Poetry Week!

Image Source

Okay I admit I was a little unsure of where I would find a poem about learning. I should not have been; there are many, many poems about learning! I did narrow my choices down quickly when I found a book on teaching poetry in conjunction with teaching social justice. I didn't go looking at libraries -- I ordered it right away. Rhythm and Resistance: Teaching Poetry for Social Justice, edited by Linda Christensen and Dyan Watson was the perfect fit for my current topic and a class I am planning for next year.

There are many poems I could have pulled from the book, but on page 112 is a small section on poems for two voices. I love poems for two voices. I love having the sound of one voice telling a story and another telling a different point of view, woven into the first voice.

The following lines from the poem "I am a Woman" poem tells the story of two women living in Chile living in 1973, after the overthrow of the government. Unfortunately, I cannot find the author of the poem. It wasn't given in the book, and although I did find the poem listed several times on the Internet, the author is listed as "anonymous." This poem would be shelved in the genre of historical fiction. If we could trace the author, and find that these events actually happened to two specific people, then we could move it to political history in nonfiction.

I find the repeating sounds of the poem, the rhythm, to be useful in seeing the reflection of the feelings of the two women. I also liked how the mood switched with every line, the first line always reflects loss, and the second line always reflects hope. The line, "whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger" was a power piece of personification. It is difficult to be a kind and loving father when a man feels he cannot feed his children. In American history we saw this during the Great Depression; hunger doesn't just starve the body, it starves the soul.

I am a Woman

I am a woman. 
I am a woman. 

I am a woman born of a woman whose man owned a factory. 

I am a woman born of a woman whose man labored in a factory. 

I am a woman whose man wore silk suits, who constantly watched his weight. 

I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger. 

I am a woman who watched two babies grow into beautiful children. 

I am a woman who watched two babies die because there was no milk. 

I am a woman who watched twins grow into popular college students with summers abroad. 

I am a woman who watched three children grow, but with bellies stretched from no food. 

But then there was a man; 

But then there was a man; 

And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family getting poorer. 

And he told me of days that would be better, and he made the days better. 

We had to eat rice. 

We had rice. 

We had to eat beans! 

We had beans. 

My children were no longer given summer visas to Europe. 

My children no longer cried themselves to sleep. 

And I felt like a peasant. 

And I felt like a woman.

Image Source

If you found the poem interesting, you might find the idea of "white privilege" worth reading about. The concept of white privilege is based on the idea that so often those with advantages are simply unaware of the disadvantages other race. It isn't always a case of not caring, it is a case of not recognizing. This is a link to a completely unscientific and simple quiz to get you thinking about the concept of white privilege.

Next week: Last week on topic! I will be finishing The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller.