April Poems

The second New Thing Kate and I endeavored this past April was to each read the work of a poet we had not before encountered.

At the time, I was teaching a 9th grade honors English course that happened to be embarking on a poetry unit. I chose one of the poets I came across in preparing for class that day. Here is the e-mail I sent to Kate at the end of the day:

Hey Kate,

 

I hope you had a marvelous day! It was my first day back from spring break today and I had a good time seeing the kiddos again and beginning the poetry unit.

 

The new poet I read today was one I encountered today during class for the first time. She is called Kirsten Savitri Bergh, a girl from the east coast killed in a car accident when she was 17 years old. According to the website of her anthology, her mother compiled her poems from what she found after she died.

 

From reading her poetry, Kirsten seemed like a really well adjusted teenager. She thought deeply and used language quite beautifully. The poignancy of her death made what might have seemed sweet adolescent ramblings take on a new significance. As I was reading, I wondered, why is this? Should I read her poems differently just because she died? I’m not sure. But now I’m wondering if it’s a signal to me that I shouldn’t dismiss anything as “sweet adolescent ramblings”?

 

My favorite poem by Kirsten was called Purple Violets. This poem was pretty much an extended metaphor for how she viewed her own life. Rather than being at the mercy of “the screaming, tearing, empty wind,” she had been protected by “pillows of purple violets, / Embraced by yellow voices.” She seemed to thus regard her immediate surroundings as protections from danger she has heard about but never really experienced. What struck me most was the penultimate statement of the poem: “I must cherish my violets, / Or they will die.” In a young person, this recognition of the responsibility she bears for her own world struck me as somewhat unexpected, and when I read it I said “oh!”

 

How was your poetry today? Hoping all is well, and I’m looking forward to some illegibility on the morrow!

 

Jimmy



Image taken from City-Data.com

Kate took the day to read some poems by James Wright. Her favorite new discovery was "Northern Pike." Take a read of it. You might find something beautiful inside. : )

 

Hoping all is well.

Jimmy & Kate