Poetry is a big part of my parenting plan.
We aren’t good about cleaning the bathroom, and we can’t keep matched socks in the drawers at all. But we do read and write poetry.
We all have goals for our kids right? Hopefully those goals fall more in the category of lofty overarching aspirations like love your neighbor or love God or live with purpose than in specifics like becoming an Olympic gymnast or a Nobel Prize Winner in Physics. I generally consider all of mine to fall in the lofty group, but there have to be some tools along the way. If you were to ask my kids, they all know that poetry is a big part of the toolbox. There are just a few constants along the way around here and reading poetry aloud together is one of them. Usually it goes along with tea or hot chocolate or hot cider and something sweet. Sometimes we go a month or two without it, but we always come back to it.
Why do we do this? Mostly just love. I love poetry, and I love spending my time reading it. My time is minimal, so this whole thing is unabashedly self-serving. I’m serious about multi-tasking. But, I’m also hoping they learn to love it – the words, the rhythm, the metaphor, the music, and the brevity. I’m raising sons, and I’d like to send men out into the world who love poetry, or at least who know a bit of poetry.
Does it work? Usually. Pretty much. So far, some enjoy it more than others. One likes to tell me, “I just don’t enjoy poems, Mom.” But he still has some favorites, and he still quotes them. Most of the others really do enjoy it a lot, and even ask me to read it to them.
Which poets? I’m not picky. It’s about what you learn to love, what sounds nice to your ear, what you feel like reading again, what makes you sigh or laugh, what makes you want to paint or write. They all remember how I cried the day Maya Angelou died. Big fat tears of sorrow. (I also cried on the day of Maurice Sendak’s death, but he’s a poet for me.) Longfellow to Silverstein to Stevenson to cummings to Sanchez to Akhmatova to Nye. Anything goes.
Rereading the same poems? Absolutely! Some as often as once a week.
Memorizing? Sometimes, but only when it’s something we find we love. Those that we reread often get naturally memorized anyway. The others we sing through in the moment and we move on to the next. It’s about the joy of discovery with each poem. It’s about the musical performance of that moment.
Writing our own? Yes, please. If you get an annual Christmas card from me, you know I make someone here write one at least once a year. But it happens more often than that. Sometimes it’s decidedly forced, sometimes they whine and slump to the ground before putting pen to paper, but they tend to be quite happy with the results after muscling through my demands.
Editing? Only rarely. We write for joy. We read our compositions aloud together, I save them, and we move on. Poetry is in the moment. I like to think about how Emily Dickinson’s poems were found everywhere after her death – on little scraps of paper in drawers and stuffed between pages. Writing a poem is all in that quick moment – a thought, an image, an emotion saved momentarily in verse.
A few days ago, I shared a poem I wrote almost four years ago, inspired by an English translation of a poem written by one of my beloved muses, Wisława Szymborska. I mentioned that I have a practice of rewriting this poem every few years and having my children do the same. It’s a way to mark a moment in time for each of us – a snapshot of our minds and hearts on a given day. What could be better, really? I honestly love these more than any photo portrait.
We did that this week. Today I’m sharing the work of my youngest, my seven year old. I’m still working on the others to consent sharing their work. It’s good stuff. We’ll see how persuasive I can be. This one is presented in its first draft original format, because seven-year-old poets make beautiful art. I think Sonia Sanchez would approve.
Possibilities
I prefer liveing to dyeing
I prefer pizza to tomatos
I prefer video games
I prefer Coke
I prefer Painting to reading
I prefer tv
I prefer ellie to Grass
I prefer opening Gifts
I prefer Christmas
I prefer plaYing
I prefer kissing mom to kissing nicky
I prefer ellie
I prefer Soda
I prefer Games
I prefer mommy
-B, age 7, November 2019
Want to join this? My challenge is still on! Write your own! Several of my dear friends and family have already joined in. Read my original challenge here and then read others: Elizabeth, Thea, and Susan. If you write one, share it with me, please.
At Midnight 