POETRY BY KIDS: Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky; Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School Compiled by Timothy Mclaughlin

Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky

Bibliography:

McLaughlin, Timothy P. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. New York: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2012. 

Review:

Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky is artwork that is bound together to create a beautiful piece of art-erature (art+ literature). Each of the seven sections opens with a short excerpt about the subject title. These excerpts are a summary of sorts of the different themes that are present in the collection of poems. These excepts also guide the reader though the beauty of the Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School.

The editor of the collection Timothy P. McLaughlin strings together many different formats of poems including free verse, haiku, extended metaphor, diamante, I am, and many more. The variety of the poems contribute to the versatility of the collection. In addition, to the different formats there is also many different perspectives that are present. From a hopeful child in I Still Dream to the solemn tone of Quiet. The feelings of the speaker and the mood they create for the reader are exemplary examples of how to create feelings within the reader. 

Furthermore the imagery that is used to explain their feelings is deep yet relatable. For example, in the poem Silence by Julia Martin she writes and repeats the line "Silence is the loudest noise I ever heard." The reader can connect to this moment maybe not in the same sad way, but every kid knows that feeling when silence seems deafening. I also like the line from Quiet by Tia Catches when she writes "Quiet is the ringing in the ear" while the line is so simple I think it shows children perfectly how irony is actually something that can be lived. 

Overall, the collection is one that should be shared to children throughout the year. I would use this as a reference when I wanted to teacher different literary concepts because the collection has a depth of different merits and should be spoken about as much as possible. 

Spotlight Poem:

The element of suspense is highly prevalent in the poem Ugly Life on Dirty Rez. The reader isn't sure of the poems mood or tone until the third line and even still there is a question of the connotation of dirty as you complete the final lines. 

Ugly Life on Dirty Rez

Life on
Life on reservation 
Life on reservation is dirty 
Life on reservation is dirty, filthy
Life on reservation is dirty, filthy dogs. 
-Dena Colhoff

Follow-up Activity:

As a poetry break, I would assign each word in each line to a different student to make a total of 23 assigned words, then I would have the students read this poem aloud a couple of times. The emphasis on life would become apparent and we could talk about the different symbols that life could mean in this poem. The poem has little variety of words, but that only makes the words that it does have more meaningful. Also, reading the poem aloud will help identify that emphasis. 

JANECZKO COLLECTION: Requiem Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto

Bibliography:

Janeczko, Paul B. Requiem: Poems of the Terezín Ghetto. Somerville, Mass.: Candlewick Press, 2011.

Review:

Reading Paul Janeczko's Requiem allows the reader to inside the lives of the terrorized people at the Terezin Ghetto. Through different stories Janeczko speaks the stories of the saddened, scared, and angered inmates. The word choice and imagery that Janeczko ties together keeps the reader teared, yet continuously reading.

In the poem titled SS Captain Bruno Krueger the speaker recounts a time when two Jews tried to escape. Unfortunately, the Jews are recaptured and the poem describes through vivid word choice the "impracticality of defiance." Janeczko's voice in this poem is evil and articulates the true disdain of the Jewish people. The reader can feel the excruciating sounds of the life of a Jew in the Terezin Ghetto.

Furthermore, the imagery in poem titled Erich Rosenberg/43458 the reader can feel all five sense in a poem about the disgusting bedbugs. Appealing to the sense of sight Janeczko writes, "Filled with blood/they are the size of an apple seed." Simply picturing a bedbug, a typically unseen creature, the size of an apple seed makes my stomach turn. Similarly the line "in your mattress--/until it is time to crawl over you./Drawn by your warmth,/your breath,/they find a spot to suck your blood/injecting their saliva/leaving a blister, a rash/that must not be scratched." After reading this particular poem chills ran down my spine, knowing that nagging feeling of not being able to scratch or rid yourself of something so disgusting and as irritable as a bug bite.

In summary, Paul Janeczko strings together a feeling of authenticity and a sad yet beautiful piece of literature that is bound to stand the test of time. I am confident Requiem will be read by many new and old Holocaust Historians.

Spotlight Poem:

David epstein/ 12275

I wish I could kill one of them.
One.
A small number, no?
I would need no help.
Want none.
I would want my face
to be the last thing he saw before he died.
My face.
As the blade finds its way between his ribs--
at the instance I'd want him to see my face.
He would not know me.
I did nothing to you, he would think.
What he did, he did to all of us.
He would not understand
punishment for doing his duty.
I would like his last blood-choked moment
to be confused
before I heaved him
onto a pile of bodies on the hearse,
his legs, shoeless, hanging over the side.
I would like to feed him my Sarah's ashes
one spoonful after another
without pause
until he could no longer breathe.
Then I would force more ashes into his nose.
Whatever he choked down or spit out
I would replace with more
of my Sarah's ashes.
When he died I would cram
more ashes down his throat.
Dead or not
he must taste my Sarah's ashes.

Perhaps I would do nothing to him.
Nothing but watch him descend
into the hell of typhus,
fevered, slow of pulse,
vomiting down the front of his shirt,
clutching his wrenching stomach,
surrounded by friends and family
who could do nothing to help
except listen to his rambles
except clean up diarrhea
hour after hour.

Yes,
I wish I could kill one of them.
One.
A small number, no?
I would need no help
to deliver justice.

Follow-up Activity:

After reading the poem, I would ask the students "What senses did you use while reading?" The poem appeals to all five sense, but it would be a point of discussion for the students to discuss which sense stood out the most for the student.

I tried this in class just recently 5-1-15 and the students all had different senses that the poem appealed to, and we were able to discuss which sense were the most strong, and why for that person. Again I was able to reiterate that poem appeals to readers in different ways and for different reasons. 

FREE CHOICE POETRY: A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food by Eric Larkin

A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words About Food by Eric-Shabazz Larkin

Bibliography:

Larkin, Eric. A Moose Boosh: A Few Choice Words on Food. Bellevue, Washington: Readers to Eaters, 2014.

Review:

A Moose Boosh is a playful spin on the French term amuse-bouche. Eric-Shabazz Larkin creates over forty delightful poems that are accompanied with a "graffiti" style photography. Larkin shares the poems of different characters as they tell their impassioned thoughts of food. Ranging from silly, to historical all the way to comical spins on Dr. Seuss classics, Larkin creates a masterfully delicious collection of yummy poems.

To keep with true form the book opens with a menu style table of contents guiding the reader through a tasty selection of poems for them to digest. Of course the book opens with its name sake "A Moose Boosh" and is followed by other savory poems; including, My Father is a Painter, and Sushi. My Father is a Painter tells the heart-warming story of a fathers food art through the eyes of his toddler son. The abab rhyme scheme flows similar to how the father creates a masterpiece dish. Sushi is a silly free verse poem accompanied by the adorably graffiti sushi art that makes the reader laugh and giggle.

Overall, what makes A Moose Boosh such a fun book is that everyone has an experience with food. Everyone has tasted or tried something that affected their emotions. Because of the books topic the reader can connect to the topics both serious and silly.

Spotlight Poem:

A Desk is Not a Dinner Table

You can eat dinner
at a round table
or a square table.
An oblong table
or a pear-shaped table.

But a desk
is not a dinner table.

You can eat dinner at the beach
or eat it on a boat/
Eat it in a bikini
or eat it in a coat/
Eat it upstairs.
Eat it outside.
Eat it feeling fat
or feeling thinner.

But a desk? No.
A desk is not a place for dinner.

Call it "food in face."
Call it "stuffing belly."
Call it the Internet
with toast and jelly.

Dinner at a desk
needs a re-label.
Because a desk
will never be a dinner table.

Follow-up Activity:

A Desk is Not a Dinner Table offers an assortment of literary and poetic techniques. There is clear repetition, a little rhyme scheme, and the use of punctuation to create rhythm.  I would read this poem aloud and focus on how the punctuation creates a tone of displeasure and annoyance. Then as a follow up I would have students brainstorm the weirdest, most comfortable, or even the most common place they have dinner, then draw from a list of tone words and create a poem about that place. I want to give them the tone, because often times students "don't know" how they feel so giving them a little guidance in that department will make for better poems.