2020 Post #2 -- A Participatory Poem

by Brett Vogelsinger

It is rare to find a poem for my Poem of the Day routine that barely requires any forethought about what aspect to admire, discuss, or interrogate as a class, but "The Alley Violinist" by Robert Lax is one such poem.

The poem concludes with a choice for the reader:

"Would you:
stand there and play?

Beat it?

Walk away playing your fiddle?"

This rare, multiple-choice closing chord allows us, the readers, to look inside at what we value and to wrestle with competing priorities in a situation none of us have personally faced.  There is something deliciously riddle-like about this short poem.

So invite students to share which choice they would make and why.  Students tend to enjoy defending their choice, and they pull textual evidence!

After years of sharing this poem with students, I have also noticed that no one usually chooses the final option.  If the same happens in your classroom, pose the question: Why is this option so undesirable?  What might this reveal about human nature?  When is compromise valuable, and when is it unwelcome?

Further Reading:





Brett Vogelsinger is a ninth grade English teacher and NBCT at Holicong Middle School in Doylestown, PA. He is the founding editor of Go Poems, facilitates his school's literary magazine, Sevenatenine, and contributes monthly posts at Moving Writers. You can follow him on Twitter @theVogelman.

2020 Post #1 -- What Is Worth a Swerve?

by Ken Bui

We know that poetry can be a wonderful way to provide students with the opportunity to truly think and dive into meaningful conversations. Some of the most meaningful conversations stem from poems that challenge students’ values and really ask them to reflect on what they feel, what they believe, and why that is. One poem that fully allows for this opportunity is William Stafford’s “Traveling through the Dark,”an iconic, short poem that captures a raw moment of moral dilemma.

By the end of the poem, following hesitation and self-mediation, we see the speaker make a decision, “my only swerving,” and are left with a chance to react and evaluate.

Optimally, I have found that this poem works well as a great whole group read-aloud, breaking it up into stanzas with multiple voices pulling us through the suspense. Often, I hear some students gasp to themselves when the reality of the final couplet settles in.

Challenge students to talk about the pros and cons of the speaker’s actions. It can be interesting to ask students if they agree with the speaker’s choice, or, conversely, what realistic action they would have personally taken.

Discuss the qualities of moments in life that make us “hesitate” and push us to “hear the wilderness” or the world around us “listen.”

Dig into the depth of that last couplet: “I thought hard for us all -- my only swerving.” It’s a splendid springboard for conversation. Invite students to think about how we “think hard,” make difficult decisions, and “swerve” in our own lives – as a society and as individuals. As humans, why do we swerve? What is worth swerving for?  

Further Reading:

Ken Bui is a former English teacher and administrator in the North Penn School District.