Poetry for Young Adults: Finding, Sharing, Writing by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong; and a nod to Bob Dylan

Few things are better than just dumb luck and serendipity. Several months ago, I contacted Syliva Vardell to contribute a blog post and she recruited Janet Wong because they wanted to talk about YA poetry during Teen Read Week. They have produced a great blog that is long overdue.  Then yesterday morning happened.  “ Oh, What did you see, my blue eyed son?/And what did you see, my darling young one?” Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Is it unprecedented? Not really, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 was Rabindranath Tagore who was a Bengali who contributed to both literature and music. What a great day to celebrate poetry! Who knows, maybe the next Yeats, Wordsworth, Stevens, Bishop, Nye, Woodson, or Dylan is sitting in the back of your class writing rap lyrics. For many years, I loved Dylan's explanation about the lyrics of A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall—that the lyrics were taken from the Initial lines of songs that “he thought he would never have time to write.” At the bottom of this post I link to a Youtube video of Dylan singing this song. Now, to Sylvia and Janet.

​It’s Teen Read Week (October 9-15, 2016)! Since 1988, October has been the month for celebrating Teen Read Week™ (http://teenreadweek.ning.com), a time to “encourage teens to be regular readers and library users” according to the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). At YALSA (http://hq.yalsa.net/index.html) you’ll find many great programs and strategies to try, as well as a list of Teens’ Top Ten “teen choice” books, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year (http://www.ala.org/yalsa/teenstopten). We’d like to advocate for sharing more poetry during Teen Read Week and all year long. Why?

Because poetry is perfect for busy teens. It’s compact and fast to read, fun to share, great to perform, and full of powerful emotions and memorable moments. Reading poetry can lead to writing poetry and offers teens an outlet for expressing themselves. Poetry is not “leveled” or tied to age, grade, or reading skills, so it’s a wonderful equalizer for teens with differing reading abilities who might be learning English as a new language too. It’s image-rich with vivid vocabulary. It’s available in anthologies, picture books, and verse novels—something for everyone. Where do you start in finding poetry to share with young adults? 

Anthologies
One place where we can find the work of a lot of different poets is in the classic form of the poetry anthology. Here, one or two editors gather many poems by many writers and organize them into a variety of themes or topics. It’s a great way to browse and pick and choose and skim. Readers can revisit classic (“dead”) poets and discover new voices too. Here are ten of our favorites for teens.
1. Carlson, Lori M. Ed. 2005. Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States. Henry Holt. *Featuring many award-winning and contemporary Latino and Latina poets, plus teens themselves
2.  Greenberg, Jan. Ed. 2001. Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art. Abrams.*Ekphrastic poetry with each poet writing in response to a work of art
3.  Heard, Georgia. Ed. 2006 (reissued). This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort. Candlewick.*Poets write about loss, fear, and grief
4. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2013. All the World’s a Stage. Creative Editions.*Poems on life’s different stages, from “entrances” to “exits,” with childhood, love, war, and more in between
5.  Janeczko, Paul B. Ed. 2004. Blushing: Expressions of Love. Scholastic.*Both classic and contemporary poems about new love, unrequited love, lost love, love remembered
6.  Lewis, J. Patrick. Ed. 2015. National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry. National Geographic.*Vivid photographs provide a stunning background for poems about the natural world
7.  Nye, Naomi Shihab. Ed. 1992. This Same Sky: A Collection of Poems from Around the World. Four Winds Press.*A collection of poems in English by writers from all around the world
8. Paschen, Elise and Raccah, Dominique. Eds. 2010. Poetry Speaks: Who I Am.  Sourcebooks. *Candid poems about identity, ideas, and connections in a very accessible format
9. Rampersad, Arnold and Blount, Marcellus. Eds. 2013. Poetry for Young People: African American Poetry (reissued, reillustrated). Sterling. *Stylized illustrations accompany these powerful poems by 27 African American poets from Phillis Wheatley to contemporary poets
10. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. Eds. 2013. The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle Schoolhttps://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Friday-Anthology-Middle-School/dp/193705778X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1476453614&sr=1-1&keywords=the+poetry+friday+anthology+for+middle+school+common. Princeton, NJ: Pomelo Books.*110 poems by 71 poets about new schools, coping with family, and being a friend along with Take 5! mini-lessons for every poem

​Poetry by Teens
Teens also enjoy discovering poetry written by their fellow teens and published in mainstream books (as well as online, in magazines, in zines, etc.). They can see the power in getting published and may be encouraged to submit their own writing for publication. Here are several notable collections of poetry written by young people.

1.  Aguado, Bill. Ed. 2003. Paint Me Like I Am.  Harper.*Raw and honest poems explore identity, creativity, and relationships
2,   Franco, Betsy. 2001. Ed. Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls.  Candlewick.*Teen girls offer prose and poems about sexuality, identity, fears, dreams, and angst
3.  Franco, Betsy. 2001. Ed. You Hear Me? Poems and Writing by Teenage Boys. Candlewick.*Prose and poetry by teen boys explore angry and honest emotions and experiences
4. Franco, Betsy. 2008. Ed. Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers. Candlewick.*Honest poems about love by teens from many different backgrounds and sexual orientations
5.  Johnson, Dave. Ed. 2000. Movin’: Teen Poets Take Voice. Orchard.*Teens write about real life in poetic and evocative language
6.  Lyne, Sandford. Ed. 2004. Soft Hay Will Catch You. Simon & Schuster.*Kentucky poet Lyne gathers teen poems about the search for self, home and family, and connections to place
7.  McLaughlin, Timothy. Ed. 2012. Walking on Earth and Touching the Sky: Poetry and Prose by Lakota Youth at Red Cloud Indian School. Abrams.*Powerful prose and poetry by Lakota students at Red Cloud Indian School in South Dakota
8.  Nye, Naomi Shihab. Ed. 2000. Salting the Ocean: 100 Poems by Young Poets. Greenwillow.*Nye collected “100 poems by 100 poets in grades one through twelve”
9.  Tom, Karen, and Kiki. 2001. Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge.  Workman.*Girls share edgy thoughts and frustrations
10.  WritersCorps. 2008. Tell the World.  HarperCollins.*A cross-section of teen voices sharing slices of teenage life

Writing Poetry
And for teens who want to experiment with writing poetry, there are several helpful resource books that can jumpstart the process or guide them toward publication. Several poets have written books for young people ABOUT poetry writing. Here are resources that they may find helpful.
 1.  Appelt, Kathi. 2002. Poems from Homeroom: A Writer’s Place to Start.  Henry Holt.*Appelt combines her original poems with ideas and creative writing exercise
2.   Fletcher, Ralph J. 2001. A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You. HarperTrophy. Advice on how to keep notes and then turn them into stories and poems
3.  Fletcher, Ralph J. 2002. A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You HarperCollins.*A practical guide to creating poetry, complete with interviews with poets
4.  Holbrook, Sara and Salinger, Michael. 2006. Outspoken! How to Improve Writing and Speaking Skills through Poetry Performance. Heinemann.*A fun and conversational guide
5.  Janeczko, Paul B., comp. 2002. Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets. Candlewick.*A poetry collection with poems and advice from 32 poets
6.  Kapell, Dave and Steenland, Sally. 1998. Kids’ Magnetic Poetry Book and Creativity Kit. Workman.*Tips and tools for making poetry creation fun and game-like
7.  Lawson, JonArno. 2008. Inside Out: Children's Poets Discuss Their Work.  Walker. *23 poets share poems and then explain how the poem came to be
8.  Prelutsky, Jack. 2008. Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry: How to Write a Poem. Greenwillow. The poet shares how he creates poems from anecdotes, often using comic exaggeration
9.  Salas, Laura Purdie. 2011. Picture Yourself Writing Poetry: Using Photos to Inspire Writing.  Capstone.*A clear and engaging approach with writing prompts and mentor texts
10.  Wolf, Allan. 2006. Immersed in Verse: An Informative, Slightly Irreverent & Totally Tremendous Guide to Living the Poet’s Life. Sterling.*A witty guide for “going gonzo over words”

​You Just Wait
Janet Wong and I have recently published a book that does a bit of all three of these things: anthologizes poems by various poets, encourages teens to try writing poetry, and offers guidance on the poetry writing process. Our latest book is called You Just Wait: A Poetry Friday Power Book. It’s a mashup of:

• Poems from an anthology
• Plus new poems written in response to those poems
• Plus creative activity pages to jumpstart thinking, brainstorming, responding, and writing

These are all linked together with a story thread involving friends, siblings, sports, school, movies, and dreams. The twelve poems at the root of this book come from our previous collaboration, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School (an NCTE Poetry Notable), and were written by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Robyn Hood Black, Joseph Bruchac, Jen Bryant, Margarita Engle, Charles Ghigna, Avis Harley, Julie Larios, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Charles Waters, and Virginia Euwer Wolff. Then Janet created two dozen new poems to join them together in a story featuring Paz, an Asian-Latina soccer player with dreams of stardom in college, the Olympics, and ultimately the World Cup; Lucesita, her feisty movie-loving cousin; and Joe, an older brother with dreams of the NBA. Teens can read the book simply for the poems and the story—a novella in verse. Or they can scribble right in the book to interact with the poems as a reader and a writer.
 
For the educator, the structure of the book provides a five-part model for instruction with each of the following components ideal for guiding the reading, responding, and writing process:
*PowerPlay Activity
*Outside Poem
*Response Poem
*Mentor Text Poem
*Power2You Writing Prompt
 
There are a dozen sets of “PowerPack” linked activities, each with a slightly different focus, encouraging readers to consider the elements of repetition, rhyme (including internal rhyme), structure, dialogue, and form (list poems, prose poems, sequence poems, cinquains, poems of address, concrete/shape poems, acrostic poems, found poems, and odes). Here’s a graphic showing the five components in each PowerPack at a glance. 

---

In addition, aspiring writers will find helpful backmatter in You Just Wait with a poetry self-edit checklist and lots of lists, including places to publish teen poetry, a list of novels in verse, websites, talking points, and performance tips. And for more sample poems and teaching activities for teens and tweens, check out https://www.pinterest.com/pomelobooks/poetry-for-middle-school/. And for more information on the Poetry Friday Anthology® series, go to http://PomeloBooks.com.

First Lady Michelle Obama, an avid poetry lover, reminds us, “Think about how you feel when you read a poem that really speaks to you, one that perfectly expresses what you're thinking and feeling. When you read that, you feel understood, right? I know I do. You feel less alone. I know I do. You realize despite all our differences, there are so many human experiences and emotions that we share . . . and even if you don't grow up to be a professional poet, I promise that what you learn through reading and writing poetry will stay with you throughout your life.”
 
Citation: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/11/remarks-first-lady-poetry-student-workshop
​

Sylvia M. Vardell is Professor at Texas Woman’s University and teaches courses in children's and young adult literature. She has published five books on literature, as well as over 25 book chapters and 100 journal articles. Her current work focuses on poetry for young people, including a regular blog, http://PoetryforChildren.Blogspot.com since 2006.
 
Janet S. Wong is a graduate of Yale Law School and a former lawyer who became a children’s poet. Her work has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show and other shows. She is the author of 30 books for children and teens on chess, creative recycling, yoga, superstitions, driving, and more.
 
Together, Vardell and Wong are the creative forces behind The Poetry Friday Anthology series.

Let's Celebrate the newest Nobel Poet Laureate, Bob Dylan!