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The Power of Poetry by Sarah FitzHenry
In my career, I’ve come to realize that the rumors about print and reading going out of style are just that – rumors. If you are lucky enough to work with children and books, you know that young people’s passion for stories is as strong as ever. But even I wasn’t completely confident about the current role of poetry in young people’s lives. Do middle schoolers in 2017 really connect with Langston Hughes? Will my students still be inspired by the words of Maya Angelou?
For those of you questioning just like I did, let me share what I learned on a sunny March afternoon moderating an event for the Virginia Festival of the Book – poetry is as powerful as it has ever been. It still has the ability to bring a hush over a room crowded with thousands of people. It still creates an irresistible rhythm that transforms words and turns of phrase into music. It still pops and bubbles and rolls and finds its way deep down inside of the listener or reader, lighting a spark. And as the Newbery winning featured speaker Kwame Alexander recited and rapped, he blew on the embers, igniting small flames that grew to an inferno. Thanks to the work of authors like Kwame, poetry is now more accessible, engaging, and relevant than I can ever remember. Pair Kwame’s power with the stunning and deeply meaningful collage work of Ekua Holmes in their recent collaboration Out of Wonder: Poets Celebrating Poetry, and the possibilities are endless.
Out of Wonder is getting a lot of press for bringing the cool back to poetry – for inspiring a new generation of poets (who have seemingly lost their connection to classic literature) to pick up pens and pencils and spit some verse. During that particular assembly, I asked Kwame if he had any advice for members of the audience who hadn’t had their “ah-ha” moment with poetry yet. Can anyone have this moment? Or is poetry only for some people – the smartest, the richest, the something-est? He thought for a moment, brow furrowed, hand on his scarf, which displayed the pattern of an old-fashioned library card.
“How many of you love poetry?” He asked the audience. Almost one thousand fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students turned to their neighbors and teachers, unsure – should I tell the truth? Am I going to make Kwame Alexander mad if I don’t raise my hand? A few put their hands in the air. “How many of you aren’t sure about it?” He continued, surveying the room as a few more hands shot up. “And, be honest, how many of you don’t like poetry? Don’t get it?” He stood up and walked down the steps from the stage to the floor as most of the hands were sheepishly raised. “Okay. I hear you.” He stood in the middle of the floor, in the thick of the crowd, and rolled up his sleeves. The crowd settled into an anticipatory silence. And then, from memory, he performed a poem from his Newbery Medal winning 2015 novel, The Crossover:
Josh Bell is my name
but Filthy McNasty is my claim to fame.
Folks call me that ’cause my game’s acclaimed,
so downright dirty, it’ll put you to shame.
My hair is long, my height’s tall.
See, I’m the next Kevin Durant, LeBron, and Chris Paul.
Remember the greats, my dad likes to gloat:
I balled with Magic and the Goat.
But tricks are for kids, I reply.
Don’t need your pets, my game’s so fly.
Mom says,
Your dad’s old school, like an ol’ Chevette.
You’re fresh and new, like a red Corvette.
Your game so sweet, it’s a crepes suzette.
Each time you play it’s ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL net.
If anyone else called me fresh and sweet,
I’d burn as mad as a flame.
But I know she’s only talking about my game.
See, when I play ball, I’m on fire.
When I shoot, I inspire.
The hoop’s for sale, and I’m the buyer.
His cadence left them breathless. When he was finished, Kwame slowly lowered his microphone, eyes darting from face to face as the audience slowly broke free of their daze. And then, like a crowd witnessing a game-winning shot at the buzzer, the auditorium filled with screams. 900 pairs of tiny sneakers hit the floor as they stood, hands flung high in the air, high fiving each other, pumping their fists. Kwame stood and waited for the screams to die down. Once the students were back in their seats, he said simply, “Okay. That was a poem. Now tell me the truth – who here loves poetry?”
Every hand in the room went up.
Sarah FitzHenry is the K-8 Librarian at St. Anne’s-Belfield School in Charlottesville, VA, and the voice behind library website Fitz Between the Shelves. Sarah is a proud member of Books on Bikes, a robotics coach, a maker, and an all-around geek. Sarah is passionate about creating school libraries that make every child feel welcome, confident, and safe.
Would love to SEE this spoken poetry! Wish. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you! He is a very powerful speaker. It was wonderful to see the reaction he created!
Awesome!
Is there video of this somewhere? I would love to show Kwame Alexander reciting this to my class! I’m positive he would make it sound wayyyyy cooler than I ever could!!
This particular event wasn’t recorded, but I wonder if there is a video of Kwame reciting out there somewhere? He’s a great performer!
If every poet could *perform* poetry as well as Kwame does, we’d be a nation of poetry lovers:>) He knows how to convert anyone into a poetry lover!
Future Ambassador for Children’s Literature right there. Thanks for sharing.
Wow. This is just amazing buddy! Thanks for sharing!
Powerful stuff. Love it.
Thanks for sharing. It’s really great
Loved it.Infact, m a great fan of poetry and I do write poems ,you can see if you want visiting my site.
This is fantastic. I think that poetry is all in the delivery. Just like with music- which is also, essentially poetry. If it is not delivered by an engaging person, the listener will likely not be as interested. I think this is a fantastic post about an amazing person helping youth to be more interested in poetry!
I love it
I just loved it fabulous poetry.infact m a great fan of poem and i write too,you can check it out on my website
I know it seems kids are not interested in books anymore but deep down they are it’s just that technology blocking their minds.
Great post! I’m a big fan of hip-hop and rap music, and while I liked Kwame’s poem here, to me it just sounds like a verse from a rap song I’d listen to. How would you distinguish poetry in this form from simply rap music without the music?
Thank you! I’m a fan of rap and hip-hop, too, and I think that rap and poetry are often the same in terms of art, expression, and end goal. When I teach poetry to my students, I teach it using hip-hop (my favorite song to use is Everything is Everything by Lauryn Hill). I love the way poetry and hip-hop connect, and the way it gets students to look at poetry differently. There’s a great book about it called Hip Hop Speaks to Children: Poetry with a Beat. Sounds like you might like that book!
I couldn’t agree more – that sounds like such a fantastic way to introduce students to the wonders of poetry, and to realise how similar it is to the music they might listen to on a daily basis. I wish you’d been my poetry teacher!! And thank you for the recommendation, I’ll check it out 🙂
So amazing. Am loving it
Poetry has played a part in keep myself sane, check out my blog for a couple I’ve written
It is such an amazing piece of work, which clearly shows that poetry is a lot more than mere words. Words after all are capable of being transformed into magic.
That was absolutely amazing and I could feel the power of poetry bouncing off the page and hitting me squarely. That was a lovely post and I can’t wait to share it my kids and friends, especially the ones who need to feel the magic of rhythmic words once again.
Thank you! It’s amazing how poetry can wake you up and help you to see things in the world that you wouldn’t regularly notice. I love the idea of using this post and Kwame’s work to help people “feel the magic of rhythmic words once again”!
I teach middle school — specifically 7th grade ELA — and I LOVE the way poetry brings so much light into the room, the way my kids can connect quickly and powerfully to the written word. Thanks for this post!
I agree, and I love that you are sharing that with your 7th and 8th graders! It sounds like they are lucky to have you!
Seriously — I’m more lucky to have them.
Extremely commendable endeavour to make breathe the extinct literary art. Wonderfully narrated.
Thank you, Rushda!
I think my browsing for this night is well rewarded !
And here I was pondering that same idea. How dare I believe that poetry can’t be made to feel refreshing.
It’s easy to start questioning when you start believing the rhetoric out there about “kids these days”. I’m glad that we were pondering the same thing – great minds think alike!
Yes! For sure! It always seems as though they’re so far removed from what we consider to be “normal”, but we forget they’re growing up in a different age.
Love this. I grew up with poetry by my side to help me through the tough times I used to write. Reading this made me tingle. Poetry takes on many forms and that’s what I love about it.
It makes me happy to hear that poetry has helped you through tough times, and how much you love it. I feel like I’m still new to poetry and have so much left to learn, but I hope someday to have the relationship with it that you do!
Great post!
If only children read more poetry (or books) they’ll use less their moblie
Poetry is the only way by which you can relate yourself to literature. For all who loves poetry! Cheers. Great post
This is great!
What I like about poetry is that it’s like the fine art of writing. There’s certain parameters or poem formats and that could parallel the medium used to make art in the art world. The words used and how they’re used make the picture and set the scene. And everyone has a different way of using a language, even one language, to make the same picture sometimes.
Not only a picture materializes, but the poet’s heart, soul, and personality is heard through their word usage. You may never see the person, yet form a mental picture of them in a moment. One holding his head in grief, or one skipping stones taking a break on a morning walk.
Nice, I love poetry. I want to be a great poet.
Amazing poetry
Great writing mate. I would be writing some of my poems on my page ambrosylum.wordpress.com
Poetry has the power of moving people! If recited with the right emotions, it can create a positive impact on the students while keeping them engrossed! Loved your post. I too write free verse (basically an expression if what I am going through) which is primarily why I don’t remember what I wrote the last time if someone asks me to recite one of my poems!!
Poetry for me is therapy. I Always wanted to Sing, but my voice is horrible, so I’ve written poetry my whole life and to me, it’s so Deep and raw and explains so much but my husband and son, they don’t feel it. Maybe if someone sang it, they would understand
Omg this is amazing! Totally loved it
Perhaps he has this power to entice everyone to love poetry. 💗
Great read! Poetry is not dead! It is still a powerful form of self-expression.
Thank you for sharing.
I am a newbie but I love writing poetry that goes from heart because I love that kind of poetry also which doesn’t need all your brain cells to tickle in a certain way. But poetry is true emotional phenomena and we need as much aspiring poets as we can get to make this world a more bearable place.
Love all of your poetry and writing!!
Heard Kwame on NPR the other day – so cool! Just began trying my hand at poetry recently and love it so far.
This made me so happy! 🙂
Expression of love, feeling, incidence, thinking and go of life should be live in poetry.
And it is there!
Man may Come
And
Man may go
But
The Essence of Poetry should go
For Ever and
For Ever!
Brilliant! I hope to get to this level one day 🙂
Poetry is something which might make you look like an artist but little did everyone knows how hard it is to pen down your tsunami of thought specially those you mean to keep away from the world.
Inspiring article
I enjoyed reading this. I really did. Look forward to seeing future posts.
So inspiring!
He came to our school and enthralled the students and teachers. Powerful speaker with a powerful message.