Introduction
“[...] I want poems that are portable, poems that dare to try to carry the world of worldmaking in scant space, poems that conjure aesthetics to materialize cosmologically.”
-Kevin Quashie, Chapter 3 of Black Aliveness
If you ask a middle-school student what poetry is all about, they are likely to mention that poetry expresses strong feelings. They may share their frustration that the writers disguise their message in figurative language and rhyme instead of just coming out and saying what they mean. This may be due in part to the way poetry is taught. My students are exposed to different types of poetry at each grade with increasing levels of complexity. In sixth grade we introduce haiku, limericks, and concrete and blackout poems; in seventh grade they learn about narrative, lyric, free verse, and imagist poems; and in eighth grade we expose them to odes, elegies, villanelles, and sonnets. In general, there is a focus on analysis of text structure and figurative language, which are key aspects of understanding poetry. However, in order for students to see poetry as relevant to their lives, they need to see how it can be used beyond the classroom.
While poetry can be a powerful tool for self-expression and can certainly be opaque in its language, it can also be a catalyst for change, a protest, or an affirmation of humanity. In this unit, students investigate several types of video poems that combine text, images, and sound to explore social issues. These poems are portable in that they can be accessed by anyone with a cell phone and an internet connection, and they engage in Quashie’s desired project of “worldmaking” by imagining the interior lives of those who are different from us or by giving voice to those who have been historically excluded from positions of authority. At the end of the unit, students use poetry to call attention to the pressing issues in our world. In order to do this successfully, they need to imagine a better world and think carefully about how best to use their voices to bring about change.
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