MODULE 3: KINDS OF POETRY

HAIKU

If Not for the Cat. by Jack Prelutsky. Ill. by Ted Rand

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Prelutsky, Jack. 2004. IF NOT FOR THE CAT. Ill. by Ted Rand. New York: Harper Collins/Greenwillow. ISBN: 0-06-059677-5.

2. SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Ted Rand's mixed media paintings are so striking and captivating, that one may forget about the text! But that would be a shame because the poems are the riddles and the pictures are the answers! Experts in the field say that Haiku is one of the least popular forms of poetry for children; -but surely putting this book in the hands of children could change this! A delight to read and a delight to view, the poems in If Not for the Cat, describe in seventeen syllables the essence of the animal it is about.

3. POEM AND CONNECTIONS

As an exercise in listening closely to the poems, ask the children to guess what animal the poem is describing without looking at the pictures. Some could guess after the first two lines of these short, but succinct Haiku: "How foolish I am./Why am I drawn to the flame..." or "Boneless, translucent/we undulate, undulate..." A challenging exercise that introduces new vocabulary as well as emphasizing the strict structure of this poetic form.

VERSE NOVEL
Learning to Swim. by Ann Turner

1.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Turner, Ann. 2000. LEARNING TO SWIM: a memoir. New York: Scholastic Press. ISBN: 9780439528313

2.SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

In this first person account, Ann Turner, in the voice of the child that she was at the time this occurred, relates the tragic experience of being sexually molested by an older neighbor boy. Written in vignettes, entitled, "Sailing," "Sinking" and "Swimming," the narrator describes the excitement of learning how to swim in the pond at her summer house, then the repeated assaults, and finally, releasing the secret and beginning the healing process. It is amazing that in 113 short pages, Ann Turner is able to convey the tragedy of the loss of innocence, the girl's (her own) fear and shame, the courage to tell and the power of parental love to replace rebuild trust. This book does for victims of molestation, what Laurie Halse Anderson's, Speak, does for victims of rape: give children and teens the power of voice. Turner says, "By taking something so painful and transforming it into words, rhythm, and images, the experience changed inside. It became a gift instead of a tragedy."

3. POEM AND CONNECTIONS

The Last poem in this book gives this book wings and a halo, in my opinion! "...but pulling the words up/and out, spilling them/across the floor, the table,/dropping them into someone's surprised face that/is what matters/and after this time/and the next one day/you will feel so/light and airy/your stomach will uncoil/your face/unclench/and you will feel like yourself/again."

This poem can be used in a health or sociology or psychology class to encourage a discussion about the terrible dynamics of abuse.

FREE VERSE

A Rose that Grew From Concrete. by Tupac Shakur

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Shakur, Tupac. A ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE. New York: Pocketbooks. ISBN: 9780671028459

2. SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS

This collection of poems, written by rapper, Tupac Shakur, is an intimate expression of a very young man's passions. Tupac Shakur was murdered at the age of twenty-five and the poems were published posthumously. The poems are reproduced from his notebook in his handwriting, accompanied by a typewritten version. The handwritten poems seem like illustrations to the typewritten text in that they reinforce his youthful and naive voice. The love poems are not deep or profound, but purity of the expression is what stands out. The fact that this young man, who grew up under so much duress, was so engaged in the act of writing poetry, is what stands out in this collection. The later poems speak more about his experience as a black man in a racist society. This is when his voice becomes more powerful and the writing less indulgent. He continues to use numbers and letters as abbreviated words: "u taught me to be strong/but I'm confused 2 c u so weak...." , but the writing gets more sophisticated in the last two sections. This collection would be appealing to teens who write poetry or keep a journal.

3.POEM AND CONNECTION

In the poem How Can We Be Free, the reader gets a glimpse of Tupac, the rapper: "Sometimes I wonder about this race/Because we must be blind as hell/2 think we live in equality/while Nelson Mandela rots in a jail cell..."

This book could be used as an introduction to song writing in a music class.

This book would pair well with Nikki Giovanni's Hip Hop Speaks to Children: a celebration of poetry with a beat, because like Giovanni's collection, this book shows the power of rhythm in expressing universal experiences like love, oppression, joy, and redemption.

MODULE 2: MAJOR POETS AND AWARDS

Friendly Four. By Eloise Greenfield. (1997 NCTE Award Winner)

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Greenfield, Eloise. 2006. THE FRIENDLY FOUR. Ill. by Jan Spivey Gilchrist. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 9780060007591.
2. SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
This collection of poems written for multiple voices features four friends; Drum, Dorene, Louis and Rae, introduced in that order. Drum is anticipating a boring summer and is pleasantly surprised by three new friends who move to the neighborhood. The poems are mostly about the good times and the easy rapport that develops between the friends. But as the book progresses we see that the friendship offers a haven from family problems and worries. The poems are a playful and poignant portrait of the power that friendship provides to help kids lay their burdens down and seek safety and solace in each other's company. The watercolor paintings are not effective in enhancing the depth and sweetness of the friendship, but may appeal to young children.
3. POEM AND CONNECTIONS
These poems are written for multiple voices and their subjects,- imaginative play and verbal banter,- is accessible to children. A reader's theater activity around this books would be a lively and meaningful experience. Not all of the poems are playful. In "Someone," Louis finally finds the motherly love he has craved:

" Louis: My new mama really looks at me.
not at all like the other two,
who looked past me into nothing.
My new mama's eyes turn soft,
when she sees me,
like the eyes of someone
I think I knew......"

Children could create a poem similar to the ones in the book featuring themselves and their friends.

19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. By Naomi Shihab Nye. (Multicultural) National Book Award Finalist

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 2002. 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE:POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0060097655.
2. SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Nye is an Arab American whose love for the land and the people of the Middle East is beautifully expressed in this collection of sixty poems written and collected after September 11th. In her introduction she relates her experience of turning to poetry for solace after the tragedy of 9/11. She writes, "Poetry slows us down, cherishes small details. A large disaster erases those details." The small details of life in the Middle East are beautifully articulated in Nye's poems that give the reader a sense of the aromas of the earth and fruits, the sound of Arabic music, and visions of the land untouched and ravaged by conflict.
Nye was born in the United States but has spent a lot of time in the Middle East. She says," All my life I thought about the Middle East, wrote about it, wondered about it, visited it, lived in it, loved it." These poems are an expression of love and sorrow for the land and the people.
3. POEM AND CONNECTIONS
The poem, "My father and the fig tree" is about her father who we learn earlier, came the United States after being forced from his home in Jerusalem after in 1948. The poem is light-hearted, but at the same time relates the powerful hold that the memory of home has on her father. The poem begins with the poet remembering how her father would insert a fig tree into any story he told her as a child and ends with her father, later in his life, finally owning a house with a fig tree in the yard:

"The last time he moved, I had a phone call,
my father, in Arabic, chanting a song
I'd never heard. "What's that?"
He took me out to the new yard.
There, in the middle of Dallas, Texas,
a tree with the largest, fattest,
sweetest figs in the world.
"It's a figtree song," he said,
plucking his fruits like ripe tokens,
emblems, assurance
of a world that was always his own.
(excerpt from the poem, My Father and the Figtree, p6)

The poems in the book are a like a meditation of the Middle East, each one a deep exploration into the the effects that the land and the tragic events have on the lives of the people.
This would be a good book to use in an ESL middle or high school class. Students could write poems about their memories of home.




Bow Wow meow meow: it's rhyming cats and dogs. By Douglas Florian

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Florian, Douglas.(2003). BOW WOW MEOW MEOW: IT'S RHYMING CATS AND DOGS. San Diego: Harcourt. ISBN 0152163956
2. SUMMARY AND CRITICAL ANALYSIS
The design of this book's cover paired with its title make it immediately appealing. From the eye catching bright pink cover with a cat, mouth wide open, holding a dog, bone in mouth, upon its tongue! Douglas Florian could convert anyone who claims to hate poetry into a poetry zealot. The twenty-one poems, all about cats or dogs and illustrated with the breed featured in the poem, are funny and have such strong cadence and rhythm that they make you want to dance, except you would be too captivated by the pictures! The concrete poems are fun, particularly "The Poodles," where the words are arranged in curls with lines like: "Poodles have oodles and oodles of curls," or "The curls may have whirls, while the whirls may have swirls." The pictures are the perfect compliment to the poems.

3. POEM AND CONNECTIONS
In the poem, "The Dachshund," Florian's watercolor of a dachshund bus with it's passenger fleas will surely make the reader giggle. Short up front/And short behind/But so long in-between/The fleas all ride/Upon my side/In my s t r e t c h limousine.
This book has so much potential for learning opportunities. Any child who has ever owned a cat or dog, or even loved one from afar, could create her own poem and picture. A fun activity would be to hold up a picture of a pet and ask the children to write a rhyming poem about the animal.