One of the great things about poetry is that there are plenty of poets. One of the problems is that we are not always aware they are among us. There is too often isolation – a group here, a group there, an individual here, an individual there.

One of the goals of this column is to introduce some of these talented folks to the rest of us with the hope that the poetry community can become more the community that it should be.

One of those who bears introduction, is Jules Gibbs. Some of you reading this are saying “I know her – why is he introducing her?” My point exactly. Until a week or so ago, I didn’t know her or of her work (though it seems that I should have) and am enlightened by the fact that now I do...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: poetry, Jules, Gibbs, Herm, Card

Permalink Comments (View)

So said the Roman poet Horace a bit over 2000 years ago. And so it holds today that many of our best teachers are poets – if not de facto poets, certainly poets at heart and spirit. While some may wish to debate the distinction to be made between poets who teach and teachers who are poets, such will not happen here.

Jules Gibbs, who we met in last week’s MUSE is a poet and a teacher who is bringing her expertise and love of poetry and teaching to fifth graders at Syracuse’s Franklin Magnet School.

It is not easy, if even possible, to teach poetry. The understanding of what poetry is is concept that is more easily sensed than defined. If it was truly definable, the 1383 page The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics would be the perfect text as it contains definitions of enough types of poetry to satisfy anyone.

Given that fifth graders tend to avoid such textual trauma, poet/teachers such as Jules face the task of involving students with poetry rather than simply teaching them what it is or how to deal with it. Students need to know poetry rather that to know about it.

Jules’ approach seems simple enough. Read a poem along with the students, then discuss it, then have them write some of their own. Sound strategy that can be found in hundreds of teaching “how to” books. Of course, my simplistic rendering of the process is nowhere near the reality of what must be done to truly involve students with poetry.

Consider, for example, that most of us think, write and speak most fluently in English. We also express our feelings, our sensory reactions, our poetry in English. How then might we know poetry in a second language? How might we express it when language is not a common denominator? In the highly diverse racial, ethnic and demographic melting pot that is Franklin Magnet, Jules is onto something.

“We read Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem, Juego de Lunas, or A Game of Moons, first in English, then in Spanish. I’d read one line, and the children would chime in and repeat the line in unison. Then we examined a list of Spanish words used, along with English translations. I kept it simple, using nouns, and added other interesting nouns I thought they’d like.

“Then we discussed the sounds of the words in English vs. Spanish. I got this from the Kenneth Koch book, Wishes Lies and Dreams; Teaching Children to Write Poetry. I’d ask them which sounded “moonier”: luna or moon. Or: which sounded fatter: redonda or round. And so forth. I wanted to get them to think about the SOUND of language, and the power of sound, even when we don’t know exactly what something means. Fifth graders tend to write quite literally, so it’s always my objective to get them to let go of literal thinking and venture into metaphorical, fanciful, imaginative thinking. Using words from another language really served this purpose: they were willing to write their own moon poems using Spanish words from the vocabulary sheet I passed out. I told them they didn’t have to worry about making perfect sense, just use the words that SOUND good. Out of that, they wrote the poems….”

And out of that, thanks to Jules, they became more than just fifth graders learning about poetry, or fifth graders who wrote a few poems to satisfy the state mandated curriculum and moved on. They became aware of poetry and what is poetic. They became aware of themselves as poets – beginning poets – knowing that there is more ahead, more to know, more to do, more to feel, more to sense, more to write, more to be.

Here’s the proof:



"I Heard the Moon Say ‘Estrella’"

The moon is always charo.
But really the moon is like agua.
When the moon speaks, it says “Luna.”
The luna’s light is like azul.
The luna lives in Australia.
If I went to the moon
I would find majer.
The secret of the luna is rojo.
These colors live inside the moon:
muchacho.
Luna-moon up above, I want to tell you this:
it is muchacho.
I heard you speak one night: I heard you say:
verde, amarillo, purpureo, azul and estrella.

— Tsarina



"Fountain Moon"

The moon is always agua in my eye.
But really the moon is like a big estrella.
When the moon speaks, it says, “Redonda mar.”
The luna’s light is like a blanco mar.
The luna lives in a estrella.
If I went to the moon I would find blanco oro.
The secret of luna is a paloma.
These colors live inside the moon: purpureo, violeta.
Luna-moon, up above, I want to tell you this:
she is a muchacha.
I heard you speak one night; I heard you say
“Fuentes luna.”

— Shyla




"Verde as Hombre"

The luna is like a mar
the color is rojo and azul.
It is agua at noche, the estrella
verde as hombre, as his rosa
bandadas in invierno.
All culabra is like noche estrella.
That is luna — it is like
rosa and amarillo and oro.
— Quinell




"The Light of Amore"

The moon is always oro like an estrella.
But really the moon is like a violete rosa in a prado.
When the moon speaks, it says: “Hola, seniorita!
Rise arriba for a glorious dias!”
The luna’s light is like an excellente oro estrella.
The luna lives in a fuentes solar system.
If I went to the moon I would find
a lot of rosas, one for everyone’s vida.
The secret of the luna is the light of amore.
These colors live inside the moon: oro and planta.
Luna-moon up above, I want to tell you this:
mujer is as amoras as a baby muchacha.
I heard you speak one night — I heard you say:
“Bonozaid, everyone! See you in the manana!”

— Alexis



"Burning Like the Sol"

The moon is always luna and violeta.
But really the moon is like bandadas and blanco.
When the moon speaks, it says “Hombre.”
The luna’s light is burning like the sol.
The luna lives in agua.
If I went to the moon
I would find culabras.
The secret of the luna is tierra.
These colors live inside the moon:
oro, plata, blanco.
Luna-moon up above, I want
to tell you this: close yourself.
I heard you speak one night: I heard you say:
“Shut up, people!”

— Eric




"Hi Luna"

Hi Luna — I can see you at night,
and I can see estrella on the side of you.
And you are redonda
and you are like blanco color.
How is the weather in invierno?
Are you a hombre, luna?

— Brittney




"Muchacho, Muchacha, Muchacho, Muchacha"

The moon is always muchaco.
But really the moon is like muchacha.
When the moon speaks, it says: “Muchacho!”
The luna’s light is like muchacha.
The luna lives in muchacho.
If I went to the moon I would find muchacha.
The secret of the luna is muchacho.
These colors live inside the moon: muchacha.
Luna-moon up above, I want to tell you this:
muchacha, muchacho, muchacha, muchacho.
I heard you speak one night — I heard you say:
“Muchacho, muchacha, muchacho, muchacha.”

 -- David

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Herm, Card, Jules, Gibbs, Franklin, Magnet

Permalink Comments (View)