Better late than never...

Ok, so I wrote a Mother poem... I'm not too sure how I feel about it, but if you guys see this...tell me what you think :-)  

Hands

Those hands

an externalization of ourselves

worn...

aged...

softened solid marble

the secret lines worn

worked deep

bearing 

a lifetime

and smiling 

sweetly 

reflecting my secret 

hiding places 

for memories

placed 

deep

dancing

past

Drawing joy

sharing pain

Hands touch

the lines meet 

with laughter shared

secret pains made right

and life...

life briefly is 

simple.

One more poem because there are just so many I love

Crutches

it's not the crutches we decry
it's the need to move forward
though we haven't the strength

women aren't allowed to need
so they develop rituals
since we all know working hands idle
the devil
women aren't supposed to be strong
so they develop social smiles
and secret drinking problems
and female lovers whom they never touch
except in dreams

men are supposed to be strong
so they have heart attacks
and develop other women
who don't know their weaknesses
and hide their fears behind male lovers
whom they religiously touch
each saturday morning on the basketball court
it's considered a sign of health doncha know
that they take such good care of their bodies

i'm trying to say something about the human condition
maybe i should try again

I am sad this is ending...summer book club anyone!!

Hi girlies. Hope you are enjoying your weekend and the beautiful weather! I just sat down to write my mid-term and re-read over all of our main posts and side comments. This blog was a great experience and I am sad it is ending. Having coversations about teaching and poetry and Giovanni has been a great experience. I am looking forward to the "paired teaching" and winding down on this project, but hope to continue the concept of book/blog clubs/groups, in my personal life and in my classroom. :)

umm hello? anyone there? Bueller?

OK :) Happy almost springish. We need to start talking about the paired teaching... I would love to do a poetry introduction or close reading of a poem orrr have students (aka our peers) write thier own poetry. What can we really accomplish in, what is it, 20 minutes? I love this idea that is introduced about how poems can be poems when they don't "look like ine or anything" (xii). I think our lesson (whatever we choose), should focus around this poetry as "power per word quotient." I think I am leaning toward a close reading of one of our favorite Nikki Gio poems. What are your thoughts?

Hey Guys, 

So I'm finishing up the NCTE Book...Overall I really like the techniques that Jago uses, and totally agree that using Nikki Giovanni's poems as a model is a great way to help struggling writers.  Actually the set up of her classroom reminded me a bit of a poetry writing workshop I took here for 2 semesters.  I love the fact that she isn't forcing the meaning of the poem onto the students, meaning in some cases is not everything.  

Also, though, as Jago puts it... she offers Nikki Giovanni's work "as a model rather than a straight jacket." (Jago, 39).   That was one thing that always put me off in HS... teachers assign a poetry assignment but it HAD to be in a specific that specific format.  By offering poetry to class in this manner, by modeling but not necessarily require the same "structure," students really have an opportunity to let the style inform their own writing style in a manner that they see fit. 

Also, As I was reading this book, aside from my love of her techniques, I was debating if a Unit of study around a single poet is better or worse than studying the work multiple poets?  Though I know the book only focuses on Nikki Giovanni, it would be great to use Giovanni's poetry to introduce other contemporary poets like Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, Adrienne Rich and so many others.  I'm not sure how I would feel about a unit solely on Nikki Giovanni (Don't get me wrong I love her work) but just it would be interesting to study how her work differs from a few other contemporary poets, and for students to share their ideas about other poets as well.  Maybe I'm being too much of an English Major...but I think there is a of value in bringing other poets works in, to juxtapose against Giovanni's.  

See you in class!

"Reading and writing poetry helps us to find the notes we share"

I just finished reading the NCTE portion of this "book club" and found the information to be so useful. I really can't wait to talk about it in person...we need to move this virtual book club into real life with real cups of coffees and smiles! (ha. you guys are great!)

Anyways, I liked the suggestions about modeling poetry, or borrowing ideas from poets in order for students to write thier own poetry. Sometimes the hardest part about poems is starting... So I felt inspired to write my own inspired by Knoxville Tennesee.

20 Orchard St

I always liked 20 Orchard St
best
You never knock
are always invited
to drink coffee
and eat a meal
and play cards
or tiles
watch a movie
or just talk
at the kitchen counter
while the sun beams in
the skylights
from outside

I always liked
20 Orchard st
best
G&Gs.

:)

So many great ideas you can borrow from this, I am interested to read the other NCTE books.

Being and Nothingness

By Nikki Giovanni

I haven't done anything 

meaningful in so long

its almost meaningful 

to do nothing

I suppose I could fall in love

or at least in line

since I'm so discontented but that takes effort

and I don't want to exert anything 

neither my energy nor my emotions

I've always prided myself 

on being a child of the sixties

and we are all finished

so that makes being

nothing

 

Habits...

"i haven't written a poem in so long
i may have forgotten how
unless writing a poem
is like riding a bike
or swimming upstream
or loving you
it may be a habit once acquired
is never lost"

~ pg. 262~

I love this first stanza. It hit me for so many reasons! I think I have been thinking about writing poetry myself since we last talked about writing "mother" poems of our own. I used to love writing, and have not found time to do it in awhile. I like thinking that it is like riding a bike...that perhaps I didn't forget how to do it. I agree, it might be arduous, like swimming upstream, but if i have enough passion towards it, it can be accomplished. If you read on the poem gets deeper, talking about 'kinds' of love and loving, and feelings of being alone. Perhaps I am getting to personal, but this poem spoke directly to me because I have been feeling alone lately. I feel like I could have written the stanza:

"if you love me, why do i feel so lonely and why do i always wake up alone and why am i practicing not haveing you to love...i never loved you like that."

In closing...I hate men. :/

our self image.... Make-up/coveritup

This poem really struck me. I think it speaks powerfully to women, but can also be applied to all people. We are constantly wearing masks or hiding who we are, in order to impress people. It concerns me! (yet I know I do the same thing...) I think using this in the classroom could spark an interesting conversation. I think it could be paired with other peices about hiding identity or self-esteem issues. What do you girls think of it??

Make Up


we make up our faces
for lots of reasons
to go to the movies
or some junior prom
to see ice hockey
or watch the Dodgers come home again
defeated

going to the grocery store
only requires lipstick
while a bridge game
can mean a quick trip
to the hairdresser for a touch up

i clean my makeup
before going to bed
alone
and if my mood is foul
i spray the sheets
with Ultra Ban

most faces are made up
before the public is faced
whether male female or child
it's always so appropriate
doncha know
to put a little mascara
around the eyes

we make up fantasies to face life
we need to believe
we are good on the job
or at least in the bed

we make up lies
to impress people
who are making up lies
to impress us
and if either took all
the make up off
life would not be
worth living

we make up excuses
to say i'm sorry –that-
forgive me –because-
and after all didn't i tell you
-why-

and i make up with you
because you aren't strong
enough to reach out
to say
come home i need you

Poetry

Here is another great poem about Poetry that I wanted to post in response to our previous conversation about poetry. I think that this one would be a great poem to use with students when talking about why there is such a disliking amongst readers. I have used other poems which are written on the subject of poetry in the classroom, but I had never come across this one. I think it is amazing and touching. I think along with Billy Collins and Marianne Moore, this could serve as a great way to discuss poetry. Maybe this will help us get started on our Mother Poems. :)

Poetry

By Nikki Giovanni

poetry is motion graceful
as a fawn
gentle as a teardrop
strong like the eye
finding peace in a crowded room
we poets tend to think
our words are golden
though emotion speaks too
loudly to be defined
by silence
sometimes after midnight or just before
the dawn
we sit typewriter in hand
pulling loneliness around us
forgetting our lovers or children
who are sleeping
ignoring the weary wariness
of our own logic
to compsoe a poem
no one understands it
it never says "love me" for poets are
beyond love
it never says "accept me" for poems seke not
acceptance but controversy
it only says "i am" and therefore
i concede that you are too

a poem is pure energy
horizontally contained
between the mind
of the poet and the ear of the reader
if it does not sing discard the ear
for poetry is song
if it does not deligh discard
the heart for poetry is joy
if it does not inform then close
off the brain for it is dead
if it cannot heed the insistent message
that life is precious

which is all we poets
wrapped in our loneliness
are trying to say

Stories....

"We cannot possible leave it to history as a discipline, nor to science nor ecomonics to tell the story of our people...instead, that story must be told by writers."
~Nikki Giovanni~

I just wanted to take a moment to say we must have the best disciplines to teach to students, because we have an opportunity (and a duty, almost) to investigate other people's, as well as our own, stories/histories. Nikki Giovanni may have been speaking to "her" people, but it applies to everyone. Stories and poems and writing in general has the power to transform and enlighten. It has the power to move and strike and conquer. Can the times table do that for anyone??

Reading Giovanni's poems has made me want to write again and consider the importance of my story, or what "my people's stories" could possibly look like.

Poetry Is a Trestle

Poetry Is a Trestle

by Nikki Giovanni

poetry is a trestle

spanning the distance between

what i feel

and what i say

like a locomotive

i rush full speed ahead

trusting your strength

to carry me over

sometimes we share a poem

because people are near

and they would notice me

noticing you

so i write X and you right O

and we both win

sometimes we share a poem 

because i'm washing the dishes

and you're looking at your news

or sometimes we make a poem 

because it's sunday and you 

want ice cream while i want cookies

but always we share a poem

because belief predates action

and i believe

the most beautiful poem

ever heard is your heart 

racing

Mothers

Mothers
by Nikki Giovanni

the last time i was home
to see my mother we kissed
exchanged pleasantries
and unpleasantries pulled a warm
comforting silence around
us and read separated books
i remember the first time
i consciously saw her
we were living in a three room
apartment on burns avenue
mommy always sat in the dark
i don't know how i knew that but she did
that night i stumbled into the kitchen
maybe because i've always been
a night person or perhaps because i had wet
the bed
she was sitting on a chair
the room was bathed in moonlight diffused through tiny window panes
she may have been smoking but maybe not
her hair was three-quarters her height
which made me a strong believer in the samson myth
and very black
i'm sure i just hung there by the door
i remember thinking: what a beautiful lady
she was very deliberately waiting
perhaps for my father to come home
from his night job or maybe for a dream
that had promised to come by
come here! she said i'll teach you
a poem:
i see the moon
the moon sees me
god bless the moon
and god bless me
i taught that to my son
who recited it for her
just to say we must
to bear the pleasures
as we have borne the pains

Welcome :-)

Ah, the first blog post, like starting the first page of a new journal... you try to sit and think of what to write and the ideas just seem to get lost in some void somewhere.  But here it goes... I should state that the purpose of this blog is to discuss the works of the poet Nikki Giovanni (A virtual  book talk or literary club... just with my coffee in my favorite mug, not a paper cup.)  

Ok, so as I continue to ramble on a bit, I'll share something I read in an article for another class.  The class discussion was primarily about the role of censorship within schools.  The link to the article is above (in case that doesn't work: www.jstor.org/pss/819676 ).  The article is written by a teacher from Southwest Virginia who was challenged by her school board, administration and some members of the community for her use of a textbook in a Literary studies course.  The primary problem was the use of "inappropriate language" in Nikki Giovanni's poem "Woman Poem" (Don't mind the web page, I was just looking for a page with the poem) - if you have a chance the article isn't too long.  

It got me thinking about the institution of school and just how much power words can have.  Giovanni's words are simple and they cut straight to the core of the issue, rather than dancing around it.  I'll keep my ramblings short at the moment, but take a look around tell us what you like and what you don't :-) Everything is always a work in progress.

Lauren :-)