Each day this week Chicago Publishes will be featuring poems from poets in The Poetry Center’s Hands on Stanzas Program in celebration of National Poetry Month. Since this is the first entree for these young writers into world of publishing, we also took the opportunity to ask them for their thoughts on writing–and on being read. Scroll down for poems by fourth grade student May Kipnis, and for some particularly refreshing responses to some oft-asked questions!
Many thanks to Cecilia Pinto, director of Hands on Stanzas, all the great Poets in Residence, and, of course, the inspired young writers who brought this week of poetry to life.
Moonlight
In the moonlight
In Ohio
In my room
I wake up
I get out of the covers
moonlight stretches through the house
I peek into mom’s room
she is asleep
I peek into my grandmother’s room
asleep
Everyone is asleep, but not me
It is dark
the moon is up
the only light in the house
is the moonlight
Bright as a gold gem
I go back to sleep
in the moon’s light
May Kipnis is a fourth grade student at the Hannah G. Solomon Elementary School, a neighborhood school located north of the Loop that serves 400 students and participates in the Poetry Center of Chicago’s Hands on Stanzas program. This week, as part of National Poetry Month, we’re featuring student work from Hands on Stanzas on Chicago Publishes.
The poet in residence at Hannah G. Solomon is Larry O. Dean. Larry was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. He attended the University of Michigan, during which time he won three Hopwood Awards in Creative Writing. He is author of numerous chapbooks and is a singer-songwriter. Dean was a 2004 recipient of the Hands on Stanzas Gwendolyn Brooks Award.
Hands on Stanzas places Chicago poets in public school classrooms for 20-week sessions. On a weekly basis these poets guide students in reading and discussing the work of published poets, and in writing and presenting their own poetry. Instructors maintain a weekly blog which provides information about classroom activities and presents student work. This year 1000 Chicago public school students throughout the city are receiving poetry instruction through the Hands on Stanzas program.
Keep reading for an interview with May and more of her poetry! For more on Hands on Stanzas, visit www.poetrycenter.org.
Q: If you had to teach someone else something important about writing poetry, what would you share with them that you learned in class this year?
“I would tell that person that he or she didn’t have to make your poem make complete sense! I would tell the student that he or she could could make a poem that didn’t even make sense.”
Q: You’ve written some great poems! What do you think about when you’re writing?
“I usually think about what I like and what I like to do for fun.”
Q: What do you think is the best way to share your writing with other people? Would you like it to appear in a book, on a website, or do you have another idea?
“I would put my poetry in a book that people can buy. I wouldn’t show people my work on the computer because some people don’t have a computer.”
Q: Imagine a world where poetry is the way that everyone communicates with each other. What would the world be like if the president, people on television, and your family all spoke and wrote to each other in poetry? Describe what the world would be like if this was true. (You can write a poem if you like.)
Strange and different
from the world we have now
If someone’s poem was hard
to understand
you would need to use your
brain
Strange and different
from the world we have now
I Am an Animal
I am a dog
I am an elephant
I can be a
giraffe
I can be anything
I want to be
I can be a pet
or a wild
animal
I could fly with the robins
I could be a bird
I can do or be anything
I want to be
I am an animal
I am roaming through the
woods
my mind takes me
to a new world
away from home
I am an animal
