew
elry
, tru
sts
too
read
ily,
mar
ries
too
ear
ly.
The
non
e by
one
she
sen
ds a
way
her
frie
nds
and
stan
ds a
part
, sm
ug s
apph
ire,
her
answ
er t
o ev
eryt
hing
a s
lend
er
zero
, a s
ilent
shr
ug—
and
ever
y da
yst
ill h
ears
me
say
she’
ll ne
ver
be p
rett
y.
Inst
ead
she
read
s no
vels
, ins
tead
her
bel
tm
atch
es h
er s
hoes
. Sh
e is
mas
ter
of t
he c
ondo
lenc
e le
tter
, and
kno
ws
how
to
plea
se a
man
wit
h he
r m
outh
:
Goo
d. N
ose
too
larg
e, e
yes
too
clos
ely
set,
hair
not
glo
riou
s bl
onde
, not
her
mot
her’s
red
,
nor
the
glos
sy b
lack
her
you
nger
sis
ter
has,
the
littl
e ra
ven
I lo
ved
best
.
Lucille Clifton“What they call you is one thing.What you answer to is something else.”
Self-taught, Lucille Clifton uses plain language toexplore life’s complexities and to affirm the spirit’s endurance.Recently named a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets,she has served on faculties of universities across the countryand is currently Distinguished Professor of Humanities at St.Mary’s College of Maryland.
Who have you turned yourself from,and toward, at once?
PH
OT
O:
LYN
N S
AV
ILL
E
adam thinking
shestolen from my boneis it any wonderi hunger to tunnel backinside desperateto reconnect the rib and clayand to be whole again
some need is in mestruggling to roar through mymouth into a namethis creation is so fiercei would rather have been born
eve thinking
it is wild country herebrothers and sisters couplingclaw and winggroping one another
i waitwhile the clay two-footrumbles in his chestsearching for language to
call mebut he is slowtonight as he sleepsi will whisper into his mouthour names
QUE ST I ONS
1. In “won’t you celebrate withme,” Lucille Clifton says she had“no model” when she was grow-ing up. How, then, did shebecome who she is?
2. Lucille Clifton uses biblical titlesin three of these poems—”adamthinking,” “eve thinking,” and“oh absalom my son my son.”Create alternative titles for thesepoems. What would you gain orlose by eliminating the biblicalallusions?
3. Listen to the words LucilleClifton emphasizes when shereads “adam thinking” and “evethinking.” How does your listen-ing experience differ from yourreading experience?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Choose something about your-self that you would like others tocelebrate with you. Create aninvitation in words or picturesthat expresses what it is you’recelebrating and why.
2. Do research in the library to findout more about who Absalomwas and what the name hascome to mean in modern times.If there is an “Absalom” in yourlife or in the life of someone youknow, think of what you wouldlike to say to him or her. Expressyourself in any medium you like.
3. Choose two figures from history,mythology, fiction, movies, ortelevision who have a relation-ship with each other. Whatsecret or surprising things mighteach think about the other?Develop your own scenario anyway you like—for example, inpoetry, as a cartoon or comicstrip, photo essay, two mono-logues, a dialogue, or pan-tomime.“adam thinking” and “eve thinking” © 1991 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted from QUILTING:
POEMS 1987-1990 with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd."won’t you celebrate with me" from The book of light © 1993 by Lucille Clifton. Reprintedby permission of Copper Canyon Press, Post Office Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368.“oh absalom my son my son,” © 1996 by Lucille Clifton. Reprinted from THE TERRIBLESTORIES with the permission of BOA Editions, Ltd.
Lucille Clifton
oh absalom my son my son
even as i turned myself from youi longed to hold you ohmy wild haired son
running in the wilderness awayfrom me from usinto a thicket you could not foresee
if you had stayed i feared you would kill meif you left i feared you would die
oh my sonmy sonwhat does the Lord require
won’t you celebrate with mewhat i have shaped intoa kind of life? i had no model.born in babylonboth nonwhite and womanwhat did i see to be except myself?i made it uphere on this bridge betweenstarshine and clay,my one hand holding tightmy other hand; come celebratewith me that everydaysomething has tried to kill meand has failed.
Mark Doty
New Dog
Jimi and Tonycan’t keep Dino,their cocker spaniel;Tony’s too sick,the daily walksmore pressure than pleasure,one more obligationthat can’t be met.
And though we alreadyhave a dog, Wallywants to adopt,wants something smalland golden to sleepnext to him andlick his face.He’s paralyzed nowfrom the waist down,
whatever’s ruining himmoving upward, and we don’t know how much longerhe’ll be able to peta dog. How many menwant another attachment,just as they’releaving the world?
Wally sits up nights and says, I’d likesome lizards, a talking bird,some fish. A little rat.
So after I driveto Jimi and Tony’sin the Village and theymeet me at the door and say,We can’t go through with it,
we can’t give up our dog,I drive to the shelter—just to look—and thereis Beau: bounding and practically boundless,one brass concatenationof tongue and tail,unmediated energy,too big, wild,
perfect. He not only licks Wally’s facebut bathes everyirreplaceable inchof his head, and thoughWally can no longerfeed himself he can lifthis hand, and bring itto rest on the rough gilt
flanks when they are,for a moment, still.I have never seen a touch so deliberate.It isn’t about grasping;the hand itself seemsalmost blurred now,softened, thoughtentative only
because so much willmust be summoned,such attention broughtto the work—which is allhe is now, this gesturetoward the restless splendor,the unruly, the golden,the animal, the new.
Golden Retrievals
Fetch? Balls and sticks capture my attentionseconds at a time. Catch? I don’t think so.Bunny, tumbling leaf, a squirrel who’s—oh joy—actually scared. Sniff the wind, then
I’m off again: muck, pond, ditch, residueof any thrillingly dead thing. And you?Either you’re sunk in the past, half our walk,thinking of what you can never bring back,
or else you’re off in some fog concerning—tomorrow, is that what you call it? My work:to unsnare time’s warp (and woof!), retrieving,my haze-headed friend, you. This shining bark,
a Zen master’s bronzy gong, calls you here,entirely, now: bow-wow, bow-wow, bow-wow.
“The poet’s craft—love of the sheer physi-cal pleasures of language: its sonics, itstextures, its rhythms— is an enormous ally.”
Born in 1953 in Maryville, Tennessee, Mark Dotyexplores our preoccupation with the past and the future andencourages us to live more in the present. Central to hiswork are animals and his concern for theneed to cope nobly and gracefully with whatis beyond our control. He teaches at theUniversity of Houston.
What calls you here,entirely, now?
PH
OT
O:
LYN
N S
AV
ILL
E
from Messiah (Christmas Portions)
Who’d have thought they’d be so good? Every valley,proclaims the solo tenor,
(a sleek blonde
I’ve seen somewhere before —the liquor store?) shall be exalted,and in his handsome mouth the word
is lifted and opened
into more syllables than we could count, central ahdilated in a baroque melisma,
liquefied; the pour
of voice seems to make the unplaned landscape the text predicts the Lord
will heighten and tame.
This music demonstrates what it claims: glory shall be revealed. If art’s
acceptable evidence,
mustn’t what lies behind the world be at least as beautiful as the human voice?
The tenors lack confidence,
and the soloists, half of them anyway, don’t have the strength to found
the mighty kingdoms
these passages propose—but the chorus, all together, equals my burning clouds,
and seems itself to burn,
commingled powers deeded to a larger, centering claim. These aren’t anyone we know;
choiring dissolves
familiarity in an up-pouring rush which will not rest, will not, for a moment,
be still.
Aren’t we enlarged by the scale of what we’re able to desire? Everything,
the choir insists,
might flame;inside these wrappings burns another, brighter life,
quickened, now,
by song: hear how it cascades, in overlapping, lapidary waves of praise? Still time.
Still time to change.
QUE ST I ONS
1. In “Messiah (ChristmasPortions),” Mark Doty says,“Who’d have thought / they’d beso good?” Describe an event inwhich you or someone you knowwas suddenly or beautifullytransformed—such as in a con-cert, play, sports event, ordance. Were you surprised?Why? What did you learn aboutyourself or the other person?
2. Doty writes, “Aren’t we enlarged/ by the scale of what we’re able/ to desire?” List five things youmost desire. List five thingssomeone you know well desires.How do our desires define us—make us seem smaller or larger?
3. Something that at first seemedcrazy—writing a poem from adog’s point of view—eventuallyproduced “Golden Retrievals.”Describe something that you atfirst thought was crazy but thatturned out to have a surprisingresult.
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Choose an animal who coulddictate something to you. Whatwould the animal say? Includeyour observations of some of theanimal’s characteristics as wellas its words. What do you thinkyou might learn from the animal?
2. Choose a moment in time—rightnow or some time in the past.Pretend you’ve taken a three-dimensional photo of themoment. Describe as much asyou can about the moment,including physical descriptions,feelings, and ideas. What wouldyou change to make the momentmore vivid?
3. Both Mark and Jimi experiencedtheir partner’s illness due toAIDS. Their dogs, Beau andDino, helped the ill partners feelbetter. Create a poster that helpspeople become aware of AIDSand that suggests possiblethings they can do to help peo-ple who have this disease.
“Messiah (Christmas Portions)” and “Golden Retrievals” from SWEET MACHINE by Mark Doty,© 1998 by Mark Doty. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.“New Dog” from ATLANTIS by Mark Doty, © 1995 by Mark Doty. Reprinted by permission ofHarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Mark Doty
Jane
Hirs
hfie
ld
“I fe
el li
ke I
am in
the
ser
vice
of t
he p
oem
.The
poe
mis
n’t
som
ethi
ng I
mak
e.T
he p
oem
is s
omet
hing
I se
rve.
”
“The
Poe
t” fr
om T
HE L
IVES
OF
THE
HEAR
Tby
Jan
e Hi
rshf
ield
,©
199
7 by
Jan
e Hi
rshf
ield
. Re
prin
ted
by p
erm
issi
on o
fHa
rper
Colli
ns P
ublis
hers
, Inc
.“T
he E
nvoy
” ©
199
8 by
Jan
e Hi
rshf
ield
firs
t app
eare
d in
the
mag
azin
e Bl
ue S
ofa
and
also
can
be
foun
d in
THE
BEST
AMER
ICAN
POET
RY, e
dite
d by
Rob
ert B
ly, p
ublis
hed
bySc
ribne
rs, 1
999.
Use
d by
per
mis
sion
of t
he a
utho
r.
The
Poe
t
She
is w
orki
ng n
ow, i
n a
room
not
unlik
e th
is o
ne,
the
one
whe
re I
wri
te, o
r yo
u re
ad.
Her
tab
le is
cov
ered
wit
h pa
per.
The
ligh
t of
the
lam
p w
ould
be
tem
pere
d by
a s
hade
, whe
re t
he b
ulb’
s si
ngle
har
shne
ss m
ight
dis
solv
e,bu
t it
is n
ot, s
he h
as t
aken
it o
ff.H
er p
oem
s? I
will
nev
er k
now
the
m,
thou
gh t
hey
are
the
ones
I m
ost
need
.Ev
en t
he a
lpha
bet
she
wri
tes
inI
cann
ot d
ecip
her.
Her
cha
ir—
Let
us im
agin
e w
heth
er it
is le
athe
ror
can
vas,
viny
l or
wic
ker.
Let
her
ha
ve a
cha
ir, h
er s
hade
less
lam
p,th
e ta
ble.
Let
one
or
two
she
love
sbe
in t
he n
ext
room
. Le
t th
e do
orbe
clo
sed,
the
sle
epin
g on
es h
ealt
hy.
Let
her
have
tim
e, a
nd s
ilenc
e,
enou
gh p
aper
to
mak
e m
ista
kes
and
go o
n.
QU
ESTI
ON
S
1. W
hy d
o yo
u th
ink
the
poet
in “
The
Poet
” pr
efer
s a
shad
eles
s la
mp?
2. W
hat e
lse,
bes
ides
“en
ough
pap
er to
mak
e m
is-
take
s an
d go
on,
” do
es th
e pe
rson
writ
ing
abou
t the
poet
in “
The
Poet
” w
ant h
er to
hav
e? W
hy?
3. W
hat i
s an
“en
voy”
? H
ow d
oes
the
smal
l rat
or
snak
e of
“Th
e En
voy”
ope
n th
e w
ay fo
r the
“be
lled”
herd
s? W
hy a
re th
ese
herd
s “l
ong-
legg
ed,”
“thi
rsty
,” a
nd “
cove
red
with
fore
ign
dust
”?
AC
TIV
ITIE
S
1. W
ith a
gro
up, d
esig
n an
d ar
rang
e, a
s if
for t
hest
age,
the
scen
e de
scrib
ed in
“Th
e Po
et.”
Tak
etu
rns
dire
ctin
g so
meo
ne p
layi
ng th
e po
et.
Take
turn
s pl
ayin
g th
e po
et.
Durin
g re
hear
sals
, dec
ide
how
long
eac
h ve
rsio
n of
the
play
will
be.
Int
rodu
ceea
ch p
erfo
rman
ce w
ith a
read
ing
of th
e po
em.
2. C
reat
e a
mur
al p
rese
ntin
g th
e ex
perie
nces
desc
ribed
in “
The
Envo
y.”
Do
this
alo
ne o
r with
agr
oup.
If y
ou d
o th
is w
ith a
gro
up, c
onsu
lt fir
st o
nth
e im
ages
eve
ryon
e ag
rees
sho
uld
be p
art o
f the
mur
al. D
iscu
ss h
ow th
ese
imag
es w
ill re
late
to e
ach
othe
r.
Born
in N
ew Y
ork
City
and
educ
ated
at P
rince
ton,
Jan
eHi
rshf
ield
has
live
d in
Nor
ther
nCa
lifor
nia
for t
he p
ast t
wen
ty-fi
veye
ars.
A s
tude
nt o
f Zen
and
agr
eat w
oman
poe
t of s
pirit
ualit
y,lo
ve, a
nd th
e na
tura
l wor
ld, s
hew
rites
with
pla
in re
vere
nce
of th
ehe
art a
nd m
ind,
bro
aden
ing
our
awar
enes
s of
the
rich
curr
ents
of
our d
aily
life
.
Whi
ch a
nim
als
have
sign
aled
unk
now
nop
enin
gs in
you
r lif
e?
PHOTO: LYNN SAVILLE
The
Env
oy
One
day
in t
hat
room
, a s
mal
l rat
.Tw
o da
ys la
ter,
a sn
ake.
Who
, see
ing
me
ente
r,w
hipp
ed t
he lo
ng s
trip
e of
his
bo
dy u
nder
the
bed
,th
en c
urle
d lik
e a
doci
le h
ouse
-pet
.
I do
n’t
know
how
eit
her
cam
e or
left
.La
ter,
the
flash
light
foun
d no
thin
g.
For
a ye
ar I
wat
ched
as s
omet
hing
—te
rror
? ha
ppin
ess?
gri
ef?—
ente
red
and
then
left
my
body
.
Not
kno
win
g ho
w it
cam
e in
,N
ot k
now
ing
how
it w
ent
out.
It h
ung
whe
re w
ords
cou
ld n
ot r
each
it.
It s
lept
whe
re li
ght
coul
d no
t go
.It
s sc
ent
was
nei
ther
sna
ke n
or r
at,
neit
her
sens
ualis
t no
r as
ceti
c.
The
re a
re o
peni
ngs
in o
ur li
ves
of w
hich
we
know
not
hing
.
Thr
ough
the
mth
e be
lled
herd
s tr
avel
at
will
,lo
ng-l
egge
d an
d th
irst
y, c
over
ed w
ith
fore
ign
dust
.
Paul
Mul
doon
“Po
etry
beg
ins
with
litt
le g
limm
ers—
the
sens
e th
at t
here
mig
ht b
e an
inte
ract
ion
betw
een
two
thin
gs,t
wo
ofte
n qu
ite u
nlik
eth
ings
tha
t co
me
toge
ther
in a
met
apho
ror
an
imag
e.”
“Sym
posi
um”
from
Hay
by P
aul M
uldo
on, ©
199
8 by
Pau
l Mul
doon
.Re
prin
ted
by p
erm
issi
on o
f Far
rar,
Stra
us &
Giro
ux, I
nc.
“The
Sig
htse
ers”
from
Quo
of b
y Pa
ul M
uldo
on, ©
198
3 by
Pau
l Mul
doon
.Re
prin
ted
by p
erm
issi
on o
f Wak
e Fo
rest
Uni
vers
ity P
ress
.
Sym
pos
ium
You
can
lead
a h
orse
to
wat
er b
ut y
ou c
an’t
mak
e it
hol
dit
s no
se t
o th
e gr
inds
tone
and
hun
t w
ith
the
houn
ds.
Ever
y do
g ha
s a
stit
ch in
tim
e. T
wo
head
s? Y
ou’v
e be
enso
ldon
e go
od t
urn.
One
goo
d tu
rn d
eser
ves
a bi
rd in
the
han
d.
A b
ird
in t
he h
and
is b
ette
r th
an n
o br
ead.
To h
ave
your
cak
e is
to
pay
Paul
.M
ake
hay
whi
le y
ou c
an s
till
hit
the
nail
on t
he h
ead.
For
wan
t of
a n
ail t
he s
ky m
ight
fall.
Peop
le in
gla
ss h
ouse
s ca
n’t
see
the
woo
dfo
r th
e ne
w b
room
. R
ome
was
n’t
built
bet
wee
n tw
o st
ools
.Em
pty
vess
els
wai
t fo
r no
man
.
A h
air
of t
he d
og is
a fr
iend
inde
ed.
The
re’s
no fo
ol li
ke t
he fo
ol
who
’s sh
ot h
is b
olt.
The
re’s
no s
mok
e af
ter
the
hors
e is
gone
.
QU
ESTI
ON
S
1. L
ook
up th
e de
finiti
on o
f“s
ympo
sium
.” H
ow is
Mul
doon
’s po
em s
imila
r to
and
diffe
rent
from
the
defin
i-tio
n? E
xpla
in w
hy y
ou th
ink
the
title
wor
ks o
r doe
sn’t
wor
k.
2. B
ased
on
the
setti
ng o
f “Th
eSi
ghts
eers
,” w
hat a
re th
e“B
-Spe
cial
s,”
and
why
did
they
sto
p Un
cle
Pat a
nd te
r-ro
rize
him
? W
hy d
o yo
u th
ink
Mul
doon
juxt
apos
ed th
est
ory
of th
e ro
unda
bout
with
Uncl
e Pa
t’s s
tory
of b
ruta
li-ty
? W
hat d
oes
an “
o” h
ave
to d
o w
ith it
? W
hat a
re s
ome
othe
r sto
ries
of re
curr
ing
viol
ence
?
AC
TIV
ITIE
S
1. C
reat
e yo
ur o
wn
verb
al“s
ympo
sium
,” u
sing
par
ts o
fw
ell-k
now
n ap
horis
ms,
prov
erbs
, or f
olk
sayi
ngs.
Crea
te y
our o
wn
visu
al“s
ympo
sium
,” u
sing
wid
ely
diffe
rent
kin
ds o
f im
ages
from
mag
azin
es, n
ewsp
a-pe
rs, a
nd p
hoto
grap
hs.
2. A
fter l
iste
ning
to P
aul
Mul
doon
read
“Th
eSi
ghts
eers
,” w
rite
abou
t afa
mily
eve
nt y
ou e
xper
i-en
ced
and
desc
ribe
it in
rela
tion
to a
pla
ce in
you
rne
ighb
orho
od o
r city
.
Born
in N
orth
ern
Irela
nd in
195
1, P
aul M
uldo
onw
as a
radi
o an
d te
levi
sion
pro
duce
r with
the
BBC
befo
rem
ovin
g to
the
Unite
d St
ates
in th
e la
te 1
980s
. His
pas
sion
for e
xact
des
crip
tion
grow
s fro
m h
is a
war
enes
s th
at w
hat
is a
ppar
ent o
ften
cont
ains
a d
eepe
r,st
rang
er s
tory
. He
curr
ently
teac
hes
at P
rince
ton
Univ
ersi
ty a
ndw
as re
cent
lyel
ecte
d Pr
ofes
sor
of P
oetry
at
Oxfo
rd.
Wha
t st
ory
has
mad
e th
e co
ntex
tof
its
telli
ng u
nfor
gett
able
to
you?
The
Sig
htse
ers
My
fath
er a
nd m
othe
r, m
y br
othe
r an
d si
ster
and
I, w
ith
uncl
e Pa
t, ou
r do
ur b
est-
love
d un
cle,
had
set
out
that
Sun
day
afte
rnoo
n in
Jul
yin
his
bro
ken-
dow
n Fo
rd
not
to v
isit
som
e gr
avey
ard—
one
died
of s
hing
les,
one
of fe
ver,
anot
her’s
kne
es t
urne
d to
jelly
—bu
t th
e br
and-
new
rou
ndab
out
at B
ally
gaw
ley,
the
first
in m
id-U
lste
r.
Unc
le P
at w
as t
ellin
g us
how
the
B-S
peci
als
had
stop
ped
him
one
nig
ht s
omew
here
nea
r Ba
llyga
wle
yan
d sm
ashe
d hi
s bi
cycl
e
and
mad
e hi
m s
ing
the
Sash
and
cur
se t
he P
ope
of R
ome.
The
y he
ld a
pis
tol s
o ha
rd a
gain
st h
is fo
rehe
adth
ere
was
sti
ll th
e m
ark
of a
n O
whe
n he
got
hom
e.
PHOTO: LYNN SAVILLE
Stanley Kunitz
The Round
Light splashed this morning on the shell-pink anemonesswaying on their tall stems; down blue-spiked veronicalight flowed in rivulets over the humps of the honeybees;this morning I saw light kiss the silk of the roses in their second flowering,my late bloomers flushed with their brandy.A curious gladness shook me.
So I have shut the doors of my house,so I have trudged downstairs to my cell,so I am sitting in semi-darkhunched over my desk with nothing for a view to tempt me but a bloated compost heap, steamy old stinkpile,under my window;and I pick my notebook up and I start to read aloud the still-wet words I scribbled on the blotted page:“Light splashed . . .”
I can scarcely wait till tomorrow when a new life begins for me, as it does each day, as it does each day.
The Portrait
My mother never forgave my fatherfor killing himself,especially at such an awkward timeand in a public park,that springwhen I was waiting to be born.She locked his name in her deepest cabinetand would not let him out,though I could hear him thumping.When I came down from the atticwith the pastel portrait in my hand of a long-lipped strangerwith a brave moustacheand deep brown level eyes,she ripped it into shredswithout a single wordand slapped me hard.In my sixty-fourth yearI can feel my cheekstill burning.
“The remarkable thing that I feel is that despitethe aging of the body—despite those achesand pains and all the rest of what happens toone at this stage of a life—the spirit remainsyoung. It’s the same spirit I remember livingwith during my childhood.”
When did you last notice that “Light splashed this morning”?
Stanley Kunitzwelcomed his ninetiethyear in 1995 with a newcollection of luminous,life-affirming poemstitled Passing Through.Exceptionally generousand encouraging toyounger artists, StanleyKunitz has receivednearly every honor ourculture can bestowupon a poet. He and hiswife summer inProvincetown,Massachusetts, andwinter in New York City.
PH
OT
O:
LYN
N S
AV
ILL
E
QUE ST I ONS
1. Why does the poet in “TheRound” refer to his room as a“cell”? Why do you think hearranged his room downstairs,with his desk offering nothing fora view except “a bloated com-post heap”?
2. Why doesn’t “The Round” startin the poet’s “cell”?
3. How does the poet of “TheRound” help a new life to beginfor himself each day?
4. Both “Halley’s Comet” and “ThePortrait” recall childhood memo-ries. Which do you think is theearlier memory? Which themore private memory? Whichthe more disturbing memory?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Stanley Kunitz wrote “Halley’sComet” on the occasion of thecomet’s second pass by ourplanet during his lifetime. Findout what you can about Halley’sComet, especially the popularresponse to those appearances.Write ten lines that connect amajor natural event that youhave experienced or know aboutwith something in your life.
2. Arrange a choral reading of “TheRound” as a musical “round.”Assign each of its three stanzasto a different group of readers.Let each group practice sepa-rately, repeating the stanzaassigned. Then combine thegroups by experimenting withways of layering the stanzas,while keeping them all going atonce.
“The Round” © 1985 by Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet” © 1995 by Stanley Kunitz, “ThePortrait” © 1971 by Stanley Kunitz, from PASSING THROUGH: The Later Poems New andSelected by Stanley Kunitz. Reprinted by permission of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Stanley Kunitz
Halley’s Comet
Miss Murphy in first grade wrote its name in chalk across the board and told us it was roaring down the stormtracks of the Milky Way at frightful speedand if it wandered off its course and smashed into the earththere’d be no school tomorrow.A red-bearded preacher from the hills with a wild look in his eyes stood in the public square at the playground’s edge proclaiming he was sent by God to save every one of us,even the little children.“Repent, ye sinners!” he shouted, waving his hand-lettered sign. At supper I felt sad to think that it was probably the last meal I’d share with my mother and my sisters;but I felt excited tooand scarcely touched my plate. So mother scolded me and sent me early to my room. The whole family’s asleep except for me. They never heard me steal into the stairwell hall and climb the ladder to the fresh night air.
Look for me, Father, on the roof of the red brick building at the foot of Green Street—that’s where we live, you know, on the top floor. I’m the boy in the white flannel gownsprawled on this coarse gravel bedsearching the starry sky, waiting for the world to end.
Kurtis Lamkin
jump mama
pretty summer daygrammama sittin on her porch
easyrockin her grandbaby in her wide lap
ol men sittin in their lincolntastin and talkin and talkin and tastin
young boys on the cornermilkin a yak yak wild hands baggy pants
young girls halfway up the blockjumpin that double dutch
singin their songkenny kana paula
be on timecause school beginsat a quarter to nine
jump one two three and aaaaaaah. . .
round the corner comesthis young woman
draggin herself heavy home from workshe sees the young boys
sees the old menbut when she sees the girls she just starts smilin
she says let me get a little bit of thatthey say you can’t jump
you too old
why they say thato, why they say that
she says tanya you hold my work bagchaniqua come over here girl i want you to hold my handbag
josie could you hold my grocery bagplease
kebè take my purseshe starts bobbin her head, jackin her arms
tryin to catch the rhythm of the ropesand when she jumps inside those turning loops
the girls crowd her sing their songkenny kana paula
be on timecause school beginsat a quarter to nine
jump one two three andaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahshe jumps on one leg—aaaaahshe dances sassy saucy—aaaaah
jump for the girls mamajump for the stars mama
jump for the young boys sayinjump mama! jump mama!
jump for the old woman sayin—aww, go head baby
and what the young girls saywhat the young girls say
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah
“The kora talks, for real.That’s why when Africans werebrought here all African instruments were banned fromthe United States—because they could talk.”
How do you “shake thesnake / that coils aroundour humble lives”?
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Kurtis Lamkin accompanies his oral praise poems onthe kora, a twenty-one-stringed West African harp-lute used byDjelis (griots, troubadours). His poems explore the counterpointbetween the fixed meaning of words and the raw sounds thatemerge from and dissolve into feeling. A native of Philadelphia,he lives with his family in Charleston, South Carolina.
the million man march
we do rightwe do wrong
we do time overtimewe do what it takes to shake the snake
that coils around our humble liveswhatever we can do
we do
we do lunchwe do meetings
we do fundraisers we do marcheswe send a million men
to carry peace to the heart of a cold cold nationsome say we don’t count
we dowe always do
suppose there’s a godwho thinks that we are god
who loves us so deeply she followed us herewe work so hard every trick looks like a miracle
and then we name the trickster godif there is a god
who thinks that we are goddo we hear her prayer
do we?
in the deep dark hour when we are all alone
what is that sound what is that prayerwhat is this faith
we do
QUE ST I ONS
1. Kurtis Lamkin’s performancesoften vary considerably from theprinted texts of his poems. Howmight the context of each perfor-mance figure in these varia-tions? Would you regard theprinted or the performed versionas primary? Why?
2. If the kora can talk, what do youhear it saying in Kurtis Lamkin’sperformance of “the million manmarch”?
3. In what ways could our nationbe seen as “a cold cold nation”?
4. In what ways does “jump mama”honor the spirit of community?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Review the performances ofColeman Barks, Amiri Baraka,and Kurtis Lamkin, paying atten-tion to how each uses a rhyth-mic, musical background. Applywhat you have learned as youperform poems—by these poetsor by others—over a rhythmic,musical background.
2. With a group of others, researchthe Million Man March. Why didit occur? Why was it controver-sial? How did others whoattended respond to it?Compare your findings to KurtisLamkin’s poem. Discuss yourfindings with your researchgroup.
3. Find an instrument that “talks,for real” to you, then read apoem (perhaps one of your own)to its sound.
4. Use a childhood rhyme or gameto start a poem.
“jump mama” by Kurtis Lamkin, © 1997 by Kurtis Lamkin; “the million man march” byKurtis Lamkin, © 1997 by Kurtis Lamkin. Reprinted by permission of Kurtis Lamkin.
Kurtis Lamkin
Shirley Geok-lin Lim“ I started writing when I was about nine. I loved theidea of going into a space where there is languagewhich is yours, which is completely private, and whichyou can do anything with—you can curse someoneyou cannot curse otherwise, you can create a spaceof beauty when all around you there is poverty anddeprivation.The act of writing poems is the act thathas centered me all my life.”
What ghosts have welcomedyou to a new life?
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Shirley Geok-lin Lim, born in thehistoric British colony of Malacca, writesfrom her Chinese-Malaysian heritage andthe landscape of the United States, ofwhich she is now a citizen. Her books ofpoetry have received the CommonwealthPoetry Prize and the American BookAward. She is professor of English andWomen’s Studies at the University ofCalifornia, Santa Barbara, and is currentlyon leave as Chair Professor of English atthe University of Hong Kong.
Riding into California
If you come to a land with no ancestorsto bless you, you have to be your own ancestor. The veterans in the mobile homepark don’t want to be there. It isn’t easy.Oil rigs litter the land like giant frozen birds.Ghosts welcome us to a new life, andan immigrant without home ghosts cannot believe the land is real. So you’regrateful for familiarity, and Bruce Leebecomes your hero. Coming into Fullerton,everyone waiting at the station is white. The good thing about being Chinese on Amtrackis no one sits next to you. The bad thing isyou sit alone all the way to Irvine.
QUE ST I ONS
1. Shirley Geok-lin Lim writes that“you have to be your own ances-tor,” while Lucille Clifton writesthat she grew up with “nomodel.” How are these twowomen’s statements and theexperiences they describe simi-lar? Different?
2. Study Shirley Geok-lin Lim’s pan-toun and then explain how towrite one. Why do you thinkShirley Geok-lin Lim chose thisform to talk about Chinesewomen? What happens whenyou hear a line the second time?For what subject or group wouldyou like to write a pantoun?
3. How does the epigraph from thenewspaper aid or distract you inyour appreciation of “Pantounfor Chinese Women”?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Create a work for a group thatsuffers oppression. Your workmight be a poem (such as a pan-toun), a dance, a film, a photoessay, a song, or any other formof expression. Explain whom thework is for and why you made it.
2. Suppose you’ve come to a coun-try or planet where no one likeyou has been before. “You haveto be your own ancestor,” asShirley Geok-lin Lim says. Writea story or narrative poemdescribing how you make your-self feel at home. Describe someof the things that are challengingand some of the things that areenjoyable.
“Pantoun for Chinese Women” by Shirley Geok-lin Lim, © 1982, 1983 by Shirley Geok-linLim. Reprinted by permission of Shirley Geok-lin Lim.“Riding into California” from What the Fortune Teller Didn’t Say by Shirley Geok-lin Lim,© 1998 by Shirley Geok-lin Lim. Reprinted by permission of West End Press.
Shirley Geok-lin Lim
Pantoun for Chinese Women
“At present, the phenomena of butchering, drowning and leaving to die female infants have been very serious.”(The People’s Daily, Peking, March 3rd, 1983)
They say a child with two mouths is no good.In the slippery wet, a hollow space,Smooth, gumming, echoing wide for food.No wonder my man is not here at his place.
In the slippery wet, a hollow space,A slit narrowly sheathed within its hood.No wonder my man is not here at his place:He is digging for the dragon jar of soot.
That slit narrowly sheathed within its hood!His mother, squatting, coughs by the fire’s blazeWhile he digs for the dragon jar of soot.We had saved ashes for a hundred days.
His mother, squatting, coughs by the fire’s blaze.The child kicks against me mewing like a flute.We had saved ashes for a hundred days.Knowing, if the time came, that we would.
The child kicks against me crying like a fluteThrough its two weak mouths. His mother praysKnowing when the time comes that we would,For broken clay is never set in glaze.
Through her two weak mouths his mother prays.She will not pluck the rooster nor serve its blood,For broken clay is never set in glaze:Women are made of river sand and wood.
She will not pluck the rooster nor serve its blood.My husband frowns, pretending in his hasteWomen are made of river sand and wood.Milk soaks the bedding. I cannot bear the waste.
My husband frowns, pretending in his haste.Oh clean the girl, dress her in ashy soot!Milks soaks our bedding, I cannot bear the waste.They say a child with two mouths is no good.
Shar
on O
lds
“The
re is
som
ethi
ng e
xciti
ng t
o m
e ab
out
wri
ting
abou
t so
met
hing
tha
t I h
aven
’t w
ritt
en a
bout
bef
ore
and
that
may
be I
have
n’t
read
a lo
t of
poe
ms
abou
t...
.Whe
n I g
rew
up
ther
e w
ere
so fe
w p
oem
s ab
out
wom
en fr
om a
wom
an’s
poin
t of
vie
w,s
o fe
w p
oem
sab
out
child
ren
from
a c
hild
’s po
int
of v
iew
.”
“The
Cla
sp”
(cop
yrig
ht ©
Sha
ron
Old
s) fi
rst a
ppea
red
in T
he A
mer
ican
Poe
try
Revi
ew.
QU
ESTI
ON
S
1. H
ow w
ould
you
des
crib
e th
e fa
mily
pres
ente
d in
the
“The
Cla
sp”?
How
is th
e da
ught
er li
ke o
r unl
ike
her
mot
her?
2. H
ow d
oes
the
info
rmat
ion
prov
ided
in th
e fir
st tw
o lin
es o
f “Th
e Cl
asp”
affe
ct y
our r
espo
nse
to th
e ce
ntra
lev
ent i
n th
e po
em?
Wha
t abo
ut th
ein
form
atio
n pr
ovid
ed in
the
third
and
four
th li
nes?
3. H
ow d
oes
“The
Cla
sp”
intro
duce
the
poem
diff
eren
tly fr
om, s
ay, “
The
Grab
”?
AC
TIV
ITIE
S
1. W
ith o
ne o
r tw
o ot
hers
, rea
d “T
heCl
asp”
alo
ud, l
iste
ning
to w
hat d
if-fe
rent
read
ers
emph
asize
and
pay
-in
g pa
rticu
lar a
ttent
ion
to th
e co
n-tra
st b
etw
een
how
eac
h na
tura
llyre
ads
the
“rig
hteo
us c
hant
” an
dth
e lin
es th
at fo
llow
it.
2. W
ith a
sm
all g
roup
, act
out
Sha
ron
Olds
’s “T
he C
lasp
” an
d St
anle
yKu
nitz
’s “T
he P
ortra
it.”
Dis
cuss
whi
ch w
as m
ore
chal
leng
ing
to a
ctou
t. D
iscu
ss w
hich
was
mor
esh
ocki
ng to
exp
erie
nce.
Born
in S
an F
ranc
isco
in19
42, S
haro
n Ol
ds w
as ra
ised
as
a“h
ellfi
re C
alvi
nist
” in
Ber
kele
y,Ca
lifor
nia.
Her
wor
k ha
s be
enpr
aise
d fo
r its
cou
rage
, em
otio
nal
pow
er, a
nd e
xtra
ordi
nary
phy
sica
li-ty
. Sh
e te
ache
s in
the
Grad
uate
Crea
tive
Writ
ing
Prog
ram
at N
ewYo
rk U
nive
rsity
and
is th
e St
ate
Poet
of N
ew Y
ork
from
199
8-20
00.
PHOTO: LYNN SAVILLE
The
Cla
sp
She
was
four
, he
was
one
, it
was
rai
ning
, we
had
cold
s,w
e ha
d be
en in
the
apa
rtm
ent
two
wee
ks s
trai
ght,
I gr
abbe
d he
r to
kee
p he
r fr
om s
hovi
ng h
im o
ver
on h
isfa
ce, a
gain
, and
whe
n I
had
her
wri
stin
my
gras
p I
com
pres
sed
it, f
ierc
ely,
for
a co
uple
of s
econ
ds, t
o m
ake
an im
pres
sion
on
her,
to h
urt
her,
our
belo
ved
first
born
, I e
ven
alm
ost
savo
red
the
stin
ging
sen
sati
on o
f the
squ
eezi
ng,
the
expr
essi
on, i
nto
her,
of m
y an
ger,
“Nev
er,
neve
r, a
gain
,”th
e ri
ghte
ous
chan
t ac
com
pany
ing
the
clas
p. I
t ha
ppen
ed v
ery
fast
—gr
ab, c
rush
, cru
sh,
crus
h, r
elea
se—
and
at t
he fi
rst
extr
a fo
rce,
she
sw
ung
her
head
, as
if ch
ecki
ngw
ho t
his
was
, and
look
ed a
t m
e,an
d sa
w m
e—ye
s, th
is w
as h
er m
om,
her
mom
was
doi
ng t
his.
Her
dar
k,de
eply
ope
n ey
es t
ook
me
in, s
he k
new
me,
in t
he s
hock
of t
he m
omen
tsh
e le
arne
d m
e. T
his
was
her
mot
her,
one
of t
he
two
who
m s
he m
ost
love
d, t
he t
wo
who
love
d he
r m
ost,
near
the
sou
rce
of lo
vew
as t
his.
Wha
t “in
the
sho
ck o
f the
mom
ent”
hav
eyo
u se
en “
near
the
sou
rce
of lo
ve”?
Poem Subjects and ThemesPoems from FOOLING WITH WORDS WITH BILL MOYERS can be mixed and matched according to the following subjects and themes—or you can create your own connections.Here are a few of the possibilities.
POEMS OF CHILDHOODPaul Muldoon, “The Sightseers”Kurtis Lamkin, “jump mama”Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet”Stanley Kunitz, “The Portrait”
POEMS OF ANIMALSMark Doty, “New Dog”Mark Doty, “Golden Retrievals”Jane Hirshfield, “The Envoy”Deborah Garrison, “Please Fire Me”Robert Pinsky, “The Want Bone”
POEMS OF FAMILY LIFELucille Clifton, “oh absalom my son my son”Deborah Garrison, “Father, R.I.P., Sums Me Up at Twenty-Three”Paul Muldoon, “The Sightseers”Robert Pinsky, “To Television”Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet”Stanley Kunitz, “The Portrait”Sharon Olds, “The Clasp”
POEMS OF SURVIVALLucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Riding into California”Amiri Baraka, “Wise I”Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Poet’s Progress”Stanley Kunitz, “The Round”Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet”Robert Pinsky, “The Want Bone”Mark Doty, “New Dog”
POEMS OF COMMUNITYMark Doty, “Messiah (Christmas Portions)”Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet”Kurtis Lamkin, “jump mama”
POEMS OF WORKDeborah Garrison, “Please Fire Me”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Jars of Springwater”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Today, like every other day”Stanley Kunitz, “The Round”Amiri Baraka, “Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)”
POEMS OF CULTURAL DIVERSITYLucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”Marge Piercy, “The chuppah”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Pantoun for Chinese Women”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Riding into California”Paul Muldoon, “The Sightseers”Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Poet’s Progress”Amiri Baraka, “Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)”Amiri Baraka, “Wise I”Kurtis Lamkin, “the million man march”
POEMS OF WOMEN’S RIGHTSLucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”Marge Piercy, “What are big girls made of?”Deborah Garrison, “Please Fire Me”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Pantoun for Chinese Women”Jane Hirshfield, “The Poet”
POEMS OF POLITICS AND HISTORYPaul Muldoon, “The Sightseers”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Pantoun for Chinese Women”Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Riding into California”Amiri Baraka, “Monday in B Flat”Amiri Baraka, “Wise, Why’s, Y’z (Africa Section)”Amiri Baraka, “Wise I”Kurtis Lamkin, “the million man march”
POEMS OF MUSIC AND DANCEMark Doty, “Messiah (Christmas Portions)”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Where Everything Is Music”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Today, like every other day”Kurtis Lamkin, “jump mama”Amiri Baraka, “Wise I”
POEMS OF WORDPLAYPaul Muldoon, “Symposium”Robert Pinsky, “ABC”Mark Doty, “Golden Retrievals”
POEMS OF CONSCIOUSNESSMark Doty, “Golden Retrievals”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Jars of Springwater”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Where Everything Is Music”
POEMS OF POETS AND POETRYColeman Barks/Rumi, “Today, like every other day”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Where Everything is Music”Lorna Dee Cervantes, “Poet’s Progress”Jane Hirshfield, “The Poet”Jane Hirshfield, “The Envoy”Stanley Kunitz, “The Round”Robert Pinsky, “If You Could Write One Great Poem”
POEMS OF FAITH AND SKEPTICISMLucille Clifton, “oh absalom my son my son”Mark Doty, “Messiah (Christmas Portions)”Stanley Kunitz, “Halley’s Comet”Amiri Baraka, “Monday in B Flat”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Where Everything Is Music”Coleman Barks/Rumi, “Today, like every other day”Kurtis Lamkin, “the million man march”
Marge Piercy
The chuppah
The chuppah stands on four poles.The home has its four corners.The chuppah stands on four poles.The marriage stands on four legs.Four points loose the windsthat blow on the walls of the house,the south wind that brings the warm rain,the east wind that brings the cold rain,the north wind that brings the cold sunand the snow, the long west windbringing the weather off the far plains.
Here we live open to the seasons.Here the winds caress and cuff uscontrary and fierce as bears.Here the winds are caught and snarlingin the pines, a cat in a net clawingbreaking twigs to fight loose.Here the winds brush our facessoft in the morning as feathersthat float down from a dove’s breast.
Here the moon sails up out of the oceandripping like a just washed apple.Here the sun wakes us like a baby.Therefore the chuppah has no sides.
It is not a box.It is not a coffin.It is not a dead end.Therefore the chuppah has no walls.We have made a home togetheropen to the weather of our time.We are mills that turn in the winds of struggleconverting fierce energy into bread.
The canopy is the cloth of our tablewhere we share fruit and vegetables of our labor, where our care for the earth comes back and we take its body in ours.
The canopy is the cover of our bed where our bodies open their portals wide, where we eat and drink the blood of our love, where the skin shines red as a swallowed sunrise and we burn in one furnace of joy molten as steeland the dream is flesh and flower.
O my love O my love we dance under the chuppah standing over uslike an animal on its four legs,like a table on which we set our love as a feast, like a tent under which we worknot safe but no longer solitary in the searing heat of our time.
“ When I first foundpoetry that spoke tome—a street kid fromDetroit, from a poorfamily—it was valida-tion that I wasn’tcrazy, wasn’t bizarre,wasn’t totally nutty.There were otherpeople who felt theway I felt.”
“Why should we wantto live inside ads?”
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Marge Piercywas born in a working-class family in Detroit andattended the University ofMichigan on scholarship.She is the author of fif-teen volumes of poetryand sixteen novels, ingenre as diverse as his-torical fiction, science fic-tion, contemporarythrillers, and family sagas.Her themes encompasssocial justice for men andwomen, nature and spiri-tuality, especially the“lunar side” of Judaism.
from What are big girls made of?
The construction of a woman:a woman is not made of fleshof bone and sinewbelly and breasts, elbows and liver and toe.She is manufactured like a sports sedan.She is retooled, refitted and redesignedevery decade.
. . .Look at pictures in French fashionmagazines of the 18th century:century of the ultimate ladyfantasy wrought of silk and corseting.Paniers bring her hips out three feeteach way, while the waist is pinched and the belly flattened under wood.The breasts are stuffed up and outoffered like apples in a bowl.The tiny foot is encased in a slipper never meant for walking.On top is a grandiose headache:hair like a museum piece, dailyornamented with ribbons, vases,grottoes, mountains, frigates in fullsail, balloons, baboons, the fancyof a hairdresser turned loose.The hats were rococo wedding cakesthat would dim the Las Vegas strip.Here is a woman forced into shaperigid exoskeleton torturing flesh:a woman made of pain.
How superior we are now: see the modern womanthin as a blade of scissors.She runs on a treadmill every morning,fits herself into machines of weights and pulleys to heave and grunt,an image in her mind she can neverapproximate, a body of rosyglass that never wrinkles,never grows, never fades. She sits at the table closing her eyes to foodhungry, always hungry:a woman made of pain.
. . .If only we could like each other raw.If only we could love ourselveslike healthy babies burbling in our arms.If only we were not programmed and reprogrammedto need what is sold us.Why should we want to live inside ads?Why should we want to scourge our softnessto straight lines like a Mondrian painting?Why should we punish each other with scornas if to have a large asswere worse than being greedy or mean?
When will women not be compelledto view their bodies as science projects,gardens to be weeded,dogs to be trained?When will a woman ceaseto be made of pain?
QUESTIONS
1. A chuppah is a canopy held up by four people in a Jewishwedding. Tradition calls for the bride and groom to standunder the chuppah during the ceremony. How does Piercyuse the chuppah as a symbol in her poem? Why do youthink traditions and symbols are important to a culture?
2. Near the end of “What are big girls made of?” MargePiercy writes, “If only we could like each other raw. / If onlywe could love ourselves / like healthy babies burbling in ourarms.” What messages do you think society givesteenagers about how they should look? What happens topeople who take those messages too seriously?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. A chuppah is a physical object that has symbolic meanings.Choose a physical object you find interesting—it could besomething unique to your culture, or it could be a personalitem. Describe how that object has meaning in your experi-ence or in someone else’s experience.
2. Marge Piercy says, “Observing the contradictions of mymother’s life taught me a lot about women’s lives.” What lifehave you observed closely? What has it taught you? In writ-ing, dance, or illustration, express what you’ve learned.
3. Research a particular style of clothing or a particular ideaabout beauty in history or in other cultures. What do youthink that style or idea implies about the way peoplethought of themselves? How was the style or idea differentfor men and for women? Share your findings in any formatyou like.
Marge Piercy
“The chuppah” from THE ART OF BLESSING THE DAY by Marge Piercy, © 1985, 1999 by Marge Piercy. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.“What are big girls made of?” from WHAT ARE BIG GIRLS MADE OF? by MargePiercy, © 1997 by Marge Piercy. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
Robert Pinsky
To Television
Not a “window on the world”But as we call you,A box a tube
Terrarium of dreams and wonders.Coffer of shades, ordainedCotillion of phosphorsOr liquid crystal
Homey miracle, tubOf acquiescence, vein of defiance.Your patron in the pantheon would be Hermes
Raster dance, Quick one, little thief, escortOf the dying and comfort of the sick,
In a blue glow my father and little sister satSnuggled in one chair watching youTheir wife and mother was sick in the headI scorned you and them as I scorned so much
Now I like you best in a hotel room,Maybe minutes Before I have to face an audience: behindThe doors of the armoire, boxWithin a box—Tom & Jerry, or also brilliantAnd reassuring, Oprah Winfrey.
Thank you, for I watched, I watchedSid Caesar speaking French and Japanese notThrough knowledge but imagination,His quickness, and Thank you, I watched liveJackie Robinson stealing
Home, the image—O strung shell—enduringFleeter than light like these words weRemember in: they too are wingedAt the helmet and ankles.
ABC
Any body can die, evidently. Few Go happily, irradiating joy,
Knowledge, love. Most Need oblivion, painkillers, Quickest respite.
Sweet time unafflicted, Various world:
X = your zenith.
“Poetry is the art of one human voice.Withoutdenigrating art on a mass scale—I love my TV,my computer, and my VCR—there’s a cravingand a satisfaction available in an art that in itsnature is on an individual scale.”
What has television’squickness given to you?Taken from you?
PH
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The current U.S. Poet Laureate andthe first to serve for more than two years,Robert Pinsky grew up in Long Branch, NewJersey. His Favorite PoemArchive will gather a databasedescribing what poetry meansto us, as a nation, at the closeof the twentieth century. Heteaches at Boston University.
The Want Bone
The tongue of the waves tolled in the earth’s bell.Blue rippled and soaked in the fire of blue.The dried mouthbones of a shark in the hot swaleGaped on nothing but sand on either side.
The bone tasted of nothing and smelled of nothing,A scalded toothless harp, uncrushed, unstrung.The joined arcs made the shape of birth and cravingAnd the welded-open shape kept mouthing O.
Ossified cords held the corners togetherIn groined spirals pleated like a summer dress.But where was the limber grin, the gash of pleasure?Infinitesimal mouths bore it away.
The beach scrubbed and etched and pickled it clean. But O I love you it sings, my little my countryMy food my parent my child I want you my ownMy flower my fin my life my lightness my O.
QUE ST I ONS
1. The specific language describ-ing Sid Caesar and JackieRobinson in “To Television”gives us important informationabout each and develops ourunderstanding of Hermes,“Quick one, little thief.”According to this poem, whatqualities link Caesar, Robinson,and Hermes?
2. Hermes—a Greek messengergod—is also described in “ToTelevision” as “escort / Of thedying and comfort of the sick.”How does television performthese functions in this poem?
3. The title “ABC” seems to implyan elementary, predictable expe-rience. In what ways does thepoem fulfill or evade this impli-cation?
4. What value would you give to Xin “X=your zenith”?
ACT I VI T I E S
1. Use the alphabet to write aseries of stories, sketches, orpoems of your own. In your firsteffort, let the sequence of thealphabet determine every thirdword. In your second, everyother word. In your third, everyword.
2. With a group, try different read-ings of “ABC.” Make notes ofwhat you notice in each reading.Discuss what your group couldnow offer to increase anyone’spleasure in hearing and speak-ing this poem.
3. Create your own list ofmetaphors for television or someother object or institution—radio, computer, automobile,shopping mall, school, etc.—thathas both personal and socialsignificance.
4. Draw the whole scenedescribed in “To Television.”
“To Television” by Robert Pinsky, © 1998 by Robert Pinsky. “ABC” by Robert Pinsky,© 1999 by Robert Pinsky. Reprinted by permission of Robert Pinsky.“The Want Bone” from THE WANT BONE by Robert Pinsky, © 1990 by Robert Pinsky.Reprinted by permission of the Ecco Press.“If You Could Write One Great Poem, What Would You Want It To Be About?” fromTHE FIGURED WHEEL by Robert Pinsky, © 1996 by Robert Pinsky. Reprinted by per-mission of the Noonday Press.
Robert Pinsky
If You Could Write One Great Poem,What Would You Want It To Be About?(Asked of four student poets at the Illinois Schools for the Deaf and Visually Impaired)
Fire: because it is quick, and can destroy.Music: place where anger has its place.Romantic Love—the cold or stupid ask why.Sign: that it is a language, full of grace,
That it is visible, invisible, dark and clear,That it is loud and noiseless and is containedInside a body and explodes in airOut of a body to conquer from the mind.
AMIRIBARAKA
“You think yourstuff is good?See those guysdigging a hole inthe street there?When they get aminute off to eata sandwich, goread them apoem. See if youget hit on thehead. If youdon’t get hit onthe head, you’vegot a future.”
SHIRLEY GEOK-LIN LIM“If a poem does not move or givepleasure, then I don’t think itreally succeeds as art. Isn’t itimportant for us to get pleasurein some way, even in the deepestpain and grief, to survive?Maybe pleasure is the oar thatwe need not to drown.”
LUCILLE CLIFTON“I am interested inbeing understood,not admired.”
COLEMAN BARKS“When I was about twelve Ikept a little black notebookand wrote down words that Iloved the taste of, like ‘azalea’or, for some reason, ‘halcyon,’the bird that calms the waterswith its wings, and other oddwords, and images too.”
MARK DOTY“The act of making a poemimplies that somebody’slistening. So we’re reach-ing toward, imaginatively,another consciousness,another listener.”
Remarks About
Being a Poet and About
Poetry
LORNA DEE CERVANTES“They didn’t teach poetry in the barrioschool. I thought poems were songs forpeople with bad voices, and my brother,a musician, always assured me that’swhat I had. So I just always wrote poetry.I don’t think there was a time in my lifewhen poetry wasn’t at the center.”
JANE HIRSHFIELD“Poetry was the field in which Ideveloped the self I became. . . . We write in order to find out whoand what we are.”
MARGE PIERCY“Poetry is very diverse. Differentpoets speak to different people.Different poets strike differentchords. We all belong to a greatendeavor, and the more good poetsthere are, the more people willread poetry.”
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Funding for this guide is provided bythe Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation.