Poetry Book Six: A Collection of Poetry Compiled by Paul Janeczko

Janeczko, Paul B. (1991). Preposterous: Poems of Youth. New York: Orchard Books. ISBN 0531085015.

The world around us changes daily. Technological advances and cultural progress make us feel like our world is become better and better—sometimes at the expense of perfectly wonderful traditions. But some things never change. One example of that can be illustrated in Janeczko’s Preposterous, a collection of poetry written for young people about topics they face daily—most of them seem like they could have been written yesterday, but they are still relevant today.

With a collection of 108 poets, some famous (Gary Soto, Anne Sexton, Langston Hughes to name a few), some not as much, Janeczko has put together a group of 82 poems illustrating with both humor and frank seriousness, the thoughts, emotions and experiences of young people “coming of age” in many different ages.

Following are a few of my favorites:

Juke Box Love Song by Langston Hughes

I could take the Harlem night
and wrap around you,
Take the neon lights and make a crown,
Take the Lenox Avenue buses,
Taxis, subways,
And for your love song tone their rumble down.
Take Harlem’s heartbeat,
Make a drumbeat,
Put it on a record, let it whirl,
And while we listen to it play,
Dance with you till day—
Dance with you, my sweet brown Harlem girl.

Sister by H.R. Coursen

Younger than they,
and not the same.
Girl growing amid
a grove of brothers.
They took my dolls
one day into their
forbidden circle
in the woods,
drove sticks
into the cleared dirt,
and burned them 
at the stake.

No Question by Leo Dangel

There was no question,
I had to fight Arnold Gertz
behind the high school that Friday.
All fall he kept throwing pool balls 
at me in the rec room.


There was no question,
I was scared spitless at the mere sight 
of his grimy fists and bull neck.
When we rolled on the cinders
and grappled and thumped each other,


there was no question,
I was actually winning
when the principal broke us up.
And when Arnold went hunting pheasants
on Sunday, everybody said
there was no question,
he was a damn fool to climb through 
a barbed wire fence with a loaded shotgun.
There were exactly eight of us guys 
who were classmates of Arnold so


there was no question,
I had to be one of the pallbearers,
even though I never liked Arnold,
never would have, but I was sorry
the accident happened,


there was no question,
and if her hadn’t got himself shot,
I wonder if he finally would have let me alone.
There is no question, 
I wonder about that.

Anne Frank by Sheryl L. Nelms

I played hooky once


to see
if I could do it


it wasn’t much fun
because the only
place I knew
to go 


was home


then Dad showed up
in his squad car


and I spent the afternoon
huddled in my closet
reading The Diary of Anne Frank


by flashlight.

I’m sure I could include at least fifty more with which I relate or remember relating to as a young person. The poems above seem timeless because even though they might have been written in my parents’ generation (or before) their themes still apply to me.

Following this line of reasoning, I think a collection of poems like this could 1) spark discussion amongst young adults about issues which are common—those which transcend generations, 2) open a discussion about the changes in vocabulary and traditions of youth, and 3) encourage young adults to write poems about experiences, thoughts or emotions they are feeling… These poems could be typewritten (in the same font) so that they remain anonymous, read before the class and a discussion could follow as to whether or not other students relate to the themes expressed.


Reviews of Preposterous (per Amazon.com):

From Kirkus Reviews
By more than 80 authors, including Robert Penn Warren, Anne Sexton, Langston Hughes, and Herbert Scott, an anthology of recent (70's and 80's) poems plus a few nostalgic looks at long- gone youth, with references to WW II and earlier. Many relate sharply poignant stories or epiphanies, succinctly and powerfully recalled; Janesczko's familiar themes (e.g., small-town life, Catholic angst) frequently recur. The voices are almost overwhelmingly male (an imbalance echoed in the handsome jacket painting of a small, worried girl peering from behind a much larger, confident man), but the quality is so high, the appeal so immediate, and the selection so personal that it's a forgivable happenstance; teen-agers will easily identify with the problems expressed, often reflecting adolescence as a time of deep self- absorption and loss of faith in childhood beliefs. An excellent collection for any library, especially those with activities involving poetry.

From School Library Journal
Grade 7 Up --A collection of more than 100 short poems by contemporary authors such as Leo Dangle, David Allan Evans, Gary Soto, and Charles Harper Webb that center on the bittersweet experience of growing up. Those who have enjoyed Janeczko's Pocket Poems (1985), Going Over to Your Place (1987), and Don't Forget to Fly (1981, all Bradbury) will recognize the appeal of this one--a wide range of poems that describe basic human experiences in deceptively simple language. Some of the epiphanies are lighthearted, but the overall tone is wryly serious… Zeroing in on issues that concern most adolescents--alienation, belonging, friendship, movies, sex, school, truancy, family, and death--these poems will grab readers and not let them go. The anthology concludes with William Stafford's lines, "It's hard being a person./We all know that." Janeczko makes the notion that poetry is boring seem totally preposterous.

Poetry Break Six: A Serious Poem On A Difficult Subject.

Woodson, Jacqueline (2003). Locomotion. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. ISBN 0399231153.

There are volumes of books of poetry on “difficult subjects” many of which are collected into whole novels. One such collection is called Locomotion. Lonnie Collins Motion (or Lo Co Motion for short), is a young boy whose fifth grade English teacher has shown him a new way to express his feelings: through poetry. Through his poems we learn that his parents died in a fire just four years ago and though his sister, Lili, was adopted, he lives in a foster home with Miss Edna. His poetry takes us through a year or so of his life as he struggles to deal with the loss of his parents, missing his sister and coming of age in circumstances that make him feel invisible sometimes even though Miss Edna is always telling him to be quiet.

The poem that touched me the most is near the beginning (p.5-6), as Lonnie is remembering a moment with his mother and sister before any tragedy had happened:

Memory

Once when we was real
little
I was sitting at the window holding my baby sister, Lili
on my lap.
Mama was in the kitchen and Daddy must’ve
been at work.
Mama kept saying
Honey, don’t you drop my baby.


A pigeon came flying over to the ledge
and was looking at us.
Lili put her hand on the glass and the pigeon tried
to peck at it.
Lili snatched her hand away and screamed.
Not a scared scream,
just one of those laughing screams
that babies who can’t talk yet like to do.


Mama came running out the kitchen
drying her hands on her jeans.
When she saw us just sitting there, she let out a breath.
Oh, my Lord, she said,
I thought you’d dropped my baby.
I asked
Was I ever your baby, Mama?
and Mama looked at me all warm and smiley.
You still are, she said.
Then she went back in the kitchen.


I felt safe then.
I held Lili tighter.
Maybe if I was eleven then
and if one of my friends had been around,
I would have been embarrassed, I guess.
But I was just a little kid
and nobody else was around.
Just me and Lili and Mama and the pigeons.
And outside the sun
getting bright and warm suddenly
like it’d been listening in.

Reviews for Locomotion (per Amazon.com):

From Publishers Weekly:
The kinetic energy of the aptly named Locomotion (the nickname of Lonnie Collins Motion) permeates the 60 poems that tell his sad yet hopeful story….Woodson, through Lonnie, creates (much as Sharon Creech did with the boy narrator in Love That Dog) a contagious appreciation for poetry while using the genre as a cathartic means for expressing the young poet's own grief.

From School Library Journal:
… Woodson allows Lonnie's poems to tell a complex story of loss and grief and to create a gritty, urban environment. Despite the spare text, Lonnie's foster mother and the other minor characters are three-dimensional, making the boy's world a convincingly real one. His reflections touch on poverty and on being African American when whites seem to have the material advantages, and return repeatedly to the pain of living apart from his younger sister. Readers, though, will recognize Lonnie as a survivor…


Verse poetry, with all its freedom, is an easy medium to use to convey serious thoughts and feelings about difficult topics and situations. The great part about verse novels is that they can be used both as a whole novel or as singular poems to illustrate snapshots of life. This poem could be used to talk about a happy or vivid memory of someone we love who is not near us for whatever reason. After a discussion of the great memories we have of those people and how the nostalgia of those memories is in constant conflict with the feeling of desperate longing for those people, children of any age could be encouraged to write their own poems in free verse about a long-lost loved one (or object).

Poetry Book Review Five: Favorite Book of Poetry (published since 2000)

Prelutsky, Jack. (2006). Illustrated by Carin Berger. Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and other poems. New York: Greenwillow Books. ISBN 0060543183.

I LOVE Jack Prelutsky. He’s quirky. He’s crazy. He’s creative. And his poetry ALWAYS has great rhythm and tongue-twistery rhymes. Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant is no exception. It’s a collection of seventeen poems about creatures who are hybrids made up of ordinary everyday objects and various animals—as the title implies, the first poem is about an umbrellaphant. Other interesting creatures within are Ballpoint Penguins, Panthermometer, a Clocktopus, and a Solitary Spatuloon! True to his form, the rhymes are zany and wonderfully melodic and even though they are meant to be silly, they are SERIOUSLY convincing—and oh so creative! Another thing I’ve always liked about Prelutsky’s collections is that he always seems to be paired up with artists as crazy as his rhymes seem to be. Carin Berger is another name to add to this list. The illustrations in Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant uses a sort of strategically organized collage art to make the amazing creatures come to life on the page with snippets of newsprint and many other textures.

Of all the weird species presented in this collection, my favorite one (today, at least) would have to be the alarmadillo. Check this out:

The Bizarre Alarmadillos

The bizarre ALARMADILLOS
Are a clamorous quartet, 
For they’re in a constant frenzy…
They’re incessantly upset.
You’d imagine they’d be calmer,
No one means them any harm,
And besides, they’re thickly armoured,
Yet they’r always in alarm.
When they push their panic buttons,
Buzzers buzz and beepers beep.
Brass alarms clang ever louder,
It’s no wonder they can’t sleep.
Then they flail their tails in terror
As they holler and they whoop—
Yes, those four ALARMADILLOS
Are an odd and noisy group.

These silly creatures are hilarious! Who other than Prelutsky could come up with a cross between an alarm clock and an armadillo? And who else could wind such an interesting yarn with simple yet sophisticated vocabulary not to mention the great sounding alliteration? Just look at “clamorous quartet” and “frenzy.” What about “flail their tails in terror?” Awesome! He even sticks with the Texas/Southwestern theme by adding the “they holler and they whoop” just as any cowboy might (this is also echoed by Berger’s illustrations of the Alarmadillos with their cowboy-type hats and their boots).



Reviews of Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant (per Amazon.com):

Booklist: “Like the scrambled animals and vegetables that populated Scranimals (2002), the creatures featured in Prelutsky's latest picture-book verse collection are a wildly imagined crew… Kids may need help puzzling out some of the combinations (the spatuloon, for example), and the concept and poetry in a few selections, such as "The Tearful Zipperpotamuses," feel somewhat forced. In most poems, though, Prelutsky's wordplay is inventive, as are Berger's stylishly retro, photo and cut-paper collages, which extend the wild silliness. Elementary teachers may want to borrow the book's concept and use it, along with Scranimals, in poetry and art exercises that inspire new combinations of creatures.”

School Library Journal: “Prelutsky is one of the best word crafters in the business, and this collection does not disappoint. The poems are full of fun and wit, with wordplay and meter that never miss a beat. The whimsical illustrations use cut-print media, old-fashioned print images, and a variety of paper textures to create a rich visual treat well suited to the poetry. The detail in the mixed-media pictures makes this a good choice for individual or lap reading, but the poetry begs to be read aloud. This is definitely a do not miss poetry pick.”


I can’t imagine anyone of ANY age not LOVING a Jack Prelutsky poem or poetry collection, so I think this book could be used from as young as Pre-K straight through college. Of course, folks of all ages could be allowed to come up with their own strange object-animal combinations and be encouraged to write poems about them. It would be interesting to see how the creations of different age groups would compare/contrast. As a side project, children could be encouraged to follow Berger’s example and make cut-and-paste, mixed-media illustrations of their creations. For that matter, classes could put together their own zany creatures book complete with original artwork!

Poetry Break Five: A Poem With A Refrain

Wright, Blanche Fisher (Illus.) (2003). The Real Mother Goose. New York: Barnes & Noble Publishing. ISBN 0880297719.

Who can take credit for folkloric poetry—rhymes which have been passed down for ages, from father to son, from mother to daughter, from generation to generation? Mother Goose, that’s who. The Real Mother Goose is a collection of hundreds of the traditional nursery rhymes with which we Westerners grew up. Wright’s pen/ink/watercolor illustrations give us a window into how things used to be in the “times of yore” and look like they are as old as the poems themselves.

One thing common in Mother Goose rhymes is that many of them are repetitious. In early children’s poetry, repetition seemed to help the rhythm of the verses along. Sometimes the repetition was within the verses themselves, and at other times, they were separated from the rest of the poems. Both could be considered refrains (shown in italics) and are illustrated by the following poems.


Sleep, Baby, Sleep

     Sleep, baby, sleep
Our cottage vale is deep:
The little lamb is on the green,
With wooly fleece so soft and clean
     Sleep, baby, sleep.
     Sleep, baby, sleep,
Down where the woodbines creep;
Be always like the lamb so mild,
A kind, and sweet, and gentle child.
     Sleep, baby, sleep.

For Baby

You shall have an apple,
You shall have a plum,
You shall have a rattle,
When papa comes home.

The preceding Mother Goose rhymes illustrate the repetition as a separate and as an integrated refrain. Ironically, both of these poems might also be considered lullabies because they are for babies—but that is something that poetry shares with music lyrics: refrains are found in both. The refrains in the above poems give them a musical quality, perhaps most likely spoken softly or sung along with the rocking of a chair while lulling a baby to sleep.

Thus, these poems (and other rhythmic Mother Goose poems with refrains) can be used to teach babies and toddlers about rhythm and rhyme. With older children, the vocabulary could be discussed—they might have a difficult time understanding what a “vale” or a “woodbine” is. A discussion of the vocabulary could reveal a lot about the culture and period of the poem.

Poetry Book Four: Science in Poetry

Shields, Carol Diggory. (2003). Science, Fresh Squeezed!: 41 thirst-for-knowledge-quenching poems. Brooklyn: Handprint Books. ISBN 1593540051.

This is an AWESOME collection of poems truly about science. Not about science in general, but about specific topics ranging from fossils to the water cycle (and the itsy bitsy spider’s role in it); from the ecosystem to the food chain to cloning to the periodic table. The poems are hilarious yet informative. What a wonderful way to play with both poetry and science—two subjects many young people have a problem digesting. The language is always accessible and, as I mentioned, funny. All the poems have a predictable rhyme scheme as well as a catchy rhythm, but they are varied within the collection. The accompanying illustrations (done by Richard Thompson) are cartoon drawings that echo and add to the humor of the poems. ALSO, accompanying each poem is a funny tidbit of science (at the top of the page).


Choosing a favorite in this collection was tough, so here are my top three in descending order:

The Solution Problem (the funny tidbit to which is this: “A picnic at the beach: OCEAN (salt + water solution), AIR (oxygen + nitrogen solution), PEANUT BUTTER (ground peanuts + oil solution), LEMONADE (water + lemon juice + sugar solution).”

My solution had a problem:
It was weak and too dilute,
I had poured in too much solven,
And not enough solute. 


So I added lots more solute
And stirred with concentration
Until, at last, it reached
The point of saturation.


But, oops, I overdid it,
No more solute would dissolve.
These solutions are a mystery
I fear I’ll never solve.


“Heat it up,” my teacher said,
So I did and—jubilation!
My solution’s resolution,
Was supersaturation.

What if? (the funny tidbit to which is “Each speck of dust contains a million million atoms.)

Atoms are tiny, small as can be,
Far too small for us to see.
But scientists say that inside each one,
It looks like planets encircling the sun.
What if our sun and the planets that twirl,
Are only one atom in a much bigger world?

Fungus Among Us (the funny tidbit to which is “ ‘We took a LIKIN’ (LICHEN) to AL G. (ALGAE) because he was a FUN GUY (FUNGI).’ (LICHENS are made up of ALGAE and FUNGI).”

There’s a fungus among us,
It’s everywhere!
In the house, on the ground,
In the water and air.
You’re sure to find fungi,
Sooner or later,
Just look inside
Your refrigerator.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop. I LOVED these poems! I was one of those kids who thought science was boring. So I can see where poems like these with their accessible language, riotous/silly humor and REAL SCIENTIFIC MESSAGES could help a child change his or her mind about science not being interesting. Not only could this sort of poetry open a child up to science, but it could open a science-loving child to poetry!!!




Review of Science, Fresh Squeezed (per Amazon.com):

School Library Journal: “…Shields continues her humorous looks at school subjects. This collection of 41 poems is divided into four sections: "Earth and Space Sciences," "Life Sciences," "Chemistry," and "Physics." All of the selections are brief; some are quite clever and others are forced. …The factual content is accurate, and the witty poetry just might draw science-phobic children into learning about these topics.”

As I said before (and the SLJ review echoes), I would use these poems to open up discussions about both science and poetry, both subjects many young people are reluctant to explore.

Poetry Break Four: Spring

Poetry Break Four: Spring

Ebensen, Barbara Juster. Illus. by Cheng-Khee Chee, Janice Lee Porter, Mary GrandPré and Stephen Gammel. (2003). “Umbrellas.” In Swing Around the Sun. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group. ISBN 0876141432.

Swing Around the Sun is a book of poems about the four seasons, each season with its own unique perspective, artist and look. The first chapter is on spring and is illustrated by Cheng-Khee Chee. The spring poems are on topics ranging from the sea, to the month of March; from the return of the birds who flew south for the winter to the robin, one of the first birds of spring. But the most poignant poem for me is called Umbrellas…


Umbrellas

Umbrellas bloom
Along our street
Like flowers on a stem.
And almost everyone 
I meet
Is holding one of them.


Under my umbrella-top,
Splashing through the town,
I wonder why the tulips
Hold umbrellas
Up-side-down!

First of all, this simple poem uses a predictable rhyme scheme and the lyrical qualities of the words themselves add a singsong nuance to the poem. Also, even though the meter is definitely regular—its rhythmic cadence adding to the song-like feel of the poem—the lines are not organized accordingly, forcing the reader to peruse the poem aloud to understand the cleverness of its arrangement.

Mechanics aside, it is the metaphor in this poem that really strikes at my heart's chords. In the beginning, the analogy of umbrellas as flowers seems figurative in how they “bloom.” But in the end, it is easy to see the brilliance of the thought of tulips being upside-down umbrellas—and it adds depth to the poem: why do humans shield themselves from something the flowers see as so life-giving and important? It’s ingeniously simple yet incredibly complex and it’s just the kind of question a child might ask—the same sort of parallel a child might innocently, naively and oh so poetically draw.

The illustrations which accompany the spring section of Swing Around the Sun are not really my kind of art. The blurry watercolors are a bit too flue for my colorphile eyes to really appreciate; however, the somber hues and hazy quality do add to the feel of a rainy—and somewhat over-overcast—season.

Reviews of Swing Around the Sun (per Amazon.com):

School Library Journal: Kindergarten-Grade 4-A well-loved collection of seasonal poems, first published in 1965, is revived for a new generation, creating a rich, vibrant reading and viewing experience….The illustrations transcend the standard pastel springs and whitewashed winters….An exceptional marriage of poetry and art that will encourage children to write and illustrate their own seasonal poems, this book has broad appeal and instructional potential across the calendar and curriculum. A must-have for any library.

Booklist: …Each set of illustrations creates a distinct mood as defined by the season and the artist's style. The large pictures interpret the verse with varying degrees of exactness and finesse, but their overall quality and impact are very strong. The rhymed poems are as accessible and appealing as ever



As I mentioned earlier, I believe that most of the poems in Swing Around the Sun—but especially "Umbrellas"—are excellent poems for young children to discover themes. While some children may see spring to be a rainy, droopy, boring season, other children may see it as a time of green and new beginnings; and still others may see it as a combination of both—that the rain only brings out the contrasts in the bountiful palette of spring’s colors.

These poems would be a great introduction into such a discussion—how many people see things differently. Perhaps to some child, summer means lazy days full of swimming and ice cream while others see it as sweaty hard work harvesting summer crops, and still others may see it as that exciting time when they get to go visit a distant relative in a foreign country. Who knows? The children could be encouraged to list what the seasons mean to them and to write similar poems based on those themes.

Poetry Book Three: A YA Novel in Verse

Poetry Book Three: A YA Novel in Verse

Hesse, Karen. (1997). Out of the Dust. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 0590371258.

Out of the Dust is the story of a young girl, Billie Jo (her father wanted a boy), who lives in the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma. While her friends around her leave one by one, her father, Bayard stubbornly refuses to run away, even though the dust covers and smothers everything they have worked for. Billie Jo’s mother, Polly, comes from a more sophisticated background and even plays the piano proficiently enough to have taught Billie Jo—who actually gets invited to play with the band at a local theatre.

Just when Billie Jo thinks things are settling down, her mother—in an attempt to put out a fire—throws a pail of kerosene Bayard has left near the stove onto the fire. Polly runs out of the house to get Bayard’s help and Billie Jo throws the pail outside. Unbeknownst to her, Polly was coming back in the house. She is covered by the flaming fuel and while Billie Jo does her best to put the fire out—marring her piano hands forever—her mother dies giving birth to Billie Jo’s brother (who also dies shortly after). Bayard, who was never really very warm, becomes even more distant. Billie Jo finally runs away, but after a while she understands that everything she knows and loves—including the memory of her mother and little brother—is back home.

This is an AMAZING book. It is no wonder that it won the Newbery Medal in 1998. The language is both accessible and sophisticated—pregnant with vocabulary from a time and culture that is nearly extinct. Like most verse novels, Out of the Dust is raw emotion and conflict, stripped of the trappings of prose and pared down to the meat of a heart-wrenching story of struggle, disaster, loneliness and self-discovery.

One of my favorite passages from early on in the book:

Losing Livie

Livie Killian moved away.
I didn’t want her to go.
We’d been friends since first grade. 


The farewell party was
Thursday night
at the Old Rock Schoolhouse.


Livie
had something to tease each of us about,
like Ray
sleeping through reading class,
and Hillary,
who on her speed-writing test put
an “even ton” of children
instead of “even ten.”


Livie said good-bye to each of us,
separately,
She gave me a picture she’d made of me sitting 
in front of a piano,
wearing my straw hat,
an apple halfway to my mouth.


I handed Livie the memory book we’d all
filled with our different slants.
I couldn’t get the muscles in my throat relaxed enough
to tell her how much I’d miss her.


Livie
helped clean up her own party,
wiping spilled lemonade,
gathering sandwich crusts, 
sweeping cookie crumbs from the floor,
while the rest of us went home
to study for semester reviews.


Now Livie’s gone west, 
out of the dust,
on her way to California,
where the wind takes a rest sometimes.
And I’m wondering what kind of friend I am,
wanting my feet on that road to another place,
instead of Livie’s.


January 1934.

The details that Billie Jo notices throughout this story show the depth and insight Karen Hesse put into this work—they give us a window into what life must have been like in the early 1900’s Oklahoma; how rough and lonely a dusty childhood could be, how strong the longing to get away. In the passage above, we feel the emotion start out light—at a party, and crescendo from a memory book, to watching Livie clean up her own party through the eyes of our main character who in the final lines is filled with a guilty longing to trade places—she goes from mourning the parting of her friend to wanting to BE the one escaping.

Reviews of Out of the Dust(per Amazon.com):

School Library Journal: “A triumphant story, eloquently told through prose-poetry..”

Publishers Weekly: “This intimate novel, written in stanza form, poetically conveys the heat, dust and wind of Oklahoma. With each meticulously arranged entry Hesse paints a vivid picture of her heroine's emotions.”

Kirkus: “Told in free-verse poetry of dated entries that span the winter of 1934 to the winter of 1935, this is an unremittingly bleak portrait of one corner of Depression-era life. In Billie Jo, the only character who comes to life, Hesse (The Music of Dolphins, 1996, etc.) presents a hale and determined heroine who confronts unrelenting misery and begins to transcend it. The poem/novel ends with only a trace of hope; there are no pat endings, but a glimpse of beauty wrought from brutal reality.”


This book could be used to illustrate how great poetry is for shedding the extraneous mechanics of prose—how rich meaning does not need paragraphs and how an extremely emotional story can be told through just a few lines. It could open a discussion of life in the 30’s (and/or a comparison of how that life might be different depending on where one lived). It could also foster a discussion on loss and hope—how does one come back from something so incredibly tragic as death and loss of one’s talent? Run away? But only to come home again? I can imagine an engaging discussion of what hope means to each teen reader.