10 August 2010

Double Gift

Module 9
Sidman, J. (2007). This Is Just to Say. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.

There are many ways to say “I’m sorry” and also many ways to forgive. A fictional class writes poems to apologize and then responses in forgiveness to a whole range of situations. Some are very touching, others hilarious.

My View: Several years ago I made two tiny books filled with 40 haiku each. I gave one to Keith for his birthday and our anniversary, the other to Kathy for her birthday and to celebrate our friendship. In a way, the gifts made my own awareness of our relationships ever so much deeper. I realized then that part of the gift was really to my own self. These dear folk could respond with thanks, or not, but it wouldn’t change the inner good that putting things down in words did for me. Then after reading this book I started thinking about different apologies I have made over the course of my life. Most of those have been after days or nights of a troubled conscience or other stark realization of my error. Never have I thought to write a poem! Maybe that option never crossed my mind because the strain and stress of a shredded conscience doesn’t feel like poetry to me. Also, maybe I don’t know if the person I offend would appreciate the gesture. Well, there is one lady at work whom I have both offended and who is a poet herself. Maybe a carefully worded poem would heal something there. Now I have to examine my conscience and see if I am actually sorry for my stubborn ways. Or, maybe that stubbornness itself can be the topic of the poem. In any case, I have a chance now to put Joyce Sidman’s example to the test. Wish me luck.

“The author . . . uses a variety of poetic forms, including haiku, pantoums. and concrete poetry, to say ‘sorry’ and then ‘I forgive you.’. . . Inspired by a ‘sorry’ poem she wrote and sent to her own mother. Sidman's collection could help young poets both express themselves and learn from their mistakes.”
Tillotson, L. (2008). This Is Just to Say: Poems of apology and forgiveness. Book Links 17(3), 22.


Ideas for the library: We haven’t done much poetry in Write On! This is a sad lack on my part, and I will remedy the situation as quickly as I can. After we publish the upcoming chapbook, I’d like to turn to poetry, and this book is a wonderful example of ways to make common, everyday situations into a forum for poetry. I don’t want to force my own ideas onto the kids, so this will be a way that they can think of a situation and make something poetic from it. Their poetry can take the form of concrete poems, haiku, or anything. This book shows so many different forms. Oh, just for laughs I think I’ll bring in Math Curse as well. It’s okay to be irreverent as well as earnest.

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