All posts in Skinner West

Lying About

James Tate’s poem, “Untitled” begins, “I sat at my desk and contemplated all that I had accomplished / this year.” The speaker then runs through a litany of ‘accomplishments’ growing more and more nutty, […]

You Say You Want a Resolution

This week we read “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye. As the titles suggests, the poem is about the New Year celebration, though it focuses on its subject obliquely, through a central […]

Food for Thought

As always, it was a treat to be back with Skinner West students. I introduced myself as well as the program and went over what to expect for the next several weeks. There were […]

Centomental Education

Our inevitable last classes occurred this week. I brought in one of my own poems to share, giving students the opportunity to quiz me on its particulars. “Finding Bigfoot,” inspired by the TV show […]

Befriended

After a few weeks off, we reunited for our penultimate sessions, reading and discussing “maggie and milly and molly and may” by E. E. Cummings. I suggested that this poem was a kind of […]

Sound Effects

The weather outside school walls happened to be warm and springlike, contrasting with the scene set in Robert Frost’s famous poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.” Arguably, the opposite environment intensified its […]

Surprise!

Cats jumping on us from out of nowhere, dandelions, bottle caps, and more are some of the things that the speaker in Dean Young’s “Quiet Grass, Green Stone” describes, confessing, “Me who wants to […]

Poking Around the Family Tree

In “Pokeberries,” Ruth Stone recalls members of her extended family—mostly women—and how they (positively) impacted her life. Her brief yet potent poem is packed with vivid details and initiated many lively and fascinating conversations. […]

Wanted

Jordan Jace’s “I want” was the poem we examined this week. Unlike the prior selection, Jace’s effort reads as ‘normal,’ with its standard grammar and lack of blank space, and incorporates repetition as a […]

Out of the Pastoral

David Baker’s poem “Pastoral” evoked some interesting conversations this week. First of all, with its use of blank space, it created opportunities for various interpretative readings by student volunteers—some with pauses, others who chose […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET