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Kim Handle
(Brooklyn - United States)Kim worked for the Professional Development Department in Education at the New York Hall of Science in Corona, Queens for the past three years and has recently accepted a fellowship at Brooklyn College. Kim's undergraduate work was in environmental ...
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- Contributed By: Extra NewsHour
In this video package of nine NewsHour Poetry pieces, American poets from a variety of backgrounds explore the written and spoken word to explain the world around them. Divide students into nine groups and ask them to answer the following warm up and discussion questions. Once the student groups have answered questions for their own poetry piece, allow them to roam about the room and ask other students about their videos and discuss the similarities and differences between their featured poets.
Warm Up
1. What images or words from the poem stood out for you? How did the poet use language differently than you are used to hearing? 2. What does this poem say about the current (economic, political, social) state in America? 3. Did this poem feel familiar to you or distant? Why? 4. How would you find out if there are any poets in your community? See if there are any performances or book readings, and then talk to the poet about if and how their community has changed their perspective.
Inspired by her feelings about her son's tours of duty in Iraq as a Green Beret, poet Francis Richey composed 28 poems for him compiled in a new book called "The Warrior." Richey, who raised her son Ben as a single mother, felt their relationship disintegrate when they disagreed about the U.S. presence in Iraq. "We had always debated about politics, and I didn't realize that when we were arguing, when he was so close to going into combat, that it was much more personal, that it hurt him when we argued," Richey said. In this interview with NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown, mother and son discuss how Francis Richey was able to communicate her emotions to her son through poetry. Francis Richey reads two of the poems from her book, "The Warrior." To incorporate this poetry reading into a lesson plan, see Poetry Series Lesson Guidelines in this Unit.
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How are artists reacting to the current economic situation? Poet Bob Hicok was born and raised in Michigan, worked in factories and once owned an automotive die design business there before becoming a professor at Virginia Tech. His poetry reflects on the economic hardships suffered in his home state. His poem, "In These Times," Hicok reflects on unemployment in a small town and its affects on families and communities. For more on how to incorporate this poetry reading into the classroom, see the discussion questions also included in this Unit.
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Known for compact writing and for leading a quiet life, Kay Ryan has taken on a very public role as the nation's poet laureate. She says she came to poetry reluctantly, but even as a child, she was infatuated with language. "I would like to say that, if a poem feels really dense, it isn't good. I mean, if you put it in your hand and it falls through your hand, that's no good. It's got to float," she explains in this interview. "If you have this idea of compressed language, it gives people a sense that it's going to be dense and kind of oppressive, whereas I would like to think that it can be highly selected, but not make you feel that you've just had a vitamin pill." To begin a poem, Ryan says she starts with a cliché. "I tend to think in cliches when I think to myself," she explains. But then she makes it a personal challenge to say "a thing differently than I'd ever said it before, never, you know, using the old standby." For more on how to incorporate this conversation into the class room, see the discussion questions also included in this Unit.
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Poet, playwright and editor Nathalie Handal has lived in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Arab world. She uses poetry to weave together her memories and experiences and move forward as a person in the world. "I've had a transient life, and so poetry and the word has been important because that's what I've gone back to, because that has stayed. So I've gone back to poetry for my memories, for what I've left behind," she said when she spoke at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. For more on how to incorporate this video into the classroom, check out the discussion questions and quidelines included in this Unit.
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Poet Elizabeth Andrews was selected to read an original poem at Barack Obama's inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20. She teaches African-American studies at Yale University. She spoke with the NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown about her important task and her approach to the art of poetry. For more on how to incorporate this interview into the classroom, see the discussion questions and guidelines included in this Unit.
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Miami-based Latin American art critic and poet Richardo Pau-Llosa discusses the memories of his youth in Cuba and Miami that he writes about in his poetry. Pau-Llosa was born in Cuba but moved to the United States after communists came to power. Having grown up in Miami, he reflects on the local musicians, artists and writers that influenced him. "When I arrived in Miami in the '60s, and growing up here from that point on, Miami was a place where the artists were creating, where musicians were playing, where writers were writing. And I came into contact with those people," he says. In the first part of this video Pau-Llosa reflects on his personal history and the art that inspires and mirrors his poetry. He then shares an excerpt of his writing. For more on how to incorporate this poetry reading into your classroom, see the lesson plan in this Unit.
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Poet Cynthia Zarin shares a poem she wrote after reading an article about a trial in which Abraham Lincoln, while working as a lawyer before becoming president, successfully defended a murder suspect. For more on how to incorporate this poetry reading into the classroom, check out the discussion questions and guidelines in this Unit.
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Native American students often describe their experiences in school as living in two worlds: both their native culture and the dominant. In New Mexico students at the Spoken Word Club at Santa Fe Indian School, which is voluntary, meet every Wednesday night, to work through the long process from page to stage, writing their poems, memorizing them, rehearsing them. Many students are working on themes of loss of native culture and language. For more on how to incorporate this video into the classroom, check out the discussion questions and guidelines also included in the Unit.
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At 81, W.S. Merwin is counted as one of the nation's greatest living poets. Author of more than 50 books of his own poetry, translations of others, memoirs and more, Merwin's major prizes include the Pulitzer in 1970 for "The Carrier of Ladders" and the National Book Award for "Migration" in 2005. In his most recent writings Merwin exponds upon his love of the natural world and gardening while using really simple and bare writing. For more on how to incorporate this video into the classroom, check out the dicussion questions and guidelines also included in this Unit.
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