[stylist] Black History month- A poem

Mon Feb 4 17:25:17 UTC 2013

Thanks for your comments Bridgit.  I had not seen your post or I would have 
commented sooner - I have a backlog on my emails right now.

 A good way to enter into the poem, or into any other piece of writing, is 
to ask questions to try to figure out  what she might be saying to me, 
personally. What is she telling "me" as I read it?

Sometimes we are afraid or feel inadequate when we face things that are 
different or unfamiliar. I sure am! Reading a poem can be so rewarding when 
we stop long enough and put in a little bit of time to digest what we have 
read. It is o.k. to NOT be familiar with poetry - and it is o.k. to feel 
estranged from this thing. That is normal.

I like to ask some questions of the poem itself.

Here are a couple of other questions that we could begin to think about. I 
think the questions are essential for us to begin to think of the poem as a 
conversation between Gwendolyn Brooks and me.

It has to be personalized or else it remains an object and not an internal 
dialogue. I begin to read a poem and imagine I am seated beside the writer 
and we are having a conversation together.

The question I ask first here, is

"What is the image of the self that Gwendolyn Brooks is sharing with me? She 
wants me to know something about her self. She is opening her heart and 
speaking of her self. I want to listen and to hear what she is telling me.

Robert really hit the core of the matter when he talked about how this poem 
became so personal to him. He could hear the longing of the person speaking 
in the poem and he could understand that sense of longing because he, too, 
felt it in his own life experiences.

I think one of the universal things  here, is that we all feel a longing to 
be someone else or to have someone else's experience in life. I can think of 
many times in my life, even as a very small child, when I wanted to be or do 
something that someone else was doing. The grass is often greener on the 
other side - until we get there and discover it might be artificial turf.

Who is the personna in the poem? Who is it that is speaking to us?
What  clues do we have as to whom  might be speaking?
Look for the clues directly inside of the poem - what is she telling us, in 
her own words?

How do I feel as I read this poem?
What words are creating a feeling for me as I read it?
We will always find the answers to our questions IN the poem - and we can go 
from there.

Lynda

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bridgit Pollpeter" <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, February 02, 2013 4:54 PM
Subject: [stylist] Black History month- A poem

>I like the simplicity of this poem and how it draws you in. There's so
> much beauty in simplicity and yet simplicity can be very powerful. It
> also has a relatability factor. It's not just speaking to one race, one
> culture, one gender.
>
> What type of a poem is this? Poetry is not my forte, and perhaps you can
> also let us know what form a particular poem is when posting it.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
> Read my blog at:
> http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
> "If we discover a desire within us that nothing in this world can
> satisfy, we should begin to wonder if perhaps we were created for
> another world."
> C. S. Lewis
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 09:21:47 -0500
> From: "Lynda Lambert" <llambert at zoominternet.net>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Black History Month - a Poem
> Message-ID: <1043F6E4622C4358B6D9DDAC292C1758 at Lambert>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> February is Black History Month. . .
>
> I was initially scheduled to do a lesson on the poetry of African
> Americans in December. I have been struggling with health issues, and
> been recovering from surgery since the beginning of January. Therefore,
> I thought I would bring you some poems of African American poets during
> February. I will post some poems by different black poets from time to
> time during this month. I think you will really enjoy meeting some poets
> you may not be familiar with, and maybe revisit some you already know.
>
>
>
> This morning I would like to introduce you to Gwendolyn Brooks. She was
> born in Topeka, Kansas  (1917) but grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She is
> generally considered an Illinois poet. In her earlier years, prior to
> 1967,  she focused on depicting the characters of her race, to bring
> them to life on the page.  The local people of her neighborhood were the
> subject of her poems. She passed away on December 3, 2000.
>
>
>
> I had the privilege of attending a writing workshop for poetry one
> afternoon at Slippery Rock University of PA. Gwendolyn was the poet in
> residence that day and budding poets could read a poem for her and she
> would respond to it. She was so gentle and kind, and encouraging to the
> young students who read for her.  When one of them said, with
> hesitation, that she had self published a chap book of her work.  Brooks
> looked at her and said, "You do not need to feel apologetic about
> publishing your own book. It is a book after all. You wrote a book. You
> have a published book. That is something to be proud of."
>
>
>
> In 1967 Gwendolyn Brooks'  work changed after she took a workshop at
> Fisk University and met other black poets, such as Amiri Baraka. She had
> a "New Awakening" through this experience. I have always been aware that
> an encounter with one person can change your life forever, and this was
> certainly true for Brooks.
>
>
>
> Brooks' first book was published in 1945. She won a Pulitzer Prize; and
> was Poet Laureate of Illinois. She succeeded Carl Sandburg in that
> position.
>
>
>
> I am posting a link so you can hear her read her poem, "A Song in the
> Front Yard."  It is from 1963, one of the earlier poems where she
> describes what she sees and thinks about the people in her neighborhood.
>
>
>
> As you listen or read this poem you can think about the carefully chosen
> words. This poem is full of symbols - you might try to identify some of
> them and then think about what she is conveying to the reader through
> the symbolism. Her symbols begin before you even start reading the
> poem..look at the title of it. Begin there.
>
>
>
> Listen  to Brooks read her poem "A Song in the Front Yard" here:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWA6V3OaoR8
>
>
>
> You can read the text copy of this poem by opening up the attachment.
> Enjoy!
>
>
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