2022 Post #20 -- A Good Poem is a Good Poem (for Any Age)

by Janet Wong and Sylvia Vardell

Think of some of your favorite poems and poetry books. For adults, for children, for readers of any age. Chances are, one of those poems is a William Carlos Williams poem, or a Billy Collins poem, or a Naomi Shihab Nye poem, or a Shel Silverstein poem, and you can tell us what that poem is “about” in ten seconds or less.

Poetry doesn’t need to be complicated. And we feel that the best poems are actually very simple—about just one thing, a “universal” experience such as finding the last plum gone, or hearing a dog bark forever, or finding someone to help you at the airport, or taking the garbage out—told in plain language that a five-year-old can understand.

Here’s a poem about holding the door open for someone: “Open” by Linda Kulp Trout.



This is an ekphrastic poem that Linda Kulp Trout wrote for our book Things We Do. We gave her two restrictions: (1) the poem should connect in some way to this photo, and (2) needed to fit on the page, which is 8.5” square with a large font size. In response, Linda constructed a whole story and a call to action for kindness that anyone, ages 2 to 102, can understand.

Things We Do has a target audience of PreK to Grade 2, but we feel strongly that every single poem in the book will resonate with your students. Too many poetry gems in illustrated books intended for younger readers are never found by secondary students; w,e would love to change that. Yes, some students might find illustrated poems to be “baby-ish,” but for other students, these “younger” poems will spark joyful memories of a visit to grandparents, long-forgotten toys, a first science project, or the way they learned to type.

Or for another activity, invite students to “reverse engineer” the poem and find a new photo or drawing or create a collage to illustrate some aspect of the poem in a more abstract way. Here are two examples:








So let’s think twice when we decide what poems are most appropriate for our students—and what poems are “too young.”

A good poem is a good poem for any age.

​​Further Reading:




Sylvia Vardell is Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University; her current work focuses on poetry for children, including the nationally recognized blog, Poetry for Children. Janet Wong is the author of 37 books for children and teens on a wide variety of subjects, including race (Good Luck Gold & MORE). You can learn more about their newest books Things We Do and Things We Eat at the Pomelo Books website.

2021 Post #30 -- "Remember" by Joy Harjo: A Salve for Seniors

by Oona Marie Abrams

I first heard Joy Harjo’s “Remember” recited by Georgia Heard at NCTE 2019. The line I immediately fell into was “Remember your birth, how your mother struggled to give you form and breath.” My eyes welled up, in fact, to hear the line read aloud. It mirrored my birth story: one month premature, cord wrapped around my neck, emergency caesarean. I thought also in the moment I read the poem of my house-bound mother, recovering far too slowly from knee replacement surgery. Through 45 years in a matter of seconds, Harjo’s words connected me to her.

One word, one phrase, one line is often all it takes. Poetry is an explosion of grace into the mundane.

The act of remembering was especially important to my seniors in the spring of 2020 without the rituals that (let’s be honest!) are mostly what senior year is about. The fashion show, the prom, the awards ceremonies, the senior picnic: all pulled from the roster. I shared this poem and the story above with my seniors in late May. Unmuting their microphones, they shared their favorite lines in a “whip-around” and were also invited (but not required) to type into the chat why that was their selection. What followed was such a range of treasured memories and stories from their lives. I then invited students to do a short write beside the poem, which they could later extend upon as a longer piece in their portfolios. Below are some lines from those short writes, some of which became the genesis for other written pieces:

• Remember that first F on a test
• Remember the birds picking at the bread we gave away
• Remember playing varsity, the green line dominating the ice
• Remember the friends you’ve lost, the friends you still have
• Remember something embarrassing, even if you may not want to
• Remember the rage that fueled your determination
• Remember when we used to argue over the smallest things
• Remember when our decisions did not affect others
• Remember the Starbucks trips that made the school day worth it
• Remember all those practices where we said we’d quit but never did
• Remember that stuffed animal that you refused to leave at home
• Remember your first time you looked at somebody differently.
• Remember when we made super buttery popcorn

Try to model your own personal connection with the poem; one time-efficient way to do this is by putting your annotated poem or writer’s notebook under a document camera. We’re all strapped for time these days! Just make your connections and responses as transparent as possible so students can do their best work. Happy sharing!

P.S. Joy Harjo read this poem aloud for PBS Kids and talks a little about poetry.  Find the video here.  

Further Reading:





Oona Marie Abrams (@oonziela) is one of the co-organizers of NerdCampNJ. She lives and teaches in northern New Jersey.