I enjoyed your discussion of the inherent contradictions in having to teach poetry according to some pedagogy while trying to teach freedom of thought. It seems that the students who end up loving poetry the most are the ones who have strong encounters with it outside of, or in addition to, school.
That line about failure finding a fissure and burrowing and amending...wow.
I have no doubt that your struggle with how to handle the reductiveness is well conveyed and eagerly consumed by most of your lucky students. Thank you.
I love your two poems, how your mind moves through them as your mind moves through Hernandez's poem and your thoughts about it. An astute and generous mind. Your students are lucky. So are your readers.
I enjoyed your discussion of the inherent contradictions in having to teach poetry according to some pedagogy while trying to teach freedom of thought. It seems that the students who end up loving poetry the most are the ones who have strong encounters with it outside of, or in addition to, school.
That line about failure finding a fissure and burrowing and amending...wow.
I have no doubt that your struggle with how to handle the reductiveness is well conveyed and eagerly consumed by most of your lucky students. Thank you.
That part about having to teach the unimaginative. Thank you.
I love your two poems, how your mind moves through them as your mind moves through Hernandez's poem and your thoughts about it. An astute and generous mind. Your students are lucky. So are your readers.