Lucas invited a brilliant woman, Janet Hobson, to join us at poetry club last Wednesday (2-27-08). After some discussion it was decided that she would attend four more club meetings and would provide us with a sort of mini-class in writing poetry from her experience.
Not quite everyone wrote a persona poem. Even among those who did, no one had made copies for others–I guess we didn’t hear that request or forgot it. A few were shared and we discussed intended audience and we discussed titles.
For March 12th she has asked that we revise our poems, creating a second draft, and that we be sure to have copies for all. If you would like me to make copies of your poem for you, you can give the poem to me any time before 6th period on that Wednesday, and I will copy it for you. I estimate that 10-15 copies should be plenty.
Here’s a brief version of the syllabus she provided to us:
March 5: Introduction. Discussion: how can poets help each other? what is “workshopping” a poem? goals and objectives; pros and cons of group work. Share poems.
March 12: Share revised poems. Discussion: how to ask for help; evolving with the poem.
[March 19: Mrs. Hobson is unavailable]
March 26: Share refined/polished poems. Discussion: how can peers help with fine-tuning? offering useful praise.
[April 2: We are on Spring Break]
[April 9: Mrs. Hobson is unavailable?]
April 16: Rehearsal and Performance techniques–what works best with dramatic monologues? How to inhabit and project a character. Group reading (5:00-6:00?)
REMEMBER: As always, things change! So this schedule may not be followed completely. This is especially a concern after spring break since we have our performance of April 25th to be working toward. However, these dramatic monologues/persona poems are also strong options for that performance. Keep in mind that YOU need to be working to memorize (or almost memorize) the poem(s) that you plan to perform or those poems which you want to use at club meetings to become more comfortable with sharing/performing/speaking, even if you don’t actually plan to perform (this time 
). Practicing speaking your writing aloud, sharing it with others in your own voice, and finding your strength behind that voice are powerful, positive, and self-affirming activities. For ALL of you, I want the benefits which I know can come from doing these things.
Above all else as a teacher, I hope to help students know themselves, to find their passions and purposes, and to learn how to believe in their own strength as they face the world. If I can even provide you with a glimpse of these things, a hint of their existence, then I have done for you what I so profoundly needed someone to do for me when I was young.
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Do you care about the health and well-being of the Poets in the Schools program?
Do you want to see youth poetry in Santa Fe not only survive, but also live, breathe, and grow?
The date of the meeting we’ll be at is still tentative, but we are hoping to be on the agenda for the April 1st meeting of the Santa Fe Board of Education. The meeting will be held at the Educational Services Center which is located at 610 Alta Vista Street; board meetings begin at 4:30 pm.
Whether it’s on April 1st or another date, here’s our plan: Poets from SFHS’s poetry club will speak and share some of their work. Depending on the time allowed and what we decide we want to be our focus, professional poets from New Mexico Culture Net’s PITS program may also share, and I or another teacher could take a minute or two of the board’s time, as well.
If you have ideas about what to say and how to say it, be sure that you voice those things to me here or in person.
I’m hoping that everyone in our poetic community that is available that afternoon will be in attendance, regardless of whether you are speaking to the board or not.
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