Poetry can put me in that place of “huh?”
Sometimes
ashamed.
Like the student who hid
in a corner because she
didn’t want her friend to know,
I edged into poetry.
Hidden.
Until I found
accessible
visceral
poetry
with
lots of
white space
to take in
quick
then
slow
and
slower.
Now I give my students poems.
And I worry.
Will they love this?
Does it push their ten-year-old selves gently?
Can they feel and see the words?
From behind a picture book, I hear, “that’s beautiful language.”
The one that hid reads a poem and
says, “hey that’s what I did!” .
Traces of absorption
enough to sustain.
Thank you, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater @ The Poem Farm for hosting this week and always providing beautiful poetry for kids.
To Read To Write To Be 
“The one that hid reads a poem”. This is what it’s about, Julieanne. Love those small awakenings!
I just love how this poem gets under the skin of those who are wary of poetry and those who teach to those who are wary…and then the magic begins. This is such a profound description of a “teachable moment.” I appreciate your insight and your words that convey that insight so beautifully.
Oh yes! I love the way you put this. The confluence of the wary and then the magic!
I love how you are not only experimenting with introducing a love of poetry to your students, but you, too, are discovering your self and your voice.
What Margaret said – because it is so true!
You captured my thoughts exactly. I think it’s okay to shoot some poems over their heads because we never know. We just never know. Those might hit some kind of target for a kid, but the fallout, the residuals, might plant some seed of language or emotion and we’ll never know…
Thank you for this assurance. Poetry can feel slippery and yet when it hits a mark, oh how lovely.
This is wonderful, Julieanne. Isn’t it rewarding when we get these glimmers that they really are listening, that what we’re saying is sinking in.
I love it when kids express so perfectly, the magic of poetry – and relate it to other aspects of their reading and writing. By supporting and nurturing them in their discovery, their voices grow with confidence and joy. Beautiful.
Loveliness! You are offering your students a whole wide world…so gently, so wisely. Beautiful images of them and their new observations.
You won a book – yes? – from me? I cannot find your address. Would you please send it again? Thank you. x