As we approach the end of National Poetry Month, I pause to reflect on what poetry has meant to me during this crisis. When the schools closed, my children’s principal, the inimitable Anna Allanbrook, sent home this letter mourning the loss of custodian Hank Friedland with the poem Keeping Quiet by Pablo Neruda. I shared it with my colleagues at the Institute. Throughout the month, I have been grateful for the poems that have rained into my inbox, poems that have brought moments of stillness, connection and hope into our lives.
In 2016, Nancy Kangas, a librarian, poet, gardener and teaching artist made PreSchool Poets, a collection of short animations of poems dictated to her by the preschool students at the Columbus Early Learning Center in Columbus, Ohio. In a documentary about the process, she described the value of writing to help young children process traumatic events in their lives. She said, “Writing helps us figure out what is happening. It helps us to get unstuck.” When children see their words on paper, they feel powerful. Some of the prompts Nancy used include:
- What do you want to turn yourself into?
- What do you want there to always be?
- What is the [softest, hardest, loneliest, strongest, ect.] thing…
But the magic comes from the words of the students themselves: “You are the future of the love star.” Indeed they are, and so are you. Take a moment to watch Mr Grumpy, Mr. Crumpy and Mr. Bumpy by Alexa, whose poem expresses Alexa’s feelings about her beloved grandmother’s illness.
What poems have comforted you during this time? Please share them below.
Thank you for this post, I sympathise with a lot that was said. Writing has always been part of my life. It started as a hobby when I was fairly young, around 7 years old, and later an undergraduate major. Poetry was the first genre of literature that I experiment with. Every time I learned a new word growing up, I would write a poem with it. Poetry not only helped me learn and improve my vocabulary, but it also taught me about my feelings and helped me process certain experiences. Poetry can most definitely help us understand the world better. Many say the art of poetry is fading away, but posts like this help me maintain my hope that poetry is not a dead art. Children all over the world should give poetry a try and hopefully learn from it.