From: Kathleen O'Dell <klaloch>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2005 10:07:44 -0700

After years of working in school libraries, I've found that kids like to see what words can do. Silly, rollicking rhymes, concrete poetry, poems with punch lines are just fine. Kids like dazzle. Rap music is a testament to that. But I think that one of the things that poetry does best--particularly for some older readers--is to alleviate loneliness. It speaks intimately to the outsider. It doesn?t always reveal what?s expected and, as Randall Jarrell once said, ?adds to the stock of available reality.? When you?re feeling misunderstood, or that your contemporaries and experiences aren?t particularly resonant, poetry unflattens life. (Well, at least it has for me.)

When a kid reaches the teens, I?d think the following contemporary poets would be great additions to the high school library: Mary Karr, Li-Young Lee, Billy Collins and Amy Gerstler. Of course, teenagers have long loved Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. Oh, and speaking of last century?s poets, why not introduce Frank O?Hara? (Now there?s a poet who knew how to have fun.)

Kathleen O?Dell www.kathleenodell.com AGNES PARKER...GIRL IN PROGRESS OPHIE OUT OF OZ AGNES PARKER...HAPPY CAMPER?
Received on Mon 04 Apr 2005 12:07:44 PM CDT