Poetry Friday - Learning About Others

  
   At Bookseed Studio, Jan Godown Annino welcomes everyone to Poetry Friday. She's sharing a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, whose birthday will be celebrated this coming Monday.  Thanks for hosting, Jan! 

         There have been a few times recently when I am sad to be no longer teaching, no longer able to share beautiful writing with my students. This is one time when I will have to settle for sharing with former colleagues, telling them that they must get this book in order to talk about feelings of friendship and race. Many of my students, pre and early teens, wrote about self, and those who stare. Here is part of one poem:

         Your face holds no expression.

          You stare out, blank eyes.

          If only we knew when

          your throbbing heart

          bleeds, dances, or breaks.

          You allow us to see nothing.

          I wish it was different.

Irene and Charles tell a story with poetry in their new book, Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship, of a boy’s and a girl’s inner feelings, about self, feelings about each other, universal kid concerns and deeper racial questions. Through sharing parts of those feelings, about what might be termed “safe” subjects, these two kids learn about each other, learn that they have a few common likes and dislikes. Maybe they can even be friends?  It is a good path but doesn’t start well. Irene and Charles (the authors use their own names as they tell the story) are forced to work together on a Poem Project: As partners are chosen, Irene thinks: “you-never-know-what/he’s-going-to-say Charles/is the only one left.”  And Charles: “She hardly says anything. Plus, she’s white.”

I read the book to my granddaughters this week. They are Ingrid, eight and Imogene, six. Imogene is perhaps too young for all the poems but when we came to the poems about hair, her response was that everyone should know not to touch anyone without permission, and Ingrid, with hair like Irene, “long and straight--/a curtain I can hide/behind “ laughed and said, “that’s true, I can.”  Charles’ words showed how angry he felt when someone patted his head, said “It feels like a sponge.”  Then, Charles patted that person’s head, said back, “Your hair feels like a mop.” The girls laughed, said, "That’s good, he took up for himself. He didn't stay quiet.” Some might say this book is only for older kids, wa-ay older, yet the girls took what connected to them at this time, and will understand and think about more as they re-read it. 

Poetry Friday - A Gift

        Catherine Flynn at Reading to the Core is hosting this terrific beginning to our Poetry Friday new year! And she begins with a review of the wonderful new poetry book by Charles Waters and Irene Latham, Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes, and Friendship. I have read it, and purchased another copy for the granddaughters, looking forward to sharing and giving it to them when they visit. Thanks, Catherine!
       Hoping all who are being deluged by this superstorm Grayson are safe inside, have power, and will not have too much trouble during and after. 

          Thanks to Tabatha Yeatts at The Opposite of Indifference for her idea created these past years of poem swaps, summer and winter, and a little more to send--and receive. After this holiday time of gift-giving, during a quieter week, finding a small box in the mailbox that is just for me feels like the exclamation point of the last word of the final paragraph of a book.The End! And it is a special ending, my swapper, Leigh Anne Eck, at A Day In The Life, created.

        Here is a picture of my wonderful gifts: a beautifully crafted pencil pack and bookmark from a business run entirely by volunteers who empower those caught in human trafficking by selling their creations. It's called The Faith Store, and is run by a local church. (FYI - I previously shared a link, but Leigh Anne told me it is "not" the same store. This one has no online presence.)
        The quote is one to remember: “If you think you are too small to make a difference, you haven’t spent the night with a mosquito.”                African proverb

There is also one of those sweet quote magnets, and Leigh Anne has created my poem and placed it as a magnet! I am happy to be able to keep both of these close, on the refrigerator of course, to read and see often! Thank you, Leigh Anne for ending my holidays and starting the new year so wonderfully.

Here's the poem:

Where might I find you?

Maybe at the bookstore

            sharing your passion while

            meandering between the shelves

            meeting new people

            _hearing their stories,

Or maybe at the ocean

            walking the beach with loved ones while

            collecting shells

            taking in sunsets

            soaking in the sea

            _finding memories in the grains of sand,

Or maybe with family

            finding beauty in the people in your life while

            celebrating Grandma day

            playing with Ingrid and Imi

            _cherishing memories,

Or maybe at home

            writing a slice while

            reading a book

            visiting your neighborhood

            noticing nature

            _dancing with words

Or maybe..

            creating joy for those around you

            and for those of us far away

is where I might find you.

©Leigh Anne Eck, 2017