Poetry as Sound and Object

Introduction

“Although there are those who wish to ban my books because I have used language that is painful, I have chosen to use the language that was spoken during the period, for I refuse to whitewash history. The language was painful and life was painful for many African Americans, including my family.

I remember the pain.”

— Mildred D. Taylor, The Land¹

As a single parent of eight children, my mom reinforced the importance of reading by ensuring we all had library cards as toddlers. The Dr. Martin Luther King Branch of the Chicago Public Library, located on the Southside of Chicago, was our ticket to Princeton, Northwestern, University of Chicago, DePaul and other institutions of higher learning, including Witwatersrand University South Africa. Reading Oh the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss and Spin A Soft Black Song by Nikki Giovanni was my first introduction to poetic voices.

	And though you are poor it isn’t poverty that concerns you
	and though they fought a lot
	it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference
	but only that everybody is together
	and you and your sister have happy birthdays (20-33) 2
	

Giovanni helped me realize that prevailing poverty does not diminish the love and closeness of black people. In fact, my mother’s warmth towards our neighbors, librarians, Sunday and consistent school teachers cemented our sense of community. Despite the hardships and prejudice we faced from the outside world, we were raised with respect and humility.  Books that represented my experiences and the experiences of those who looked like me were available at my fingertips. I flourished because of them, so I can’t imagine the works of Gwendolyn Brooks, Lorraine Hansberry and Richard Wright being banned from our libraries at such a critical time in American history.  As a fellow in the Yale University National Initiative, I had the distinct honor of participating in the “Poetry as Sound and Object” seminar under the guidance of Professor Feisal Mohamed. I’m sure my mother is smiling down with pride.

Currently in my performing arts classes in Chicago Public Schools, I aim to grasp students' attention and advance their wonder, curiosity and interest with hopes that reading through performing arts becomes a passion.  In my opinion, providing rich culturally and socially responsive texts for my students has always been synonymous with quality instruction. The rich and meaningful engagement I was fortunate to have in my youth provided the blueprint for my teaching philosophy.  I want my students to engage in poetry as sound and object by constructing meaningful interpretations throughout this unit.  The main outcomes for this unit will be poetry, improv and reader’s theater as performance art.  Secondly, students will also create comic book poetry as visual artists. 

	Overview
	Books are voices
	From past ages
	Records of the present
	Heralds of the future.
	Torches to the unenlightened,
	Common bond of
	Cultured men,
	Trusted friends
	Developing the mind,
	Restoring the spirit.
	Enter thou into
	This company
	And seek truth.
	       -Inscription over Entrance to Founders Library Howard University
	

The American Library Association (ALA) released a report highlighting that the number of banned books across the country has been increasing, with 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022.³  Prior to the rise in book bans, white male youth were already more likely to see themselves depicted in children’s books than their peers, despite research demonstrating how more culturally inclusive material can uplift all children. “Books can change outcomes for students themselves when they see people who look like them represented, explains the Alex Ebie, Associate Professor of Economics and Education.  “What people see affects who they become, what they believe about themselves and also what they believe about others.” Ebie goes on to state not having equitable representation robs people of seeing the full wealth of the future that we all can inhabit.”⁴ My students will construct meaningful interpretations of artistic work including graphic novels, poetry, film excerpts and videos. 

In an excerpt from Yale University Professor Roderick A. Ferguson’s lecture titled “Enter Thou into This Company’: The Imperiled Mysteries of Critical Literacies,” he states: “In our current moment, literacy’s status as a mode of keeping company with fellow travelers is severely endangered. It is increasingly regarded as a threat to the wellbeing of children and to the life of this nation. Witness, for instance, Florida’s HB7—the anti-woke law. It argues that ‘subjecting any student or employee to training or instruction that espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels such individual to believe specified concepts constitutes discrimination based on race, color, sex, or national origin…’ Its fear of learning is not even hidden. Learning is the outcome of compulsion rather than the result of a mind hungry for new and often life-sustaining information. Moreover, it uses the principle of the civil rights movement—anti-discrimination—to protect whites from critiques of discrimination and inequality.”⁵

How can I convince my students that their voices matter when the literary authors and poets they admire or identify with are no longer available for them to read?  As my students interact with culturally responsive text, my students' interpretations of these texts will be influenced by personal experiences and aesthetics.  Readers and poetic theater are an integrated approach for involving my students in reading, writing, listening and speaking activities. In this unit my students will share relevant and culturally reflective literature, read aloud, write scripts and poetry, perform with a purpose and work collaboratively. Additionally, in this unit my students will learn to read with greater expression and confidence as they are usually shy or don’t think it’s cool to read poetry or act aloud. Therefore, we will workshop proper emphasis, clear enunciation and using their voices to convey meaning.