As part of Ann E. Burg's visit, we visited a few of the schools who are using her books in their curriculum. Although we were unable to stay long, it was enough time to get kids talking and responding to her presentation, where I could capture words and write a poem with them. We are thankful to Chelsea Leonard, Richard Novack, and Stacey Landowne for opening their classrooms. At Fairfield Warde, a girl entered all flustered about a tik-toc video she was watching, which was about a flat pan and making ramen on it. She kept saying, "But you can't make ramen with it," as she entertained her friends. I stole that as a title and refrain, also pointing out to students that poetry is in everything, if we find a poetic way to capture it. The students in these classes were remarkable, engaged, curious, and happy to have an author presenting to them. I was just the guy taking down words so we could play.Framing the World (Flavors of History)
~Written with 8th Grade Students from Classical Academy
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Today is historical
& I asked them to dog-sneeze hysterical
about the lyrical ways we taste our lives…
We are wet cardboard
With a mouthful of pennies
& stale chocolate..
8th graders classically magnetized with
the work of water, chalk, & old books
flooded in the fruity privilege, lies, and stories
(oh the glories of being in school).
This is 8th grade. Here I’m a fool
Watching the clock that never moves
hoping this class finds its flow & grooves
as we make sense of this house of tears…
All these fears at 9:30 in the morning.
Yes, life, our words capture the warning
That each of us are history, too.
We Can Make Ramen with It
Co-written with Fairfield Warde High School Students
He wanted to give them a voice,
a choice to find a way from
benevolent nightmares, Mephistophelian
bubbles stapled in antidisestablishmentarianism
while we asked, “What are we willing to give up?”
We can always make ramen with it
Act as gossamers of uxorious lullabies,
While our heart tries to find applicable timelines
to push through a hatred of history
and the blistery, stuck-in-my-mind self-doubt
contaminated with a legacy of hatred,
real people – we are just broken pieces
who won’t be happy in high school,
when so many take our happiness away.
Tomorrow, today,
We’re just trying to make Ramen with it.
We are seeds planting ourselves as trees,
But what are we willing to give up?
Some of us want to be teachers,
others just swim like fish through
math, numbers, tomatoes, roses, and luck.
We’re making ramen, aren’t we?
Purple sunrises, pink-mauve moonlit skies,
finding our voices as we fight their lies,
stuck in our minds, hearts & soul.
We’re making ramen.
This is how we grow.
