ipm banner logo

Lifting Up the Lives & Voices of Young People

Through the Power of Poetry
~ September 2011 ~ 

 

 

The Place Where We Are Right

 

From the place where we are right
flowers will never grow
in the spring.

 

The place where we are right
is hard and trampled
like a yard.

 

But doubts and loves
dig up the world
like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
where the ruined
house once stood.

 

~ Yehuda Amichai 

 

 

Dear Friend of Poetic Medicine,

 

Amichai's poem reminds me that something useful and meaningful occurs in life when I step back and welcome uncertainty and a willingness to not know. When I allow for feelings of love, those feelings bring a great attention to what matters.

 

The Unique Voice of Each Human Being 

 

This is a good way to describe how I listen to a poem written by a person about losses and grief in their life - or who writes something that shows resilience. The practice of poetry therapy reminds me to respect and remember this: through the unique voice of each human being something genuine and alive can emerge, something that can, when held with care and in a sacred way, help a raw wound to receive air and/or help growth and possibilities to flourish.

 

Yet the word "unique," if it is to mean something, requires of me a deep commitment to:

 

Start close in, 

don't take the second step

or the third,

start with the first

thing  

close in,

the step you don't want to take.

 

~ David Whyte

 

There is so much to be found by listening closely.  We "start close in" to what is presented to us through our own poems, through what we hear from another.  I want to listen to the poem and to that person in a way that treasures their singularity.

 

How can I describe this?  I vividly recall working with children (5th grade, let's say) and after a poetry reading given to parents - one or two parents say to me, "I had no idea my child thought that way."  I feel that statement includes surprise, humility, excitement, self-reflection and a change of heart towards not only their child but another human being.  It is a recognition of singularity.  Poetry opens that door!   

 

I've never found that immediately using my own words to reframe, paraphrase, interpret, compare, evaluate, tell my own story, define what I think someone meant, or share what some other person said - none of that helps someone hear what they have spoken/written to themselves.

 

A Whisper Will be Heard 

 

We could instead put our ear to the door of the heart and gut, that is, more closely to the ground.

 

And a whisper will be heard in the place  

where the ruined

house once stood.

 

The Place Where We Are Right also describes a way to write a poem. Writing a poem to heal is not about getting it right. In the spirit of poetic medicine, we encourage people to approach the blank page with curiosity, even abandon, rather than judgment.  It is O.K.:   You can write about whatever feels like "hard ground" and "ruined house."

 

In the excellent and groundbreaking book A General Theory of Love (Click Here) there is a wonderful passage called "limbic resonance." The authors, all physicians, write in favor of deep listening.   They make their case not only on the basis of expressing positive regard but much more, because there is something profound that happens in that interaction between two beings:

 

"If a listener quiets his neocortical chatter and allows limbic  

sensing to range free, melodies begin to penetrate the static of anonymity. Individual hopes of reactions, hopes, expectations,  

and dreams resolve into themes. Stories about lovers, teachers, friends, and pets echo back and forth and coalesce into a handful  

of motifs. As the listener's resonance grows, he will catch sight of what the other sees inside that personal world, start to sense what  

it feels like to live there."

 

~ Thomas Lewis, M.D., Fari Amini, M.D., Richard Lannon, M.D.

 

The poet Rainer Maria Rilke said this in the Book of Hours: Poems to God:

 

My looking ripens things

and they come toward me, to meet and be met.

 

~ Rainer Maria Rilke

translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

 

Rilke gives "limbic resonance" a spiritual and poetic resonance.  This intimate contact with a generous ground of connection that nurtures and sometimes downright ignites a blossoming within may find expression in these lines:

 

  When someone deeply listens to you,

your barefeet are on the earth

and a beloved land that seemed distant

is now at home within you.

 

~ John Fox

from "When Someone Deeply Listens to You" 

 

 

A Deeper Collaboration and Connection 

 

When I wrote in an earlier paragraph, "through the unique voice of each human being something genuine and alive can emerge" I meant this very precise experience where "melodies begin to penetrate the static of anonymity."   What happens is that at last a person is heard and their song is recognized. It is my firm faith and experience that our looking/listening ripens.

 

This approach to deep listening and writing supports this limbic resonance, establishes a deeper collaboration and connection between the poem-maker (client, patient, student, parishioner, friend) and the listener (therapist, physician, nurse, teacher, pastoral counselor, friend).  With a little practice, the listener to the poem will, with empathy, help the writer to "dig up the world" in a way where his or her "whisper" might gain strength, put down roots, and become a resonant voice.  

 

The Poetic Medicine training program that begins in early 2012 will be dedicated to developing this kind of practice with poetry as healer. Please stay tuned for more information about the training soon.  We suggest you consider the 5-day retreat in late October at the Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park.  Please see the schedule below. 

 

 

 

 

I am especially happy with the theme of children and young people in this autumn edition of The Poetic Medicine Journal.

 

Living Intimately Close to the Moment 

 

"Listen to these young poets and you'll discover the voice of the present and hear the voice of the future before the future is even here."

 

~Philip Levine

Current Poet Laureate of the United States 

 

For many years I've said the best mentors in learning the practice and deeper meaning of poetry therapy, in using poetry as healer, is being with and working with children and teens and learning from the writing they can do.  

 

Children and teenagers have shown me, in so many different ways, what a creative inner life is when that life is allowed to live close to the surface. By surface I don't mean something shallow, something that is not deep. I mean something that is not dead and buried. I mean living intimately close to the moment when the expression of our inner life emerges into the world.

 

Only when I make room for the child's voice within me

do I feel genuine and creative.

 

~ Alice Miller

 

All too frequently, I find this inner life is given short shrift, ignored and abandoned by adults.  There are plenty of reasons why.  Yet because those adults were once children, that wild and creative landscape is still present in them!  The poetry of children and young people helps adults like you and me find the playfulness and courage that allows us to revisit those sacred and wild places.

 

I don't want to make the experience of children and young people sound only idyllic - although there is the richness of free imagination that adults will and ought to exclaim about - there is also the darkness that children live through.  Racism and war, the economic injustice and religious intolerance problems with the law and choices that can lead to terrible consequences - all of these are part of many children's experiences.  The Institute for Poetic Medicine wants to do what we can to meet children and young people who grapple with these experiences and that is why we have funded Poetry Partners Merna Ann Hecht (Seattle, WA) and Jacinta White (Greensboro, NC).  

 

Journal stories by Merna and Jacinta are included here.  Please enjoy them - you'll hear truth, longing and resilience.  It has been our privilege to fund these two projects. There are also book reviews and other connections/live links to enrich your understanding of bringing poetry into the lives of children and young people. I think at the start of a new school year this is inspiring stuff to read.

 

 

 

John's Schedule 

 

My autumn schedule is included here.  In the coming months I'll bring poetic medicine to Atlanta, the Albany area, Los Angeles, Menlo Park and Newark.  Programs on the schedule below welcome your participation!

 

I also want to show you the range of ways poetic medicine is reaching people in various institutions:

 

Cancer Wellness at Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA

Paideia School, Atlanta, GA

The University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey 

Grand Rounds for the Surgery & Pediatric Departments, Newark, NJ  

Wellness Arts and Enrichment Center, West Orange, NJ

Blythedale Children's Hospital and School, Vahalla, NY

New Choices Recovery Center, Schenectady, NY

International Center for the Disabled, Manhattan, NY

The San Diego Hospice/Institute for Palliative Care  

 

Please let your friends and colleagues know about these programs if you feel they might benefit from them.   It would be wonderful to see you along the way.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

John Fox

 

P.S.  I am dedicating this edition of The Poetic Medicine Journal to my sister, Shelley Jean Fox.  Shelley died on June 10 after a series of strokes at the age of 58. She lived for 37 years with the effects of a traumatic/acquired brain injury. This had a profound, and one could say devastating, impact on her life. Yet Shelley, though her days could be punctuated with depression, kept on with a vulnerable boldness and a spirit of goodness.  Shelley loved to paint - and often, sunflowers.  This is a photograph of her at a gallery showing at The Cleveland Playhouse in Cleveland, OH.

 

                    Shelley Fox 

 

 


AH!  SUN-FLOWER

 

Ah, Sun-flower, weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun,

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the traveller's journey is done.

 

~ William Blake  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                     

 

 

Calender Update 

September 22, 2011  

Atlanta, GA 


HEALING WORDS:  POETRY & MEDICINE

A PBS Documentary Film by David Watts, M.D. 

Presented by John Fox, CPT & Dennis Buttimer, M.Ed

 

Cancer Wellness at Piedmont Hospital 

Atlanta, Georgia 

  

PBS Film Cover  

 

Thursday, September 22:   12:30pm to 2:30pm

 

As patients and physicians find that their time to interact decreases, as technology impacts human connection, we face a healthcare system that increasingly does not treat the whole person. We can encourage a more healing environment by combining excellent clinical treatment with support for the heart, mind and spirit. The creative arts, including expressive writing, are ameans of offering such support.

 

If we intend to become a healthier culture we must invest in this effort to reclaim within medicine a sense of our humanity. The film Healing Words: Poetry and Medicine presents the opportunity for us to explore:  Does art and poetry help people heal? How can the arts assist those who practice medicine? What is a healing environment?

 

To Visit the Healing Words Productions' Website and View a Trailer of the Film:   CLICK HERE   

 

To Visit the Website at Cancer Wellness at Piedmont Hospital:

 CLICK HERE  

 

To View a Flyer for this Event:  CLICK HERE 

 

Location:   Cancer Wellness at Piedmont Hospital 

                       Piedmont West Medical Office Park

  1800 Howell Mill Road, Suite 700

  Atlanta, GA  30318

 

Fee:              This event is free of charge, but registration is required. 

                       Please call (404) 425-7944 to register.

 

A light lunch is provided. 

 

September 23, 2011  

Decatur, GA 


MY LOOKING RIPENS THINGS:

Being a Catalyst for Healing Through Poem-Making

 

A Writing Workshop with John Fox, CPT

Decatur, Georgia  

 

 

 

Friday, September 23:  7:00pm - 9:30pm 

Saturday, September 24:  10:00am - 5:00pm

 

This retreat will help you become a catalyst for poetry as healer in your world.  This workshop is not limited to but will be very useful to people in healthcare, education, pastoral care, therapists and healers of all descriptons, poets and community activists.  No experience with writing is required!

 

Some of the topics we will likely explore:  Why practice poetic medicine; holding a safe, sacred and creative environment; risk, experimentation, honesty of feeling and taking pleasure in language; listening and attention; slowing down and silence; letting go of judgment; nurturing strengths & affirming connections.  

 

Friday Location:

Decatur Healing Arts

619 B New Street

Decatur, GA

(Open attendance, but please e-mail Agata Dichev to RSVP) 

 

Saturday Location  

A private home in a beautiful wooded setting in Clarkston.  Those who wish to attend Saturday should also attend Friday evening.   

 

Workshop is Limited to 16 People - Please Register Early!

 

FeeFriday & Saturday - $130.00   

           Friday only - $25.00*   

           (*You may pay at door for Friday with cash or check)

 

For Registration & Questions:

Please Contact  Agata Dichev at:

E-Mail[email protected]

Phone:  (734) 904-8923  

 

To Download a Flyer For This Event:  CLICK HERE 

                             

 

October 2, 2011  

Los Angeles, CA  


Changes of Heart
The Art Lerner Annual Poetry Therapy Day

With John Fox, CPT; Perie Longo, PhD, MFT; Robert Carroll, M.D.

Los Angeles, CA

 

 

 

Sunday, October 2, 2011:  10:00am - 5:15pm

 

John Fox (Keynote) - My Heart Broke Loose on the Wind:  Recovering a Holistic Poetry Therapy

 

Poetry therapy is practiced best when it is deeply treasured and respected for its essential wildness.  In this talk, John will share a holistic vision of poetry therapy that respects and values wildness, thoughtful practice, and the freedom to apply poetry therapy in ways that serve multi-disciplinary needs.  He will bring news of the exciting welcome that poetry therapy is receiving across the country and around the planet.

 

Perie Longo - Getting the News From Poems

 

We will explore William Carlos Williams' axiom about how people "die miserably every day" for not embracing poetry, discuss poetry's gifts, and write our own News in response to selected poems for discovering truths that expand our lives.

 

Robert Carroll - Significant Stories

 

We will share our significant stories; i.e. those stories in which we are changed and somehow transformed.  Poems will be read which will evoke writing exercises.

 

Workshop Location 

Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective

6535 Wilshire Blvd., Suite #110

(corner of Wilshire Blvd. & San Vicente Blvd. - east of La Cienega)

Los Angeles, CA

 

Fee$70.00 for the day  

           CEU's available for Social Workers & MFT's (add'l $15.00 fee)

 

For Registration and Questions:

To reserve a space, please make checks payable and mail to:

       Robert Carroll

       1314 Westwood Blvd., #210

       Los Angeles, CA  90024   

 

       Phone:  (310) 475-2990

       E-Mail:  Robert [email protected]

 

To Download a Flyer/Schedule of This Event:    

CLICK HERE  

 

To Visit the Los Angeles Poets & Writers' Collective:  

CLICK HERE 

 

 

October 14 - 15, 2011  

Duanesburg, NY  


SEEING TAKES TIME

 

A Writing Workshop Presented by John Fox, CPT

Duanesburg, NY

 

 


Friday, October 14, 2011
:  7:00pm - 9:30pm
Saturday, October 15, 2011:  10:00am - 5:00pm


A gift of poetry is that it encourages us to take our time.  We can take our time to not only see a small flower, but see and feel the richness of the world and of the person whose shoulder is next to yours.

 

Writing poetry allows us to reflect upon our lives and varied experiences.  Sharing our poems with one another, we take time to listen to a friend.  It is a great gift, this kind of listening.

 

"Nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven't time  and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time."

 

~Georgie O'Keefe

 

Location:

Crossroads Gallery  

(Please speak with Judith Prest, Workshop Coord., to get the address)

 

Fee$120.00

            (Two sliding scale scholarships are available) 

 

LunchWe will provide a simple meal of sandwich deli meats, cheese and salad, along with hummus and crackers.  $6.00 is requested for this.  You are welcome to bring your own lunch.  Tea and coffee will be served.     

For Registration and Questions:

Please contact Judith Prest at:

Phone:  (518) 895-8001

E-Mail[email protected]

 

To Download a Flyer/Registration Form:  CLICK HERE 

 

 

October 27 - 30, 2011  

Menlo Park, CA  


MY LOOKING RIPENS THINGS:

Being a Catalyst for Healing Through Poem-Making

 

A Writing Workshop with John Fox, CPT  

Menlo Park, CA

  

    

 

Thursday, October 27 - Sunday, October 30, 2011

 

(Program begins at 5:00pm on Thursday

and concludes at noon on Sunday) 

 

 

This retreat will help you become a catalyst for poetry as healer in your world.  This workshop is open to everyone interested in poetry as healer and will be very useful to people in healthcare, education, pastoral care, therapists and healers of all descriptions, poets and community activists. 

 

Some of the topics we will likely explore:  Why practice poetic medicine?; Holding a safe, sacred and creative environment; Risk, experimentation, honesty of feeling and taking pleasure in language; Listening and attention; Slowing down and silence; Letting go of judgment; Nurturing strengths & affirming connections.   

 

LocationVallombrosa Retreat Center

                       250 Oak Grove Avenue

                       Menlo Park, CA  94025

 

To Visit Vallombrosa's Website:   CLICK HERE 

 

Fee$650.00 includes full retreat, all meals & lodging.  Please send a  

            deposit of $100.00 to hold reservation.  Balance of $550.00 is due  

            on Tuesday, October 27.

 

For Registration and Questions:

Please Contact John Fox at:

E-Mail[email protected]

Phone:  (530) 383-4668

 

To Download A Flyer/Registration Form for This Event:   

CLICK HERE 

 

    

November 11 - 13, 2011   

San Diego, CA 


A Presentation of the Humanities in Hospice Event Series

San Diego Hospice & The Institute for Poetic Medicine


POETIC MEDICINE:
THE HEALING ART OF POEM-MAKING

A Workshop with  John Fox, CPT
Exploring the Uses of Poetry As A Comfort and Inspiration
For Living Life and At the End of Life

 

  

"Poetry enacts our own losses so that we can share the notion  

that we all lose - and hold each other's hand, as it were, in losing."

 

~ Donald Hall

   

Friday, November 11:  7:00pm - 9:30pm
Saturday, November 12:  10:00am - 5:00pm
Sunday, November 13:  9:30am - 12:30pm


Writing poetry allows us to reflect upon our lives and varied experiences.  Sharing our poems with one another, we take time to listen to a friend.  It is a great gift, this kind of listening.

 

When words can be so hard to find, poetry can help you because a poem can express emotionally and spiritually for a person what "regular" conversation misses.  For those dear to the individual in hospice, for those who provide comfort care, a poem can say what really matters.

 

LocationSan Diego Hospice & Institute for Palliative Medicine

                      W.M. Keck Conference Center

                      4311 Third Avenue

                      San Diego, CA  92103

 

FeeFriday only:  $20.00

    Full Registration (Fri/Sat/Sun):  $150.00

 

To Download a Flyer/Registration Form:  CLICK HERE 

 

For Registration & Questions:

Please Contact Bella Suavengco at:

E-Mail[email protected]

Phone:  (619) 279-6197 

 

 

November 16, 2011   

West Orange, NJ  


Poetic Medicine:

The Healing Art of Poem-Making

 

Using Your Own Words to Gather Meaning and Find Connection

A Workshop Presented by John Fox 


Wellness Arts and Enrichment Center (WAE) 

West Orange, NJ

 

 

  

Wednesday, November 16:  7:00pm - 9:00pm

 

"We human beings are at our best when we enjoy poetry.  Sometimes all you need is to reflect on one poem that says, 'I can make it through.'"

 

~ Maya Angelou

 

Poem-making, when approached as a creative and transformational process, rather than with analysis and judgment, provides an opportunity for deep inner healing.  It encourages connection and meaning.  This is especially true when we share this experience within a community of listeners who respond with care and curiosity.

 

Drawing upon a lifetime of experience, John Fox, CPT, will help you become more aware of how poetry and poem-making can act as a catalyst for healing in the world, in your work and personal life.

 

The WAE Center, with its dedication to the power of arts to bolster the human spirit, create community and bring lasting value to the voice of each person is a perfect environment to explore this!  John will present themes that are in touch with the WAE daily practices of "wellness, arts and enrichment."

 

This evening talk and mini-workshop are open to everyone.  It will be useful to people in healthcare, education, pastoral care, therapists and healers of all descriptions, community activists and lovers of poetry.  No experience is required!  Poets and writers interested in this healing approach are welcome.

 

Location 

Wellness Arts and Enrichment Center (WAE)

270 Pleasant Valley Way

West Orange, NJ  07052

 

Fee:  $20.00 at the door 

  

Questions:

Please contact Joann Anand at: 

E-Mail[email protected]  

Phone:  (973) 272-7152  

 

The WAE Center is an alternative learning center for people with disabilities.  The Center offers programs in writing, poetry, painting, film, music and more.  The WAE Center strives to create an environment where individuals can learn, create, express themselves and foster meaningful relationships.

 

To Visit the WAE Center's Website:   CLICK HERE 

   

 

Poetry Partner Updates
We at IPM are proud to present more stories about the Poetry Partner work we are funding.  For all who have donated to IPM, the following stories, presented by Merna Hecht and Jacinta White, are what your generosity is helping to manifest.
   

Widening the Circles

A 2011 IPM Poetry Partner Project

 

 Merna Hecht (back, 4th from left) & *Abdi Sami (3rd from Merna's left)

(*Read more about Abdi in the Resource/Links section of this journal)  

 

Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices

a Poetry Project with Immigrant And Refugee Youth

Observations by Merna Hecht 

        

While there were exciting developments that emerged from our third year of the Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices project, including several ways through which we moved out from the classroom to widen the circle of our community visibility, this year's project ended on a profoundly sad note. Because of this, I want to begin my report on our 2011 IPM Poetry Partner Project by honoring Krishna Dhital, a poet from the 2010 Stories of Arrival project.

 

Krishna, who just graduated in the Foster High School class of 2011, died in mid-June, while in Spokane, WA. Krishna and his friend Dilli were visiting a friend they knew from the refugee camp in Nepal where they lived for their entire childhood and most of their teen years before coming to this country. Krishna was twenty one years old. The accident took the lives of all three Bhutanese/Nepalese refugees - Krishna and two of his life-long friends, Dilli Ram Bhattarai, 28 also of Tukwila and Krishna Dhakal, 17, of Spokane.

 

In an instance of mysterious irony, the article about the Stories of Arrival project that received the most community visibility, published this past spring in Teachers & Writers Magazine, concludes with several lines from one of Krishna's poems. When I set out to write the article I knew only that I would end it with Krishna's poetry because I felt that he managed to define our poetry project in a single compelling stanza that "said it all" about the project. I have a vivid memory of the deep, affectionate smile, a mix of pride and humility that filled Krishna's face and eyes when I pointed out to him that the article about our poetry project concluded with his words. As I reflect on it now, after this incomprehensible loss, Krishna's stanza does "say it all,"

 

               Krishna Dhital 

 

 

 

 

I remember guitar, you bring your

voice, let's sing it, blood in your heart

is red like mine, tears in your eyes are

the same as mine, song is loud

voice touches everyone's heart.

 

 

 

 

 

I love the way Krishna's words touch on both the edge of sadness that is in our blood and yet how our voices can join, heart to heart, in a universal song. I love the way he wrote this stanza as an invitation to all of us with his words, "let's sing it." My hope is to keep his wise and important words alive and to memorialize this beautiful young man whose life ended so abruptly, with all of its promise and potential. Krishna's poetry and his dreams of what and who he wanted to become have made a mark on the many that knew and loved him.

 

In contrast to Krishna's deeply humane, poetic language about the power of singing out and taking voice, is another kind of power - that of the enforced silence that issues from the harsh face of immigration policy in the US.  I firmly believe that one of the most essential components of the Stories of Arrival: Youth Voices project is how it is grounded in poetry, which is a humanizing language, and how the project is designed to bring the stories of young immigrant and refugees to the larger community in order to dispel the disenfranchised images and dehumanized stereotypes which, in my opinion, fill the media. I agree with what Julia Alvarez writes in her poem entitled "Arts Politica,"...The inhumanity of our humanity will not be fixed by metaphor alone/The plot will fail, the tortured will divulge/our names, our human story end, unless/our art can right what happens in the world.  

 

In each year of the Stories of Arriva project, poetry has been our main ingredient in a complex and spicy global meal which we partake of together; in doing so we have become more able to "right what happens in the world."  The nourishment of partaking in poetry allows the students to learn to communicate in a language that celebrates both individual experiences and an overall compassionate spirit of hope and courage.  Poet Ngoc Minh Tran, from Vietnam, expressed this same sentiment when he wrote 

his project reflection. Ngoc wrote, "We learned that a poem is like food - poems need smells, feelings, images, memories and color to be perfect just like food needs herbs, salt, sugar, color and fragrance to be delicious."

 

This humanizing language of poetry and storytelling in small but nonetheless critically important ways can serve to trump the dehumanizing language hurdled at us in the current and too often vicious debates around immigration issues. Because of poetry's power to overcome the degrading, institutionalized language that has come to the forefront of debate and legislation in many states Carrie Stradley, Foster High School ELL teacher who has been the mainstay partner-teacher for all three years of the poetry project and I wanted to increase the concentric circles of the project. Our goal was to move from the classroom to the community in new and more far-reaching ways than in our previous two years. We wanted to reach beyond the students' experiences of immigration, forced migrations and arrival in the US and include the experiences of their families and other community members. Because of this, we introduced a focus on family for this year's project.

 

We also wanted to make certain that both the students' stories and poems and the family stories reached more people in and beyond Seattle and its large metropolitan King County. Well before learning of Krishna Dhital's tragic death, we were already committed to the power of voice to "touch everyone's heart." We were inspired and determined to bring the voices of the students to a significantly larger audience than in our previous two years.  

 

Our understanding of how story and poetry work to change peoples' hearts and minds has grown with each year of this project, as has our awareness of the urgency of working to bring stories that dispel the notion that immigrant populationstake from our country - be it jobs, a strain on paying for public education, and many other aspects about which legions of people cry out in complaint and hatred.  Instead, we wanted to emphasize as widely as possible what it is these young immigrantsbring to our country - their gifts, values, aspirations and real world contributions to the greater good.   

 

 

   

Poetry about Family 

 

"I will not forget my family who are still in Russia, my grandmother with her best in the world smile and her dark hair, like flowing water. I will not forget my country, because I was born and raised there. It is in my blood."   

 

~Mazhid Shakbazov, Turkish from Russia

 

We invited the students to bring their families into their poems opening up space for them to capture images as if in a photograph. We encouraged them to give expression to the comfort that family members brought to them and at the same time we suggested that they might want to write about family members who had remained in their home countries. We anticipated that our emphasis on family would give over to poems that were rich in love and bonding, as well as poems that were poignant and sad, layered with expressions of longing for loved ones who were far away.

 

The outpouring that came from encouraging the students to write of their families was beyond what we imagined it might be - the poets described and wrote of their loved ones in ways that mirrored the depth of their family and cultural connections and their abundant love for family members. In fresh, original and heartfelt language the poems of family overflowed with love, with loss and with the profound bonds that sustain family connections. These poems contain vivid images of family groupings, along with poems that evoke strong emotions - grief, fear, longing and love.  Ngoc Minh Tran wrote, in part, in his poem:

 

My Book of Memories

 

I remember I saw a boy who had his dad's love

I was running away with my heavy legs 

Dad! I need you more than my candy box.

I remember how long I did not see my dad,

fourteen years, five months, without his love.

I can't wait until the day I can see him again,

Because even one day for me seemed like one century,

 

I remember the teaching from my dad

Everything you learn and you know

is only just one drop of water

from the large ocean.

 

 

 

Kausila Budhathokiwho, who is Bhutanese and lived in a Nepalese refugee camp for many years, wrote a poem titled "Two Sisters," which says, in part:

 

Two Sisters

 

...two sisters living life as if it could be a death

and they are living without any opportunity

for a better education, yet they hope

to find freedom and a happy destiny.

They are far way from the United States

but not from my heart.

 

I hope somewhere in the future I will meet my sisters,

and I will help them get out of the countries of war and hardship,   

countries without freedom.

 

Suddenly, I see them in my dreams, like angels

searching around heaven, though I feel like I am in hell

with memories of violence burning into the fire,

I do not ever want to say goodbye to my two sisters.  

 

 

 

 

Meron Shiferaw from Ethiopia, to whom I give mention later in this article, wrote a poem about her sadness as related to how much she fiercely missed her mother.   

 

Sadness (Excerpt)

 

When I feel alone I think of my mom

I think of the colors black and gray

I think of the sound of my crying which no can see

 

If I could talk to sadness, I would say:

Allow me to see her and I will be born again

Allow me to hear her voice and I will sing again

Allow me to smell her scent and I will eat again

Allow me to tell her my secrets

Allow me to tell her about my struggle to learn

a new language

Allow me to tell her of my struggle to learn

a new life-style

Allow me to tell her I miss her so much

 

 

   

 

Gopal Rai, who is Bhutanese and lived for years in a Nepalese refugee camp, wrote in his poem, "Because Living without Family is Like...." (excerpt):

 

Because Living Without Family Is Like... 

 

Because living without family  

is like living without an education

Because living without family  

is like a bird without wings

Because living without family  

is like a tree without leaves

Because living without family  

is like a room without a door

 

  

 

 

And Sumani Gulailiyev who is Turkish from Russia wrote lovingly of his family in his poem "The Family Photo":

 

The Family Photo 

 

My dad staring at the dark ocean of a sunrise

And the orange-dark blue mix of the red-looking sea.

 

My mom staring at my dad, looking out to the ocean

That smile on her face,  

her three month old daughter in her arms.

 

My quiet baby sister staring at my parents,

That look in her eyes shinier than the sun,

Her small hands smoother than ice cream.

 

And me, happy to see my family together,

And to see that they are happy,

This is the moment I would not trade,

Not in my whole life,

Not for anything.

 

 

 

I could go on and on writing about the depth of family connections that were expressed during this year's poetry project. The writing is eloquent; it gives voice to the generosity of love that endures between generations. Too often we assume that all teenagers are negotiating identity and that they become lost in the inevitable conflict of adolescence against an older parental generation. We also assume that necessarily a struggle will occur as adolescents and young adults who are immigrants and refugees become Americanized and reject their parents' or grandparents' "old school," traditional ways. While there is important truth in this, I think the deeper story to tell and a conversation that I wish was occurring about the sweep of migration that brings these young people to America, is that other cultures know how to sustain family connections in a manner that many in our own country have lost. We would do well to celebrate the ways in which those who are newly arrived to our country maintain their bonds with their families and ancestry. We stand to learn from them.

 

Many of the poets in the Stories of Arrival project have experienced loss, struggle and pain and they are mature beyond their years. One of these wise poets is Tanka Gautam, from Nepal, who reveals his insights in a poem called "What I See" (excerpt):   

 

What I See 

 

I see how human relationships are important to us here on earth,

I see how each other's joys and sorrows touch our emotions,

I see how family ties are meaningful and separations are painful,   

All of these a necessary part of our mortal state.

 

In this state of separation from my village,

I see that family connections

Can no longer carry the same meaning.

 

I see life on this planet has many shadows,

We repeat the difficult things we do not understand.

 

 

 

 

And Masse Gashay from Eritrea created a poem called "My Family in Wartime" celebrating his family's spiritual courage and strength:  

 

My Family In Wartime 

 

My Family in Wartime

are like stars shining,

trying to find the moon to shine

light on the dark, bloody days

 

My family is the heart of the country,

hoping, seeking, finding, fighting

for future generations.

 

My country prays to God to have more,

more people who think wisely,

wisely, like my family

praying to God,

for the good of all of our Eritrean people.   

 

 

 

 

I was touched by what Vinh Vu from Vietnam wrote in his reflections on the poetry project; it reinforced what I know to be true about poems - that they allow us to keep our loved ones who have died with us through memory. Vinh wrote, "My favorite part of the poem I wrote is the third verse because it tells of my father and my best friend - both of them have left me alone forever. I still miss them in my life. I can't get them back with me anymore. I will always feel pride because the poem helps keep them with me."

    

Family Interviews


"When I wrote, 'I miss my family like a bee without a flower,' it made me weep. What I got from this poetry project is that my family lives in my heart."

 

~Cat-Nguyen Nguyen, Vietnam

 

Because of the solemnity, respect and beauty with which the poets wrote about their families, their countries and their cultures and because of the ways in which they were able to wrap language around their memories and their losses, we knew that they would be ready to widen the scope of our poetry project and take on interviewing family or community members. Carrie created a separate booklet titled Stories of Arrival: Family and Community Voices.  Most of this year's students contributed an interview. The interviews were conducted in the students' first language and translated into English by the student. Also, the interviews were written in first person as if the interviewee was speaking, telling his or her own immigration story.

 

Many of the students included a photo of the person they interviewed. All of the students wrote a short passage preceding the text of the interview that gave a description of where the interview took place and of who was being interviewed. Two examples are:

 

Nhat MinhTran from Vietnam wrote, "I interviewed my grandmother when she was reading newspapers in her bedroom. She told me her sadness and longing when she left Vietnam, and how it was a hard time in her life."  

 

And Khagendra Bhandari from Bhutan wrote, "I interviewed my uncle in his sitting room. He was wearing the Neal dress Dare and Salwar. He was crying missing his beautiful country and village."

 

The eagerness to listen and to know, and the compassion that fill the pages of the interviews are stunning. They give the reader a sense of what is strongest and most whole about our basic humanity and the journeys some of us are forced to take that require great determination and courage to ensure survival. The stories in these interviews are filled with ethnic conflicts, insurgencies, dangerous border disputes, loss of loved ones, arranged marriages at fourteen or younger, yearning for home and the harsh difficulties that come at great cost to living in places where wars are raging.  

 

 

 Merna Hecht (middle) with students

 

One gets the sense in each interview whether of a parent, a grandparent, a sibling, an elder or a peer, that these young people from places far and wide are open-hearted listeners whose identity is woven into a circle of empathy for others - an identity that issues from a deep bond to their ancestry, and their country of origin and culture.

 

Gratitude and a Sense of Urgency 

 

"I had experience with poetry before because my grandfather was a famous Somali poet. Before he died he taught Somali youth about poetry and how to read poetry in the Somali language. He also taught us the meaning of poetry and how to become a poetry writer.  But I never took it seriously about poetry.  Now I realize I want to take it seriously and I'm sure my grandfather would be proud of me if he was still alive.  I will continue to use my poetry skills after I graduate.  I will teach little kids from the next generation about poetry and the meaning of poetry.  I will benefit from more poems in my language so I can teach older people about poetry in my language so they will understand how important poetry is to all of our lives."

 

~ Nemo Mohamed, Somalia

 

                 Merna Hecht 

Merna Hecht

I have an ocean full of gratitude for the opportunity to work with young poets from around the world.  Like Nemo, I too understand that "poetry is important to all of our lives."  I am honored to have the good fortune to partner with The Institute for Poetic Medicine and with Jack Straw Productions and KBCS radio. We also receive generous support from the

Tukwila School District and Tukwila Arts Commission. Without these partnerships, along with a donation from philanthropist Judy Pigott and the support we receive from Carrie Curley at United Reprographic Printers, we would be unable to engage in this work.

 

I cannot help but stress both my gratitude and at the same time my sense of urgency. When a young woman writes of herself as did Nargiza Mamedova, who is Turkish from Russia, naming herself as:

 

"the one with hair like the sun, heating the arches of a rainbow,

with her eyes like doves/ who sit on top of a tall building,

so they can see the world. The one who pulls people up from dark dangers when they are hopeless underground,

the one who wants to help people get over their pain,

who will direct their eyes to see colored flowers, green trees,

a meadow. She who smells food from her motherland/ with flower oil, onions, delicious pilavie, she who smells red roses

nearby a beautiful well for water

and a gate with a trellis, to draw a world of life,"

 

I want to bring her sense of wholeness and her longing to sweeten the lives of others who suffer, to as many people as possible, as a way to oppose the negative assumptions about "multiculturalism" and immigrants that are far too prevalent in today's world.

 

At the same time, when a young man like Gopal Rai from Bhutan, a refugee for many years writes in his poem, "I Remember," (excerpted   

below) I want to ask people to slow down and try to embrace and understand the ravished and destroyed lives that bring many immigrants and refugees to our borders.

 

I Remember

 

I remember my land-locked country, Nepal,

which is covered by magnificent mountains

like a woman with beautiful ornaments

and full of make-up.

I remember precious days, like that day we went to a picnic in Tumor

with my family and friends in a peaceful, natural place in Nepal.

 

But I also remember my childhood time

when I found myself in a refugee camp.

I remember that day which came into my life like a wind!

A wind that can blow from east to west, north to south

and take out all of the leaves from the tree

moving them from one place to another,

just like the wind that came into my life

and took out all of my happiness.

 

I remember four years ago when I was fifteen, the sound of bombs!

Guns, as well as people fighting each other in the street near my home.

I remember that day when my uncle was killed by terrorists

without any protection to stop it.

 

I remember the smell of the bombs

cars and bus wheels burning in the streets

in the time of the political situation in my country.

I remember the smell of burning houses,

houses made of bamboo and thatch.

 

Each poet in the Stories of Arrival project, in his or her own way, asks that we still ourselves and enter into the moments of their lives expressed through their poetry. I find myself asking if we can we leave the hum and buzz of our busy, high speed lives long enough to quiet our inner noise and listen to and look at the world through the fresh eyes of these young poets? Can we take in those things that have given them sustenance throughout their often difficult struggles and long journeys away from home - their losses, their resilience, their deep bonds with place and family, their determination to make the world a better, more peaceful place?  

 

 

 

In clear, straightforward language, Shyreen Kamal, from Iraq, gives us a picture of the home she misses - her cat, her green bedroom, her garden - she tells us with great simplicity that the war has come and destroyed all that she loved, yet, joining the chorus of voices that define this poetry project she concludes her poem with "waiting and hoping for the end of the war."   I wait and hope with her, we all do.

 

Stories of My Memory


I remember a far country

With an ancient civilization

Where two rivers meet

Tigris and Euphrates.

I remember the dawn at morning

When the sun appears and touches the sky.

I remember a house

With two front doors like a palace

Where a king and queen live and die.

 

I miss a bedroom

Green, full of stories in a book

Like a natural place.

I miss a roof

Like a bird touches the clouds,    

High, flying with the sky.

I miss a round swimming pool

With water giving images of fish.

 

I remember a garden

Surrounded with flowers

Giving fruits and vegetables

As if golden hands have made it.

I remember a palm tree

High with precious arms.

Giving dates like a bee gives honey.

I remember a bridge

Above soft waves of river

Wooden and grand like a tree.

 

I miss a pet

A soft white cat like a pillow

Hiding behind the trees.

Waiting for the sun to rise.

I miss a sound,

A sound of birds    

Waking human hearts,

Leading them to work in the morning.

I miss a barbeque party on Friday

With a sky full of stars

Creating different pictures.

 

But the happy days won't come back again,

The light vanished

The dark spread

The wealth has gone

In a moment...

The war started,

Fire ate the trees,

Blood spread on the ground.

 

Now just wait and hope

For the end of the war.

 

On a note of "waiting and hoping," I return to thoughts of Krishna Dhital, mourning his untimely death and celebrating his wisdom and beauty.  At the outset of this article, I wrote of his affectionate smile and the mix of pride and humility that filled his face and eyes.  At that point, I had not yet attended the memorial service in celebration of Krishna's life.  It was held at Foster High School on Tuesday, June 10.

 

During the memorial, several students who had been in the poetry project with Krishna spoke, as did two young women from this year's project who had known and loved him and who were part of the Bhutanese/Nepalese community. Each young person gave voice to their grief, articulating their love and respect for Krishna.  As they spoke, words from Krishna's poetry were continually shown as part of a slide show that was on-going throughout the service.  Krishna had written, "My life is like a dream that will never be forgotten." This line struck a deep chord with all of us, and after the memorial many of the students painted that line and others from Krishna's poems on a group of boulders that sit on the school grounds.

 

There is a tradition at Foster of "painting the rocks," usually for a victory of some sort. The boulders are painted over in thick white paint before each "event" is honored or in this case memorialized. While watching the solemnity and love pouring forth from the young people as they painted the rocks, I was filled with gratitude.  My gratitude was in part for the gifts poetry had given to Krishna and to many other young people in the Stories of Arrival project.  Through creating their poems they have learned to use language in service of remembering and honoring who and what they have loved and lost.  Many of their poems have become sacred keepsakes.

 

Even as they move forward, entering into adulthood and reaching for their dreams, I know that their poems will allow them to keep company with their losses and memories.  I trust that this will remain an essential part of them as they walk toward their far-reaching goals and take their places in the larger world.  Also, I am deeply grateful to know that many lines from Krishna's poems will live on in honor of who he was and what he gave from his "song that was loud and touched everyone's heart."  

 

Widening the Circle

 

I lived to share the stories about my country

I lived because I want to know what is happening

in other countries.

Is the same thing happening in other countries, as in my country?

Like a blustering wind that never calms down.

 

~Mary Niangbawi, Burma

 

 

 

"I had never written a poem before, because back in my country I never had a chance to write a poem. I was like a robot with no battery in it. The robot who is supposed to do many things but not until you turn it on. I lived in a big refugee camp, but there was no one who would hear my voice. I've had many experiences in the past, but I just hid them inside my heart. I was washing my experiences with my tears. I was thinking no one would hear my voice. I said to myself, "I can do this." I was like the robot, fully charged and energized. I will take away a feeling of pride because now I am a poet and I can express my feelings through a poem."

 

~Bhagi Biswa, Nepal

 

2011 Stories of Arrival Anthology 

 

This year's anthology, The World is Our Heart, Poetry is Our Soul: Memories and Stories of Immigrant Youth gives the reader a sense of the "ripple effect" of stories and poems. One can feel them widening and expanding themselves across boundaries and borders in a complicated choreography of tenderness, longing, heartbreak, honesty and hope.

 

The anthology is divided into five separate sections:

 

Part 1 - Naming Myself: Poems of identity and praise, of "voices that are rising up and ready to tell words to everyone in the world;"  

 

Part 2 - Rivers of Memories: Poems that tell of loved places & people, of traditions and cultures, and of difficult circumstances and immense courage;  

 

Part 3 - Family Photos:  Poems in celebration of families;  

 

Part 4 - Feelings From Our Hearts:  Talking with feelings, living with feelings, falling in love, and concluding with a poem for peace

 

Part 5 - About the Poets:  Biographies of each poet.

 

This was the first year of our three years that, thanks to the generosity of IPM, Bread for the Journey, Jack Straw and other collaborative partners, we were able to publish a bound book which also includes a CD recorded at Jack Straw Productions with each poet reading one of his or her poems and with some group and individual songs.

 

As in other years, the students in the project loved the experience of recording in the Jack Straw Production Studios. All agree that it is a highlight of the project.  The experience is empowering for these young poets.  After a bus ride into the University District of Seattle, which takes them out of the school environment, they find themselves in a professional recording booth with their own individual voice coach who lavishes careful attention on their poetry and helps them shape their words to present their poem with clarity and expression. The young poets wear their head phones proudly as they speak into the microphone and watch the engineer work the elaborate sound board.

 

 

 

They understand that their poem will be broadcast on the radio, and they stand up to the moment with pride in their work and great excitement about bringing their voices and their stories to the community.

 

Whereas last year we were not able record in time for the radio broadcasts to occur during the school year, this year the students' poems were featured throughout April in honor of National Poetry Month on a local popular Public Radio station, KBCS, 91.3The students' work has been archived on KBCS and is also featured on the Jack Straw Production website. We are grateful for these community partnerships and the many ways they reach a wide audience.  KBCS estimates that at any given time of day an average of 300-400 people are listening to the station.

 

 To Learn More About Jack Straw Productions:   CLICK HERE 

 

To Listen to KBCS 2011 Archive of Poems on Jack Straw's Website:      CLICK HERE   (Note: Recordings are near bottom of page)  

 

To Listen to the 2010 Archive of Poems on Jack Straw's Website:   

CLICK HERE  

 

To Learn More About Bread for the Journey of Seattle:

CLICK HERE

 

 To Read Merna Hecht's First Archived Essay about the Voices Project: 

      CLICK HERE 

 

 

 

Other Highlights of Our Community Involvement  

and of How We Widened Our Circle:   

 

The Poetry Caf� and Poetry Anthology Release Party

 

We added a Poetry Caf� to our community presentations. It was a well attended event.  We held it in an intimate space on the school campus (the faculty lounge).  Many of the poets' peers showed up.  It was obvious that they were spell-bound by the poems.  The principal and other faculty and staff members and the superintendent were also there.  Carrie and I noted tears and deeply absorbed listening.  Some of the readers chose to dress up quite formally.  Three young women from the project did a wonderful job as emcees.

 

This year's anthology release party brought in more community members than in previous years, including many who do outstanding community work with immigrants and refugees, such as the executive director and development director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the education coordinator for Schools Out Washington, which serves immigrant and ELL students throughout the state.  We hold this event in the School District Administrative office building, so that the administrators can attend without excuse to miss it!

 

The Northwest Immigrant Rights Auction, October, 2010  

 

Four Hundred people heard two of our 2010 Stories of Arrival poets read a poem.  Yvener Cadeus from Haiti and Hofsa Yallah, from Somalia presented their work on the center stage of this city-wide fund-raiser for an organization that does vital pro-bono legal work and much more for immigrants and refugees in the metropolitan Seattle area and throughout Washington state.  We were given our own table, where we displayed a huge poster with photos about the project and our anthologies.  Three students from the project, Yosef Woger from Ethiopia; Helber Moo, who is Karen from Burma; and Victor Delgado from Mexico "staffed" the table and talked with many people, answering questions and describing the project from their point of view.

 

The Seattle City Lights Social Justice Initiative Meeting with the Seattle City Council, July, 2011  

 

Though none of us were present, this year's anthology and a write-up about the Stories of Arrival project were showcased at this recent meeting, and several of the poems from the CD were played for all in attendance.

 

Teacher Workshops and On-going Connection to ReWA 

 

We met with the Refugee Women's Alliance Education Coordinator (ReWA) and several other ReWA youth outreach workers and educators.  This meeting, along with a teacher workshop for district teachers, allowed us to define our mission and goals to other educators and youth advocates and to widen our visibility in important ways.  We also continued our support of ReWA by donating money from the sale of the anthology to them for a second consecutive year.  This is both good community partnering and an important way that students feel the power of their voices and poems, knowing that their heartfelt writing gives financial support to an organization that does vital work in their own community.

 

To Learn More About ReWA:   CLICK HERE 

 

Scholarship, June, 2011 

 

This year the proceeds from the sale of the anthology allowed us to create a scholarship fund of $600 to be awarded to a senior who participated in the poetry project and wrote a winning essay.  Meron Shiferaw, from Ethiopia, whose life dream is to become a nurse, received the award. When asked to address how she thought creating poems about leaving a home country helps other people understand what a young person who comes to the U. S. as a refugee or immigrant experiences Meron wrote in part:

 

                 Meron Shiferaw 

"Reading these poems, people will hear different life stories about struggling to survive, about suffering and humiliation, but also about wonderful places, the most beautiful in the world that the poets in the project were not allowed to enjoy and call their home.  They all have their reasons, their "why" they had to leave that place and come to the U. S. to find a place to start a new life.  Everything they had either they lost or somebody took from them and in a new country they have to start to build a new home, new friendships and learn a new language.   

 

 

It is hard for somebody who never had to leave their country to understand how it looks when you leave your country and come to a new world where everything is different......Writing poems tells the rest of the world that somebody somewhere is not doing the right thing.  Writing poems while the memories are still fresh is a wonderful opportunity for me and my classmates to bring a little piece of the world we come from, so people can read or understand what we are going through and what our feelings are."

 

And, when asked to write of her plans for her future education Meron wrote beautifully about her desire to become a nurse, saying in part:

 

"My mom in Ethiopia wanted me to get a good education, a better life, and to be successful.  Her decision to send me to the USA opened a door to my future life.  My goal all of my life since I was a little girl is to be a nurse.  It will answer the question that I have asked myself since I was a child - why do people in Africa have to die because there is not enough medication or health care for them?  Also, why are there not enough doctors or nurses?  These were the questions that always revolved in my mind.  And that is why I want to become a nurse."

 

Showcase of the Project in Teachers & Writers Magazine, Spring 2011 (Published in New York City by the Teachers & Writers Collaborative)

 

This is a themed issue on "Translation."  This magazine reaches an estimated audience of 1,200. They published an in-depth article about the project.

 

To Visit Teacher & Writers Collaborative Website:   CLICK HERE  

 

 

Fishtrap Conference: Migrations and Passages; Joseph, OR, July 2011

 

A breakout session during this conference about immigration and forced migrations and related issues featured a showcase of this past year's Stories of Arrival Project.

 

International Board of Books for Young People, Regional Conference, Forthcoming in Fresno CA; October 21-23, 2011  

 

The conference theme is "Peace the World Together through Children's Books."  The majority of presenters at this conference are from countries other than the USA, including Palestine, Cuba, Mexico, South Africa, Ghana, and China. It is an honor that the Stories of Arrival project will be showcased during one of the breakout sessions of this conference.  

 

To Learn More About the Conference:   CLICK HERE 

 

Associated Writers Programs, Chicago, IL - February, 2012  

 

There will be a panel presentation about the project.   

 

To Learn More About the Conference:   CLICK HERE 

 

    

 

 

2011 Anthology Ordering Information

 

The 2011 anthology is titled The World is Our Heart, Poetry is Our Soul: Memories and Stories of Immigrant Youth. It sells for $20 (including mailing) and may be ordered directly through the project director by e-mailing Merna Hecht at [email protected].

 

Proceeds from the sale of the anthology, which includes a CD with each poet reading a poem, is donated to the Refugee Women's Alliance and to a college scholarship for a senior in the project who shows exceptional merit.

 

The young people participating in this project have journeyed to Washington state from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma, Burundi, Congo, Eritrea, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, India, Iraq, Kenya, Laos, Mexico, Nepal, Palau, Romania, Russia, Somalia, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga, Togo, Turkey, other parts of the U.S., and Vietnam.  All are learning English.  All have left behind members of their family on their journey here. Many of them will be the first in their families to graduate from high school and continue on to college.

 

 

The Word Project:
�An Interview with Founder, Jacinta White 

�A Report About Jacinta's Work at  

the Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center  

Greensboro, NC 


The Word Project

 

An Interview with Jacinta White, Founder

 

John Fox asked me to interview IPM grant recipient, Jacinta V. White, about her work and first encounters with poetry and healing. I read her grant report (which follows this interview) about working with a small group of young men in a juvenile detention center and was struck by her respect for them and her delight in their interest in poetry. Jacinta told me, "What I learned from them was the importance of listening and how much they needed to feel heard."

 

I found Jacinta friendly, direct, and down to earth; it was a pleasure to speak with her.

 

 

  Rachel McKay, IPM Special Project's Manager 

   

 

Rachel:  What were your first encounters with poetry? 

  

Jacinta:  "I was introduced, as a child, to poetry through my church. February is Black History month and we had programs that featured poems by those like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, and Maya Angelou. When I was about eleven or twelve, I memorized poetry to recite with our youth group that participated in the celebration every year."

 

"I have journaled since I was eleven. Writing poetry came later. After I finished my undergrad work, in 1994, I was working in Detroit and that's where I wrote my first poem. It was the typical break-up poem. I shared it with a couple of my co-workers. They liked them, saying they understood and had had similar experiences."

 

Rachel:  What drew you to poetry as healer?

 

Jacinta:  "I didn't like to read as a child.  In school I was a slow reader and poor speller.  Thankfully, the joy of reading came as an adult.  This speaks to how literature and poetry are available no matter where you are in life; you don't have to be a scholar."

 

"About one and a half years later after I shared my first poem I was asked by a new magazine, Young Detroiter, to submit a poem to be published.  It was maybe a month after I shared that published poem with my father that he passed away.  He was everything to me.  Poetry gave me a way to express my grief; I was angry at God.  I come from a pretty religious family and I wasn't comfortable sharing my feeling with my family.  I didn't want to add to their grief, and so poetry gave me that safe space."

 

"I considered poetry to be my lifeline.  I kept writing. Then, eventually, my life began to move on again."

  

Rachel:  How did you meet John Fox at IPM? 

  

Jacinta:  "A couple of years later I had moved to Atlanta for graduate school, in 1998.  One day I saw a book on a shelf of my bookcase that I didn't remember buying.  It was Poetic Medicine.  I pulled it out and read it.  I felt extremely ecstatic to know there was a name, "poetry therapy", to what I had been doing on my own.  It was an eye-opener that what I had been doing privately others were doing in community."

 

"At the back of the book I found John's address and mailed him a letter to thank him for introducing this other world to me. Then he wrote back, said he would be in Atlanta, and invited me to attend a workshop. He also included articles and information about poetry therapy.  I met John and sat in his workshop.  It was amazing to see the work in action.  I remember the setting and the feeling more so than what was said. There was a peacefulness that took place in the room and poetry was its catalyst."

 

Rachel:  (At this point our conversation turned to the work of facilitating poetry workshops).

 

Jacinta:  "People are surprised to hear that even after years of leading workshops I am always nervous beforehand.  Every individual and group are different. There is something intimate about poetry. Poetry opens the door for others to be intimate, to drop their guard.  I am concerned that there is room for the opportunity of intimacy to happen in a session. With that safety and transparency in place there is room for healing, for the 'aha' moment.  So I say a prayer beforehand.  I always set the intention that I be used in a way that allows space for others to find healing."

 

Rachel:  What are the origins of The Word Project?

 

Jacinta:  "After graduate school, I had a 9 to 5 job working for a non-profit, and I visited a community youth center that had programs in music, visual arts, and drama but none for the literary arts.  So, at the invitation of the center's executive director, I developed a program to allow a safe place for urban youth to express themselves through writing.  At the time, I didn't think what I was doing was about "healing" but no matter how I was phrasing it - they got out their emotions and felt a sense of peace. That's healing."

 

"After working with youth in Atlanta for a couple of years, I decided to start a business, The Word Project. In 2005, I quit my job and moved home with my mom in North Carolina where I could focus on my business. A month later, I met a lady who worked at the Greensboro Library who told me that they had an active poetry program there. She took my card. Soon afterwards, Steve Sumerford, Assistant Director for the Greensboro Public Library, contacted me and I started facilitating workshops at the library during April, National Poetry Month, and throughout the year.  In April of 2007, the library brought John Fox in to do workshops and we co-facilitated one together.  It was amazing to work side by side with who I consider to be one of my mentors, and one who is so well-resepected."  

 

 

 Left to Right:  Steve Sumerford - Assistant Director, Greensboro Public Library;  

Jacinta White - The Word Project; John Fox - The Institute for Poetic Medicine 

 

 

"Also in 2007, I collaborated with Steve Sumerford to create and co-direct a program called LifeVerse (CLICK HERE), which trains and connects community volunteers to facilitate poetry programs for older adults. It's still going on and it is a Nationally recognized program."

 

Rachel:  When asked about her future plans, Jacinta indicated she wants to focus on finishing her poetry therapy certificate program, continue writing poetry, and still facilitate workshops.  As a long-term goal, Jacinta wants to travel and to go into other communities. She wants to learn more about other places and feels that poetry would be a great way to do that.

 

I asked about working with diverse groups of people, for instance youth and older adults, or situations, in the library, in church, and the detention center.     

 

Jacinta responded:  "What I truly believe is that poetry has a way of having everyone come together. Not everyone will agree on the poem's meaning nor will they have the same response to it, but still poetry becomes the table everyone sits around. So it's either that and we all feel one or poetry illuminates the differences, but it does it in a way that doesn't make people feel isolated." 

 

Rachel:  When I asked about racial or gender differences Jacinta spoke about a New Year's Day workshop she does that draws a mix of ages and cultures.  

 

Jacinta:  "When you get to the poetry there is no difference.  I really think we are there for the poetry, and therefore the poetry becomes a harmonizing agent."

 

Rachel:  Anything else to add?

 

Jacinta:  "I could not do this work without people who believe in the work.  I am thankful to John Fox and The Institute for Poetic Medicine for the opportunity to work at the juvenile detention center. I am humbled to do the work and honored to do something I love."

 

To Visit Jacinta's Website:                    CLICK HERE 

To Visit Jacinta's Facebook Page:      CLICK HERE 

 

 

 

 

 


 Poetry Comes Alive 

At  the Guilford Co. Regional Juvenile Detention Center

Greensboro, NC 

 

   

Observations by Jacinta White   

 

"Words.  I want to  learn more words."

~ B., age 18 

 

When I was asked by John Fox during my initial grant application to The Institute for Poetic Medicine, to think of the population I wanted to work with, I immediately thought of working with youth at a juvenile detention center.  Though I have been facilitating poetry workshops for a decade and have worked with those of all ages, I felt a pull to work with young people who were "in the system." After several conversations with Doug Logan, the director of the Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center (JDC), he and I decided the best group for me to work with would be a small group of boys who, because of their crime and situation, would be in JDC for a significant length of time.  Below is my story of my time at the Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center.  There's more than I can begin to share due to the magnitude of the experience, but I hope this will offer to you insight and inspiration that these boys gave me.

 

Though I had been at the Guilford County Juvenile Justice Center a few times previously to talk with Mr. Logan about the program, to take a tour, to meet with the staff, and to drop off my fingerprints as part of my background check, this felt different.  It was my first day to facilitate poetry writing workshops here.  As I was told to wait in the lobby by someone I couldn't see due to the deeply tinted windows, all I could think of is I wanted to begin.

 

Thankfully, I was distracted in my waiting by a group of young adults that walked in, looking uncertain of the procedures of entering.  I shared with them what I had already become accustomed to - push the button, someone will speak through the intercom and when it's time for you, you will hear the door unlock. One young adult in the group, who was a part of what I later found out was a juvenile justice class from a local college taking a tour, asked if I was a teacher. I guess my flipchart paper and tote bag were clues. "No, I'm here to give a poetry workshop," I smiled. "Are you nervous," another asked. "No, just ready."

 

A guard opened the door, looked at me and said it was time to begin.  It was past 3:00, my time to start, but I didn't ask any questions. We walked through the halls making small talk and occasionally having to stop for the guard, who was sitting in a tower seeing all movement, to open the door. As each door unlocked and locked behind us I felt I was going deeper into an experience I had never had before, one in which I didn't know what to expect. What had these youth done to be here? How would they respond to poetry? How would they respond to me? What is it like always being guarded and watched? How will we establish trust?

 

The classroom looked like any other classroom in a public school: the dry erase board was like others I've used; the textbooks were scattered on shelves in familiar patterns.  The boys who sat behind the desks were like other teens with whom I've worked. Their t-shirts with "JDC" on the front and the identical navy gym shoes with Velcro instead of laces; and the uniformed guard in the classroom gave clear signals; however, that this wasn't going to be my ordinary poetry workshop experience.

 

 

 

I had been facilitating poetry writing workshops for a decade - through my company The Word Project - after finding the healing power of poetry as I grieved the unexpected death of my father.  Here I was now, finding my work not only supported but leading me to four boys, ages 15-18, who found themselves, as one confessed, "not knowing the world was beautiful" and therefore making choices he would not have otherwise.

 

I've been blessed to see how beautiful the world is, but I also know how deep the pain of rejection, heartache, and abandonment can run. All emotions these boys did know, I was sure. Whatever lead them to this setting had to have hardened them.  Regardless of what I may have naturally feared or questioned or expected, it was important to me to be authentic if I was going to ask them to be, and that I meet them where they were.

 

So, that first day, I wanted to get into their world of interest. We spent time talking about rap and the Hip Hop culture. (It was also a natural segue to discuss poetry and artists known for their music and poetry, like Tupac and Jill Scott.) At the end of that initial session, after we heard each other's voice and we each relaxed into the experience, I asked them what they wanted to learn. One participant said, "Words. I want to learn more words."

 

Surprised? I was too, and grateful. They were ready to learn, and vocabulary was at the top of the list. I committed to bringing in copies of five words a week with definitions and usage in sentences. We would go over each set at the beginning of each session. "What words do you see yourself using?" I would ask. And they would answer. They would even incorporate some of the words in their poems.

 

For seven weeks, between time for their regular classes and dinner, I would sit on top of the teacher's desk (or sit in a chair I removed from behind the desk), open a book of poetry and read. I would give copies of poems and ask for who wanted to volunteer to read (no one shied away from reading), and they would immediately say whether or not they liked a poem.  "I like the rhythm." "This one is silly." "She had a lot of pain."  No expression was off limits.

 

What I saw mostly was that these kids were hungry. They wanted to "eat poetry" and let the ink run from the corners of their mouth, as Mark Strand shares in his poem, "Eating Poetry."  (CLICK HERE to read the poem).  These are kids who committed what some would consider unforgiveable crimes. They are seen as criminal. They are labeled felons. But they have heart and courage to speak their truth, to illumine their path, to learn from their ways and begin again. And they were hungry for community.  

 

Think about it - more than likely, before they arrived in this place, they lacked a sense of true community. Although they had their affiliations and families, was there a sense of valued, sustainable connection? And as a consequence of their actions they were sent to live in a steel box and allowed to come out in small sets for class and meals, and an occasional game. They were starving, and working together around poetry not only gave them a sense of pride and accomplishment, but an opportunity to share at a level that is unique and essential.

 

Throughout our time together, we read poems about and discussed  forgiveness, being in the moment, the past, and the future. We looked at mechanics of poetry - though this wasn't the sole purpose of our time together - and we shared, in a safe and nonintrusive way, what it means to be heard.  

 

One poem we looked at and used as a writing prompt was John Fox's, "When Someone Deeply Listens to You."  (CLICK HERE to read John's poem).  As we discussed the poem, I placed on the flipchart paper the boys' descriptions of what it feels like to be listened to. When I asked them to describe the feeling, they looked in a way to suggest that I had just asked them to do the impossible.

    

"Okay, do this," I suggested. "Think of the last time you felt someone deeply listened to you."

 

"Got it," one of the boys said.

 

"Great! When was it?" I asked, excited, "Tell me about it?"

 

"It was last Tuesday."

 

"And what happened last Tuesday?"

 

"You were here."

 

Ahh, the gift of poetry.

 

Yes, this time was about reading, writing, and sharing poetry, but it was also about giving these boys an opportunity to be heard, to be deeply listened to, and to deeply listen to themselves and each other. I hoped the sense of being heard was something they would come to realize later in life. To have one know a week later, if not before, that he is valued as a person, not only blessed him (and hopefully the others), but me, as well. Here's a poem that came from that session.

 

When Someone Deeply Listens to You

 

Listening is like having my toes tickled.

When you listen, you might help save a life.

 

Listening is what matters most in human beings.

Listening can help you come closer or help you to move further apart

to the ones who love you most.

 

Listening is like taking a jog on a hot summer day.

Listening is like sweat coming out of my pores.

 

As you listen think about who is listening to you.

 

- S.

 

 

 

Over the seven weeks the group and writing activities became more organic. I would, of course, go in with a set of Xeroxed copies but would take cues from them - the energy of the room; the level at which they would respond to my questions, to the poems; their level of eye contact.  

 

One example of how the group helped shape the writing exercises that occurred is when one of the boys wasn't there at the beginning of a session.  "B." was at court, but not too long after we began the session, a guard told me B. would be arriving shortly. The other boys were delighted to hear he was coming back instead of moving on in the Department of Correction. When B. arrived in class, he was ecstatic to have more time at JDC - where he has been for three years - instead of moving on to a highly secured (and adult) facility.  

 

We stopped the lesson to hear his experience - again, my wanting to meet their need for community and safe space for expression.  B. talked about the long wait in the holding cell and not having the opportunity to speak to the judge, and the others chimed in to tell their similar sentiments. I made the choice not to direct the day's writing with my pre-planned prompt, but instead give each of them the opportunity to write in their own way what they were feeling.  Here are two of B.'s poems that came out of that workshop:

 

Holding Cell

 

The closest I get to hell

is the holding cell.

Full of weird writing,

people with a story to tell.

Awful smell, dirty tissue on the ceiling,

"25 years to life" leaves more fatherless children.

Father, if You're willing,

never let me see another holding cell,

because looking at one,

reminds me of how I failed.

 

- B.

 

 

 

Judge

Courtroom

 

If I ever had the chance

to speak I would ask for

a chance to change and advance.

At 15, I was stuck in a trance

of the streets' negative plans.

Ants in my pants with nothing to do,

bored, can't find a job, no one to turn to.

Until I'm introduced to a new

scheme of fast money -- the white makes green,

as I was taught, from the brown paper bag money.

Who would have ever known that money

could make me act funny, to now facing you,

with butterflies in my stomach.

Why does it seem the world is deaf

to death and blind to reality?

An apple a day keeps the doctor

away but look what happened to Adam

as he ate from the apple tree.

I'm writing this poem to speak

for all the rows of children before me

who remain voiceless in the cracks of society

and its soundproof text books.

 

- B.

 

 

 

However, the following week was a much different situation. As I was passing the first check point upon entering the center, a guard told me in passing that two of the boys had "moved on." They were transferred. As I walked to the classroom, I had a million thoughts:  Were they afraid; what would happen to them next; what about the boys who remained; what about the workshops and community...? We had three workshops to go. There was more I wanted to share and to learn from the two who were gone. But there were two remaining and they needed attention just as well, maybe more so now.

 

We proceeded with the lesson in a much quieter fashion than usual. Staying true to what we had established, I asked the boys how they felt about two of their "pod-mates" leaving. They brushed it off, showed their tough side, the side they have to show on the streets. At the end of the session the guard on duty that day shared, openly, how it's difficult to keep emotions back sometimes when a child leaves.  

 

 Left to Right:  Doug Logan - Director of JDC; Jacinta White;  

                    Charles Dingle - Program Director at JDC 

 

 

"Sometimes we become attached and we don't know what happens to them when they leave," he said. "And that can be hard."   I agreed!  

 

One youth, S., offered compassion, "Ms. White, don't be sad if you come and we aren't here."  

 

"How can I not be sad when I know you're not going home when you leave here?" I asked just as sincerely.  

 

"It means we are one step closer to getting home," he answered, with a smile of comfort.

 

He had found a way to live within the paradox. There within was the answer and the hope and the reality. Here's the poem S. wrote that day.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

 

The feeling of a friend gone

is like a hairball for a cat-

hard to swallow and hard

to cough up.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

is like the feeling of being left alone.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

is like my mother not answering

her phone.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

leaves me sad and not ready

to move on.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

can be daunting. 

The feeling of a friend gone

leaves my mind haunting.

 

The feeling of a friend gone

can be precarious-

all the good times we had

together. Boy, my friend,

N., sure was hilarious.

 

- S.

 

We were able to adjust, to pause and give tribute to those who were there but left; and to the process of poetry and life and to what was ahead. We shifted our energy and prepared for the "closing ceremony" by editing and selecting poems. The boys described their vision of the anthology - "a fist holding a mic", and the title, "Hear Me Now."

 

I invited the boys to practice - to stand in front of the classroom reading their poems; practice making eye contact with the audience; pausing between lines, speaking clearly and slowly (when needed). They didn't push back on my suggestions. They had the same sponge-like demeanor they had in the beginning - taking in my comments, asking questions, responding with ease.

 

The last week of my time there, we had our reading. The boys took courage and pride, and read several of their poems in front of a county public school official, the JDC staff, a few family members, and all the residents at the JDC, both male and female. It was wonderful to see the young faces, children as young as 12, look with respect and excitement at these older teens as they read their work about their struggles and ambitions. Everyone in the audience sat quietly and too began, I believe, to eat poetry.

 

To conclude the program, I gave the boys a copy of the anthology The 100 Best African American Poems, edited by Nikki Giovanni (CLICK HERE 

to read more about this book); a collection of their poems; a leather bound journal and a certificate signed by me and Mr. Logan.  The two boys who moved to a different facility were mailed their gifts.  Mr. Logan told me a week later that children were stopping him in the hall, saying, "I want to write poetry too, like B. and S." (the two who had remained in the class and given the reading).  

 

Though there were obstacles, such as our workshop being held during the guard change, meaning we had to adjust to a different personality in the room during our time together; and my being limited in bringing guests in or having the students to leave the premise, we were able to not let those hindrances impact our time together.  

 

Instead of taking the boys out of their environment, I wanted them to learn ways to process their feelings through poetry so they can embrace or learn from or transcend their environment. I wanted poetry to become alive for these boys and they find meaning in their life.  

 

"Do you think poetry has helped you?" I asked one of the students.  

 

"Maybe," he pauses before saying more definitely, "Yes, it helps. I told my Mom I was taking a poetry class and she said she could tell because my letters are longer. I say more. So...yes, this helps."

 

We may not be able to change the world overnight with poetry, but I believe we can change lives, over time, with poetry. Each time we pick up a pen and write our truth, a change in perspective is happening; acceptance and wholeness are beginning to emerge. Rap artist and poet, Tupac Shakur, believes he was a rose that grew through concrete. There are many who are growing through concrete. May we give them the tools to evaluate and transform their experience. Poetry is one of the most powerful and accessible tools I know of. It's worked for me. I believe it's working for these boys and other groups; and the rest of the world is waiting.

 

I close with this poem, dedicated to the boys I had the honor of working with, thanks to the wonderful support of The Institute for Poetic Medicine.

 

On the Page

(Dedicated to four boys at the Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center)

 

At 3:00 every Tuesday, I enter

the classroom on the F-side. Sometimes wait

to see who comes, shuffles in with smiles tucked beneath their mouths,

hands behind their backs--nothing holding them there

except whatever punishment would come if they did otherwise.

  They make their way to their self-assigned seats, their eyes

following their feet to the front row (or occasionally in the back,

depending on how their week went).

 

4 teens, one calling himself a child even, hungry

for poetry, words, sounds, rhythms, truth they can bob their head to,

a page, a pencil, and a broken in half eraser they share

 

their stories. Each one reads a line of poetry--

Tupac, Langston, Emily, someone their age, someone in their situation.

"You want our poem to look like this?" I'm asked. "No, I want yours

to look like yours," I assure. "There's no right or wrong

on the page." They look up at me.

Smile, as if I've given them some gift.

 

10, 15, 20 minutes they request

more time to finish, to write. "I have a lot to say,"

they tell me, their nose almost touches their paper

that holds their scribbled down secrets still coming up 

like smoke after a fire squelched.

 

And I wait, sit facing them, searching for poems to share

the next time. Realize the selection is too wide, our time too brief,

these boys too talented, their situation too unfathomable, until they are ready

to share what has just come to them and through them.

 

They take turns reading to their own beats, responding

to what they have heard from their own voice

and that of their pod-mates. "Poetry makes me think, but that's good."

They lament. A rose that grew through concrete.

 

4:30. Our time is up and I must take what I brought with me, and leave

with them, I pray, inspiration and the permission to share freely,

creatively, unapologetically, poetically their story, here

and wherever they go, on the page.

 

- Jacinta White

 

 

 

 

Other Poems From  

the Guilford County Juvenile Detention Center Project

 

Where I'm From


I am from Tupac coming out of the speakers,

drug dealers with fitted caps and beepers,

marijuana smoke and grim reapers.

I am from the Hood were whites look out of place

unless they're arresting or we're leading them on a chase.

From a long day at work, putting money in a shoebox,

eating syrup sandwiches, playing hide-n-seek

and nigger knock, tick tock as the clock strikes 12.

Neighborhood kids with bandannas, chilling with their girls

Tell me, am I from heaven or hell?

Hell is where I'm at and heaven is where I'll reach.

Pops telling me take responsibilities

for my actions, stay away from the streets.

The East is where I'm from

but the beach is where I'll die.

Somewhere peaceful, where eagles fly.

 

- B.

 

 

 

Inside Me

 

Inside me is not just organs and veins but

red blood inside me represents my pain

Inside me is a person who wants to change on the outside

But why try to mix both if the two are not going to ride

 

Inside me wants to come out and show itself

But the outside is scared of being judged by everyone else

Inside me is willing to stand up and change

But the outside thinks he's going to be lame

 

- N.

 

 

 

Ma

 

4give me 4 diz and dat

the disrespect. 4give me

4 those late nites climbing

though windows, running to

my room on my tippy-toes.

 

4give me 4 smoking weed &

robbing fiends. I was crashing

dreams and that waz mean.

 

stand'n on corners sellin

drugs & hittin clubs, 4give

me. I thought long and hard.

day and nite. I pray

to the Lord with all

my mite.

 

- O.

    

 

The first step

 

The first step can be the longest

when you want a relationship to end.

The fist step can be the most challenging

when you fear you are hurting someone

you care about.

 

The first step can be the hardest

when you fight against the grain.

 

The first step is often the loneliest

when you don't know if you are making

the right move. Like playing

chess or checkers, you don't

know if you will gain or lose.

 

- S.

 

 

 

 

Book Reviews     

GREAT BOOKS THAT BRING POETRY AND POEM-MAKING TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE  



Children guessed by only a few  

and down they forgot as up they grew.   

 

~ e. e. cummings

 

 

 

Only when I make room for the child's voice within me  

do I feel genuine and creative.  

 

~ Alice Miller  

 

Two people who have done superb work in bringing people's attention to the creative power of these younger human beings are Betsy Franco and Karen Benke.  

 

Betsy is the superb editor (through Candlewick Press) of some of the best anthologies of poems by children and teens.   Wherever I travel and in the graduate psychology programs that I regularly teach in here at home, I recommend You Hear Me?, Things I Have to Tell You, Falling Hard and many other titles.  Betsy is the mother of the well-known actor, James Franco. 

 

For anyone interested in hearing the authentic voices of young people - or if you work with young people - you will find these beautiful resources.  Using these gritty real and moving poems will help you make a genuine connection with those young people.   

 

With Rip the Page! Karen Benke, a long time teacher in the fabulous California Poets in the Schools, has written a must-have book for introducing creative writing to children.  This book is fun, tremendously energetic, full of ideas that work, ideas that inspire.  Her book may help you, O Constant Contact Reader and IPM friend, to find your creative voice and revisit that wild landscape!  

 

It takes a long time to become young.

~ Pablo Picasso

 

~ John Fox 

  

 

 

Karen Benke 

 

 

Karen Benke

  

To Visit Karen's Website and Subscribe to Her Newsletter:

(CLICK HERE) 

 

 

Please rip a page out of this book!   

A zany, fun, no-rules guide to creative writing for kids!    

 

 

 To View/Purchase on Amazon:   CLICK HERE  

 

Your child is curious, imaginative, and bursting with original ideas, but traditional composition writing leaves him cold.  Can you blame him?  You remember what it was like memorizing verb tenses and trying to coach an interesting anecdote out of a boring theme like "What I Did During Vacation Week."  

 

Rip the Page! Adventures in Creative Writing by Karen Benke (Trumpeter, July 2010) is a book for 8 to 12-year-olds unlike any other writing book they've likely encountered before. Kids who like writing, and even those who've never put pen to paper unless it was homework, are invited to explore, share, and Rip the Page! out of this unique writing book.

 

Inside Rip the Page! you'll find: Naomi Shihab Nye, Gary Soto, Lucille Clifton, and others.

 

Unlike other writing guides, Rip the Page! encourages children to use the book any way they choose: open to the last page and work backward or begin in the middle and move forward. Put stars by favorite ideas, cross out whatever they don't like. There are no limits to the imagination or to how kids can use this book.  "There's no wrong or right way to write creatively," Benke advises her readers, "just your way.  The only thing this book needs is your imagination."

 

Karen Benke has inspired children in the art of creative writing for sixteen years as a freewrite facilitator, creative writing coach, and poet-teacher in the California Poets in the Schools program, where she specializes in leading creative writing workshops for children eight to twelve years-old.

   

 

 

Betsy Franco 



Betsy Franco   

 

To Visit Betsy's Website:   CLICK HERE 

 

 

You Hear Me?

 Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys

Betsy Franco 

 

 

 

To View/Purchase on Candlewick Press:     CLICK HERE 

 

In a powerful collection of more than seventy uncensored poems and essays, more than fifty teenage boys from across the country explore their many-layered concerns: identity, love, envy, gratitude, sex, anger, competition, fear, hope. Here, unadorned and without the filter of adult sensibility, is the raw stuff of their lives, in their own words. Isn't it time to listen?

 

 

Things I Have to Tell You     

Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls

Betsy Franco, Nina Nickles

 

 

 

To View/Purchase on Candlewick Press:   CLICK HERE  

 

The voices in this collection have so much to question, so much to grieve. They have so much to celebrate, so much to rage against. They're ready to speak up and begin the conversation -- with you and with the world. More than thirty uncensored poems are accompanied by Nina Nickles's masterful photographs, which sensitively capture the moods and essence of adolescence. Here, painted in the words of teenage girls, is a portrait of their dreams and desires - a record of hope, disillusionment, anger, joy, sadness, and most of all, strength.

 

 

Falling Hard

100 Love Poems by Teenagers

Betsy Franco

 

 

To View/Purchase on Candlewick Press:   CLICK HERE

 

The poets are straight, gay, lesbian, bi, or transgender. They live next door or across an ocean; they are innocent or experienced; their lyric explorations range from new love to stale love, obsession to ennui, ecstasy to heartbreak, and every nuance in between. Whether the romantic escapades described are touching, comical, or tragic, whether the feelings expressed are tender and sweet or brutal and biting, readers will find the love these young poets openly share to be exquisitely, excruciatingly, endlessly fascinating. Here is a collection to turn to again and again, because life and love keep on changing.  From an acclaimed anthologist comes this unforgettable collection of one hundred poems by teenagers, capturing the vertigo-inducing realm of romantic love.

 

 

Night Is Gone, Day Is Still Coming:Stories and Poems by American Indian Teens and Young Adults  

Betsy Franco, Annette Pina Ochoa, Traci L. Gourdine 

 

 

 

 To View/Purchase this Book on Amazon:   CLICK HERE 

 

 

The poems and stories collected within this anthology provide a clear vision of how young Indian writers are interpreting and reflecting upon their lives in small towns, reservations and large metropolitan cities throughout North America. Some of the writers are in college, while many have yet to travel very far from their place of birth.  

 

 

 

Other Resources/Links of Interest

 

 

 

Established in 1891, Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla, NY  is dedicated exclusively to the diagnosis, care and treatment of children with complex medical and rehabilitative needs. Blythedale is a national leader in developing innovative, multi-disciplinary inpatient and ambulatory programs, as well as a community resource for children with a variety of medical concerns.

 

To Read An Archived Essay by Lisa Levinson, the Child Life Coord. 

     at Blythedale:   CLICK HERE 

 

Learn how John and The Institute for Poetic Medicine have supported the hospital's work with children with severe and moderate physical disabilities.  Lisa shares how they have taken their experience further in the daily interaction with the children.

 

To Read More About the Child Life Program at Blythedale:    

     CLICK HERE    

 

 

 

  We the Poets

at The Arts & Spirituality Center 

 

 

Philadelphia, PA

 

The Arts & Spirituality Center programs' curricula combine creative and reflective components. This combination of arts and reflection is also what distinguishes our work from other community arts organizations.  

 

The Arts & Spirituality Center lifts up the voices of those unheard, helping individuals work together to build stronger communities.

 

We the Poets is The Arts & Spirituality Center's most established program that uses poetry education to help students strengthen their creative voices and improve their literacy and communication skills.  Classroom time is enriched through writing and spoken word performances where students can discuss personal and social issues, explore their emotions and identities, and develop deeper cultural understanding (from website).  

  

To Read About We the Poets:    CLICK HERE 

 

"I have known Cathy Cohen for over a decade and have found great inspiration in her work.  It was my pleasure, when I served as President of the National Association for Poetry Therapy, to present Cathy with NAPT's Public Service Award in 2004.  Through the truth-speaking and heart-opening medium of poetry Cathy Cohen has done so much to cultivate interfaith communication among Muslims, Jews and Christians."  ~ John Fox

 

To Read About Cathleen Cohen, Ph.D., Founder & Director of  

    We the Poets:    CLICK HERE 

 

 

 San Francisco, CA

 

Founded in 1964, California Poets in the Schools (CPITS) engages professional, published poets to teach youth of all ages the basics of writing and the creative process.  We help students recognize and celebrate their creativity and intellectual curiosity through the writing process.  We provide students with a multicultural community of trained poet-teachers, who bring their experience and love for their craft into the classroom.

 

Our mission is to empower K-12 students in California to grow their creativity and intellectual curiosity in a multicultural world through the poetry-writing process, and every year approximately 120 poet-teachers reach 25,000 students statewide.

  

To Visit the CPITS Website:   CLICK HERE 

 

 

The Center for Education, Imagination

and the Natural World

Whitsett, NC 

 

The mission of The Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World is to bring to life a new vision of the relationship between the inner life of the child and the beauty, wonder and intimacy of the universe.

 

Presently, the natural world is viewed as a commodity to be used rather than as a sacred reality to be venerated. A shift in our way of relating to the natural world is essential if we hope to participate in nature's unfolding rather than in its demise. This shift is nowhere more crucial than within the field of education where the child's way of relating to the natural world is formed.

 

Located within the beauty of a 165 acre earth sanctuary, the Center's way of working is threefold: First, the Center offers a setting within which national presenters explore the relationship between the inner life of the child and nature from diverse perspectives. Second, the Center provides a context for teachers to deepen their own personal connection to the natural world and to be co-creators of ways to bring nature awareness to all paths of teaching. Third, the Center designs programs for children, young adults and college students which call upon their inner faculties of imagination and intuition and enable them to form a bond of intimacy with the natural world. (From website).

 

To Visit the Center for Education, Imagination & The Natural  

     World Website:    CLICK HERE   

 

 


Abdi Sami

Sohl Tours


In 2011 the students in the Stories of Arrival program at Foster High School in Tukwila, WA were visited by Abdi Sami, an Iranian  filmmaker, peacemaker and tour guide, who gave several classroom presentations. 

IPM Poetry Partner Merna Hecht shared this message with John Fox: "Carrie and I wish we could have magically transported you to Carrie's classroom for Abdi's presentations which connected so deeply to the students' experiences and gave them inspiration for their poetry and also for the bigger picture of their lives.

Both Carrie and I have let Abdi know that he is the best guest we could imagine for this project.  His life-long love of poetry, his stories of world travel, his compassionate warmth, his work toward creating a more peaceful world, and his remarkable story of leaving his country during war-time captivated all of us.  Also, he is a man who has realized many dreams, and this was important for the students.  They asked him wonderful questions.  We are so grateful to him for coming to the classes."

To Visit Abdi Sami's Website:   CLICK HERE 

To Read An Article in YES! magazine about Abdi's PBS documentary    

     film collaboration with Rick Steves about Iran:    CLICK HERE   

 

 

There is a door of great mystery,

single and unchanging

but many doorkeepers.

One by one,

they come and serve.

~ Rumi

 

(Photo and poem from Abdi Sami's website) 

 

 

Your Support of IPM Matters!

 

 

The Institute for Poetic Medicine is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, sustained through grassroots fundraising, foundation grants, and donations from individuals.

 

"John's workshop with the men truly supported them by helping them find their voice in expressing their personal life changing experiences while dealing with death and dying.  John assisted them in discovering the tool that healing words can be when sitting with a dying inmate, as well as the great gift that the power of listening can be for them.  The poetry that the men produced was powerful, poignant and heartfelt.  Thank you again for giving these marginalized men in our society an opportunity to experience the tenderness, fierceness and human qualities of life through the gift of poetry."

 

~ Ms. Lorie Adoff

Director of Spiritual Care Services

California Men's Colony Prison

San Luis Obispo, CA

 

 

WAYS YOU CAN GIVE:

 

Friend of the Institute ($35 - $149) 

Supporting Hands ($150 - $349)

Heart of the Community ($350 - $999)

Spirit of the Muse ($1000+)

 

Every donation matters; we are grateful for any amount you can afford to give.  Our commitment is to put it to effective and efficient use.  Your contribution will make a difference!

 

 

 

 

Donations to The Institute for Poetic Medicine are Tax-Deductible.

 

Please Make Your Check Payable To:

     

The Institute for Poetic Medicine

 

Mailing Address:

 

The Institute for Poetic Medicine

P.O. Box  60189

Palo Alto, CA  94306

 

Acknowledgement of Your Contribution for the IRS Will Be Provided

 

THANK YOU!   



The Last Word

 

 

Gonna keep on tryin'  

Till I reach my highest ground

No one's gonna bring me down 

Oh no

Till I reach my highest ground

 

~ Stevie Wonder

 

 For Full Lyrics to "Higher Ground":        CLICK HERE 

   

To Move Your Heart (and Your Feet!):   CLICK HERE