Ten Penny Players first used color xerography in 1978, when Barbara designed and printed Little Poems for the Greenwich Village elementary school PS 41.
Little Poems
Since 1980, Barbara has done all of our printing on leased Minolta copiers, which produced high resolution black and white images. In 1989 she experimented with a two-color copier.
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 10 No 1
Our picture book curriculum, as we developed it with teaching artist, Molly Barker, grew out of Ten Penny Players’ chapbook series, In Search of a Song. We combined visual art with expressive writing, literary magazines and chapbooks. It became a part of our work with New York City’s Alternative High Schools and Programs; especially with NYC Vocational Training Center, which produced many individual picture books for example, “One Last Time” by Ghnea George, a student in Paul Rotondo’s VTC class at Maimonides Hospital.
In 2004-5, Barbara, Thomas and I began implementing our picture book curriculum at Staten Island elementary schools. In conjunction with PS 53 and the Richmondtown Branch of the New York Public Library we held a book party and exhibit, First Editions, at the end of the year.
By 2008-9, we had leased a color printer and brought picture books to local after school programs, like the Staten Island Children’s Aid Society at Goodhue.
Anthology of Acrostics and More: Fun with the Sounds of Words and Other Things
Picture books bridge the gap between communities of race, language, class, ability, and disability. Creating poetry chapbooks and picture books helps students in the inclusive classroom bridge new bonds of friendship through sharing their published expressions.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Picture Books IV
During the school years 2002-4, eight Island Academy teachers adapted our curriculum to their own particular teaching style. They gathered In weekly meetings to discuss what they were doing and share student publications.
The teachers brought forth the poems and pictures that lay hidden in their students. It was hard time consuming work, but the teachers looked forward to the excitement on their students’ faces when they received their own publications. At the weekly teacher gatherings teachers took pride in their students’ work. There was story after story of specific students who showed interest in schoolwork after weeks of apathy.
As the first set of books were published, teachers reported that students suddenly came to life, showing off their published books to their classmates. The students were eager to show them to their family and friends.
When students joined the discussion, they spoke about how their teachers encouraged them and how they felt seeing their art and words in print with their names on it. They told of renewed self-esteem, encouragement from teachers, praise from fellow students, and expressed a desire to continue writing and creating art. Some wrote of hoping to study journalism, creative writing or art in college.
The Civil Rights Movement
The teachers brought forth the poems and pictures that lay hidden in their students. It was hard time consuming work, but the teachers looked forward to the excitement on their students’ faces when they received their own publications. At the weekly teacher gatherings teachers took pride in their students’ work. There was story after story of specific students who showed interest in schoolwork after weeks of apathy.
As the first set of books were published, teachers reported that students suddenly came to life, showing off their published books to their classmates. The students were eager to show them to their family and friends.
When students joined the discussion, they spoke about how their teachers encouraged them and how they felt seeing their art and words in print with their names on it. They told of renewed self-esteem, encouragement from teachers, praise from fellow students, and expressed a desire to continue writing and creating art. Some wrote of hoping to study journalism, creative writing or art in college.
The Civil Rights Movement
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Picture Books III
In 1998, Ten Penny Players, as a result of two grants, was able to hire artists to work for us as consultants. Among the visual artists who worked with us were Magie Dominic, Jonathan Sharpe, Desirae Foston, and Molly Barker. Molly Barker was employed by the Waterways Project of Ten Penny Players to teach our students how to make picture books.
We met Molly at the annual Indie Book Fair at the Mercantile Library in Midtown, Manhattan. Molly's display of her limited edition art books was on a table next to Ten Penny Players’ display of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, BardPress poetry chapbooks, Ten Penny Players' children's books, Streams, and curricula.
The picture book project evolved from Waterways’ poetry chapbook series, In Search of a Song, which had also evolved into a district wide program. Making picture books gave students new ways of thinking and approaching a subject, which helped them become better writers.
That school year Molly worked with 16-21 year old students from Frederick Douglass Literacy Center and New York City Vocational Training Center (VTC). Each class was a self-contained unit taught by one teacher. Each student produced a book, which was published in a limited edition. Some of the picture books were selected for publication in Streams.
Motherhood
Debt
We shared the picture book curriculum at the New York State Council on the Arts' Empire State Partnership’s summer seminars which enabled networking and constituency building among arts groups throughout the state. The picture book curriculum developed by Molly Barker and Ten Penny Players entered the NYS Academy of Teaching and Learning in 2000 after it underwent peer review in Albany.
We met Molly at the annual Indie Book Fair at the Mercantile Library in Midtown, Manhattan. Molly's display of her limited edition art books was on a table next to Ten Penny Players’ display of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, BardPress poetry chapbooks, Ten Penny Players' children's books, Streams, and curricula.
The picture book project evolved from Waterways’ poetry chapbook series, In Search of a Song, which had also evolved into a district wide program. Making picture books gave students new ways of thinking and approaching a subject, which helped them become better writers.
That school year Molly worked with 16-21 year old students from Frederick Douglass Literacy Center and New York City Vocational Training Center (VTC). Each class was a self-contained unit taught by one teacher. Each student produced a book, which was published in a limited edition. Some of the picture books were selected for publication in Streams.
Motherhood
Debt
We shared the picture book curriculum at the New York State Council on the Arts' Empire State Partnership’s summer seminars which enabled networking and constituency building among arts groups throughout the state. The picture book curriculum developed by Molly Barker and Ten Penny Players entered the NYS Academy of Teaching and Learning in 2000 after it underwent peer review in Albany.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Picture Books II
When I first met Barbara, Thomas was in the fourth grade at PS 41. For three years he had been home schooled. After the passage of PL 94-142, children with disabilities could no longer be turned away from the schools, and he was admitted to the local Greenwich Village elementary school.
Little Poems
Barbara designed a federally funded nutrition curriculum for the school. She wrote and illustrated little books for the classroom: Jolly Molly Molar,
Jolly Molly Molar
and Harmony Hurricane Muldoon, a little girl on a raft in the digestive system.
Harmony Hurricane Muldoon
When we began presenting book fairs on the New York City waterfront, Barbara designed the pages for the early NYS Waterways Project magazines, which were documents of the poetry reading at each event. She used Dover’s copyright free art, old prints from our bookshelves, and her own illustrations. The August 19, 1979 issue contained 19th Century illustrations that accompanied verses for children.
NYS Waterways Project - 1979 5
Barbara helped me mat my drawings, but none were exhibited. My friend, PJ, and I believed that art was priceless. Why attach a value? In London I had asked people to pay what they wanted for my chapbook Chrylust. At an early block fair, on Twelfth Street I asked people to pay what they wanted for my drawings. One local artist argued that artists need to expect a reward for their work. I insisted my art was non-conceptual. PJ had coined the term which he also referred to as noncon art.
Tally - Abstracting an Abstract
Each issue of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream opened with a title page that contained an illustration and the theme for the month. In January ’87 the theme was “For what is the present after all,/but a growth out of the past?” The title page was illustrated with drawing of a chick developing within and then hatching from an egg. On the contents page was a silhouette of Father Time. He was chasing a dandy in top hat and riding boots. The third page of each issue of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstreams was traditionally left for an illustration. For 1987, Barbara chose a 19th Century illustration of Father Time, a clock, scythe, old years passing away, a mummy, and a child representing the new year of 1889. Barbara's photographs from the Gansevoort Street Green Market and drawings she reduced on the photocopier illustrated the poems.
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 8 No 1
For the 1996 themes, we did away with words altogether and used pictographs from the Walam Olum (An epic of the Lenni Lenape):
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 17 No 1
Little Poems
Barbara designed a federally funded nutrition curriculum for the school. She wrote and illustrated little books for the classroom: Jolly Molly Molar,
Jolly Molly Molar
and Harmony Hurricane Muldoon, a little girl on a raft in the digestive system.
Harmony Hurricane Muldoon
When we began presenting book fairs on the New York City waterfront, Barbara designed the pages for the early NYS Waterways Project magazines, which were documents of the poetry reading at each event. She used Dover’s copyright free art, old prints from our bookshelves, and her own illustrations. The August 19, 1979 issue contained 19th Century illustrations that accompanied verses for children.
NYS Waterways Project - 1979 5
Barbara helped me mat my drawings, but none were exhibited. My friend, PJ, and I believed that art was priceless. Why attach a value? In London I had asked people to pay what they wanted for my chapbook Chrylust. At an early block fair, on Twelfth Street I asked people to pay what they wanted for my drawings. One local artist argued that artists need to expect a reward for their work. I insisted my art was non-conceptual. PJ had coined the term which he also referred to as noncon art.
Tally - Abstracting an Abstract
Each issue of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream opened with a title page that contained an illustration and the theme for the month. In January ’87 the theme was “For what is the present after all,/but a growth out of the past?” The title page was illustrated with drawing of a chick developing within and then hatching from an egg. On the contents page was a silhouette of Father Time. He was chasing a dandy in top hat and riding boots. The third page of each issue of Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstreams was traditionally left for an illustration. For 1987, Barbara chose a 19th Century illustration of Father Time, a clock, scythe, old years passing away, a mummy, and a child representing the new year of 1889. Barbara's photographs from the Gansevoort Street Green Market and drawings she reduced on the photocopier illustrated the poems.
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 8 No 1
For the 1996 themes, we did away with words altogether and used pictographs from the Walam Olum (An epic of the Lenni Lenape):
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 17 No 1
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Picture Books I
For 32 years, my wife, Barbara Fisher, has worked with me to realize Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream. She’s read through the many submissions by students, unrecognized writers and accomplished poets. She hand printed covers and inserts on her Kelsey letter press and our leased photocopiers. She has chosen art and created collages that have accompanied the poems on the pages. She has done “the scud work as well as the more interesting stuff.” And jokes that she won’t wear nail polish because her “fingertips are engrained with black printer’s ink.”
In the second issue of the NYS Waterways Project (7/21/79), Barbara used two 19th century drawings as fillers: "floating his tricycle" and "the speaker's free platform."
NYS Waterways Project - 1979 2
A year later (7/26/80),
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 1 No 3
she presented readers with a collage from her children’s book, “Link Ups".
By July, 1984, we’d settled into what has become Waterways consistent format (7x4.25),
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol. 5 No. 7
Barbara was still printing the cover by hand on her letterpress, typesetting the issue on an IBM Selectric typewriter, adding illustrations to the title page, and accompanying the poems with relevent pictures. By July of 1987, we were using a two tone printer and Barbara was putting illustrations on almost every page.
In the second issue of the NYS Waterways Project (7/21/79), Barbara used two 19th century drawings as fillers: "floating his tricycle" and "the speaker's free platform."
NYS Waterways Project - 1979 2
A year later (7/26/80),
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol 1 No 3
she presented readers with a collage from her children’s book, “Link Ups".
By July, 1984, we’d settled into what has become Waterways consistent format (7x4.25),
Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream Vol. 5 No. 7
Barbara was still printing the cover by hand on her letterpress, typesetting the issue on an IBM Selectric typewriter, adding illustrations to the title page, and accompanying the poems with relevent pictures. By July of 1987, we were using a two tone printer and Barbara was putting illustrations on almost every page.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Chapbooks IV
A symbol places the intangible vision of the individual into the material reality of the public realm. The writer evokes experience in names that are symbols; while the publisher takes the writers’ work and goes beyond the naming of things. Publishing brings out the work in print and on line.
For more than thirty years, while printing books of student writing and curriculum for NYC schools and programs, Ten Penny Players continued to publish Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, a monthly poetry magazine, and the BardPress poetry chapbooks. Among the poets we published both in the magazine and in their own chapbooks were Ida Fasel, Joanne Seltzer, Joy Hewitt Mann, and Albert Huffstickler.
Though we're uncomfortable with the fact that Scribd.com carries advertising, the site gives us an opportunity to bring our poetry archive to a larger audience. At this writing there have been more than 230,000 reads of Ten Penny Players’ publications on Scribd.com.
Once their chapbooks were published, students could walk away, write another book, or stay to consider the effects of their published words upon other writers and other communities: How did the rhythm of the author’s voice echo in the reader’s response? What ideas or phrases were repeated? How did it shape contemporary consciousness among other students?
Ten Penny Players online archive of chapbooks provided data to describe reading trends that shifted like the wind. Clouds of chapbooks (the textual embodiments of student voices) passed across cyber-sky.
Poems exist in the consciousness streaming between authors and readers. Ancient poets sought inspiration in the words of the muse carried by whispering mists rising up through fissures in the earth.
To publish poetry is to make manifest a pattern of human communication that asks the reader to respond. The influence that moves poets to make poems leads publishers to put in print books that animate the blood and bones of every day existence.
For more than thirty years, while printing books of student writing and curriculum for NYC schools and programs, Ten Penny Players continued to publish Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, a monthly poetry magazine, and the BardPress poetry chapbooks. Among the poets we published both in the magazine and in their own chapbooks were Ida Fasel, Joanne Seltzer, Joy Hewitt Mann, and Albert Huffstickler.
Though we're uncomfortable with the fact that Scribd.com carries advertising, the site gives us an opportunity to bring our poetry archive to a larger audience. At this writing there have been more than 230,000 reads of Ten Penny Players’ publications on Scribd.com.
Once their chapbooks were published, students could walk away, write another book, or stay to consider the effects of their published words upon other writers and other communities: How did the rhythm of the author’s voice echo in the reader’s response? What ideas or phrases were repeated? How did it shape contemporary consciousness among other students?
Ten Penny Players online archive of chapbooks provided data to describe reading trends that shifted like the wind. Clouds of chapbooks (the textual embodiments of student voices) passed across cyber-sky.
Poems exist in the consciousness streaming between authors and readers. Ancient poets sought inspiration in the words of the muse carried by whispering mists rising up through fissures in the earth.
To publish poetry is to make manifest a pattern of human communication that asks the reader to respond. The influence that moves poets to make poems leads publishers to put in print books that animate the blood and bones of every day existence.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Chapbooks III
In London, England (1970) I published Chrylust and a poetry broadside that came out of my experience teaching in Liberia.
Four years later on Upper West Side of Manhattan, I began publishing a poetry chapbook series under the imprint BardPress. The poets I published were part of a group then known as the Scribblers. I had founded the group by offering a weekly reading held in the apartment I shared with Vinnie Gunn on West 85th Street. Clint McCown’s Labyrinthiad and my poem, Icarus, were the first chapbooks BardPress published. Works by Barbara A. Holland, Matt Laufer and Patricia Kelly followed.
In 1974, I was also working for Bantam Books, selling new and back list titles to bookstores and distributors by phone. At Bantam I also worked with Ted Solotaroff on the editorial board (for the last two years) of his literary magazine, The American Review. I also worked as a play reader for Joseph Papp at the Public Theater; and initiated a series of poetry readings, the Hell’s Kitchen Poetry Festival, at St. Clement’s Church on West 46th Street.
On W. 10 St. and Greenwich Ave, cater-cornered from the Jefferson Market Library, was Paul Johnston's bohemian garret. PJ was born in 1899, moved to the Village in the 1920’s, and became a fine press printer and book designer. PJ operated a letter press printing fine poetry chapbooks, including the Poetry Quartos for Random House and helped me understand design and publishing in the age of photocopiers.
On Greenwich and W. 12th Street, around the corner from Abingdon Square Park, was Barbara Fisher’s loft, home to Ten Penny Players, Inc. Barbara used a letter press to print miniature books. She exhibited at Manhattan art galleries and the annual Alternative Press New York Book Fair. Ten Penny Players and BardPress began working together in 1978. The New York State Waterways Project was the first imprint from both of us.
By bringing our publishing program to public schools, Barbara and I gained a livelihood, while dedicating ourselves to poetry. The chapbook series, In Search of a Song, began when Barbara taught a weekly writing workshop at Public Schools 114 and 276 in Canarsie (1981). The series continued at the children’s poetry workshop she conducted weekly at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library.
When we brought the project to NYC alternative high schools, I joined the many teachers who were preparing their students to write and read. We were in the classrooms, developing a new audience for poetry. We collaborated with teachers to prepare lessons, introduce students to the work of other contemporary poets, and inspire the students to express their own ideas.
The volumes from our ‘In Search of a Song’ presented a new urban student literature depicting the latter part of the Twentieth Century seen through the eyes of public school students. We were invited into their new world.
Contact with the teachers and teaching artists influenced the students’ work. Teachers helped the students to realize that their thoughts were worth expressing and their talents need not be hidden. The best teachers created a classroom atmosphere where all students felt safe to read their work to others.
Joshua Wolinsky wrote to his teacher:
Thank you Ms. Economos
for showing me the talent
I never took seriously.
Without you, these poems
in this book would never be here.
Students wrote about their esteem and affection for the teachers. Among the many teachers and artists who worked with Waterways were Donna Campbell, Molly Barker, Louis Reyes Rivera, Magie Dominick, Michele Beck, Nena Shaheed, Benny Daniels, Magdalena Gomez, Randy Wright, Lucia Ruedenberg-Wright, Ellen Lytle, Frank Stearns, Alison Zadrow, Sal Canale, Ronald G. King, Jane Califf, Frank Grabinski, Janet Griffith, Paul Douglas, Miriam Lock, Tom Mitchelson Jack Giordano, Madeline Brownstone, Paul Takis, Lisa Jesse Peterson, D. Nurkse, Linda Notovitz, Mel Cohen, Zoe Anglesey, David Glick, Gus Rodriguez, Alison Koffler, Ron King, Matthew Hejna-Luque, Margo Mack, J. A. Brathwaite, Builder Levy, Joan Martinez, Max Mendes, Judith Rosenbaum, Moli Ntuli, Maura Gouck, Thomas Perry, Rodolfo Rodriguez, César Roquez, Ofelia Rodriguez Goldstein, Tyona Washington, Jonathan Sharpe, Roslyn Kaye, James Patton, Thelma Ruffin Thomas, Olga Economos, Jonathan Shapiro, Barnaby Spring, Donald Lev, Enid Dame, Wendy Thorpe, Gail Tuch, Barbara Youngman, Toby Greenzang, Myrtle Liburd, Leila Riley, Ben Jacobs, Paul Auerbach and many others.
I look back over these books twenty years after they were published. Some of the best writing still stands out. The publications are worth repeat readings.
Four years later on Upper West Side of Manhattan, I began publishing a poetry chapbook series under the imprint BardPress. The poets I published were part of a group then known as the Scribblers. I had founded the group by offering a weekly reading held in the apartment I shared with Vinnie Gunn on West 85th Street. Clint McCown’s Labyrinthiad and my poem, Icarus, were the first chapbooks BardPress published. Works by Barbara A. Holland, Matt Laufer and Patricia Kelly followed.
In 1974, I was also working for Bantam Books, selling new and back list titles to bookstores and distributors by phone. At Bantam I also worked with Ted Solotaroff on the editorial board (for the last two years) of his literary magazine, The American Review. I also worked as a play reader for Joseph Papp at the Public Theater; and initiated a series of poetry readings, the Hell’s Kitchen Poetry Festival, at St. Clement’s Church on West 46th Street.
On W. 10 St. and Greenwich Ave, cater-cornered from the Jefferson Market Library, was Paul Johnston's bohemian garret. PJ was born in 1899, moved to the Village in the 1920’s, and became a fine press printer and book designer. PJ operated a letter press printing fine poetry chapbooks, including the Poetry Quartos for Random House and helped me understand design and publishing in the age of photocopiers.
On Greenwich and W. 12th Street, around the corner from Abingdon Square Park, was Barbara Fisher’s loft, home to Ten Penny Players, Inc. Barbara used a letter press to print miniature books. She exhibited at Manhattan art galleries and the annual Alternative Press New York Book Fair. Ten Penny Players and BardPress began working together in 1978. The New York State Waterways Project was the first imprint from both of us.
By bringing our publishing program to public schools, Barbara and I gained a livelihood, while dedicating ourselves to poetry. The chapbook series, In Search of a Song, began when Barbara taught a weekly writing workshop at Public Schools 114 and 276 in Canarsie (1981). The series continued at the children’s poetry workshop she conducted weekly at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library.
When we brought the project to NYC alternative high schools, I joined the many teachers who were preparing their students to write and read. We were in the classrooms, developing a new audience for poetry. We collaborated with teachers to prepare lessons, introduce students to the work of other contemporary poets, and inspire the students to express their own ideas.
The volumes from our ‘In Search of a Song’ presented a new urban student literature depicting the latter part of the Twentieth Century seen through the eyes of public school students. We were invited into their new world.
Contact with the teachers and teaching artists influenced the students’ work. Teachers helped the students to realize that their thoughts were worth expressing and their talents need not be hidden. The best teachers created a classroom atmosphere where all students felt safe to read their work to others.
Joshua Wolinsky wrote to his teacher:
Thank you Ms. Economos
for showing me the talent
I never took seriously.
Without you, these poems
in this book would never be here.
Students wrote about their esteem and affection for the teachers. Among the many teachers and artists who worked with Waterways were Donna Campbell, Molly Barker, Louis Reyes Rivera, Magie Dominick, Michele Beck, Nena Shaheed, Benny Daniels, Magdalena Gomez, Randy Wright, Lucia Ruedenberg-Wright, Ellen Lytle, Frank Stearns, Alison Zadrow, Sal Canale, Ronald G. King, Jane Califf, Frank Grabinski, Janet Griffith, Paul Douglas, Miriam Lock, Tom Mitchelson Jack Giordano, Madeline Brownstone, Paul Takis, Lisa Jesse Peterson, D. Nurkse, Linda Notovitz, Mel Cohen, Zoe Anglesey, David Glick, Gus Rodriguez, Alison Koffler, Ron King, Matthew Hejna-Luque, Margo Mack, J. A. Brathwaite, Builder Levy, Joan Martinez, Max Mendes, Judith Rosenbaum, Moli Ntuli, Maura Gouck, Thomas Perry, Rodolfo Rodriguez, César Roquez, Ofelia Rodriguez Goldstein, Tyona Washington, Jonathan Sharpe, Roslyn Kaye, James Patton, Thelma Ruffin Thomas, Olga Economos, Jonathan Shapiro, Barnaby Spring, Donald Lev, Enid Dame, Wendy Thorpe, Gail Tuch, Barbara Youngman, Toby Greenzang, Myrtle Liburd, Leila Riley, Ben Jacobs, Paul Auerbach and many others.
I look back over these books twenty years after they were published. Some of the best writing still stands out. The publications are worth repeat readings.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Chapbooks II
In the summer of 1970, my first poetry chapbook, Chrylust, was printed at the London New Arts Lab on Roberts Street in London, England. I hawked it on the streets, parks, galleries, theaters, libraries and coffee houses, including the Arts Lab, the Troubadour, and Roundhouse.
The poems came from journals of creative expression I kept while teaching Literature at Buchanan High School in Liberia, West Africa (1969). I left the Peace Corps and traveled with the journals. On the Canary Islands I burnt most of the manuscript in an act meant to unburden me of their weight. I saved a handful of pages, which I carried through Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco, Leon and Malaga in Spain; and then across France to Amsterdam and over the Channel to London.
The printer at the London New Arts Lab in 1970 was amused by the slim manuscript of expressive writing that I called "anti-literature." The first edition of Chrylust was limited to a few hundred copies, saddle stitched, with a cover illustration that I had drawn.
I often hawked my chapbook, Chrylust, at the psychedelic events at the the Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road. The poetry reached out to a generation that was forsaking material possessions and unburdening itself from the weight of history. The hippies at the Roundhouse were tripping high above serendipitous safety nets. They were networking for food, shelter, and communication.
The poems came from journals of creative expression I kept while teaching Literature at Buchanan High School in Liberia, West Africa (1969). I left the Peace Corps and traveled with the journals. On the Canary Islands I burnt most of the manuscript in an act meant to unburden me of their weight. I saved a handful of pages, which I carried through Marrakech and Casablanca in Morocco, Leon and Malaga in Spain; and then across France to Amsterdam and over the Channel to London.
The printer at the London New Arts Lab in 1970 was amused by the slim manuscript of expressive writing that I called "anti-literature." The first edition of Chrylust was limited to a few hundred copies, saddle stitched, with a cover illustration that I had drawn.
I often hawked my chapbook, Chrylust, at the psychedelic events at the the Roundhouse on Chalk Farm Road. The poetry reached out to a generation that was forsaking material possessions and unburdening itself from the weight of history. The hippies at the Roundhouse were tripping high above serendipitous safety nets. They were networking for food, shelter, and communication.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Chapbooks I
“Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration.”
-- Shelly 'In Defense of Poetry'
-- Shelly 'In Defense of Poetry'
To develop new audiences for poetry and encourage creative writing, we began in 1978 to publish children, student writers, and unrecognized poets along with accomplished authors. We typeset, photocopied, and saddle stitched our magazine, Waterways: Poetry in the Mainstream, which contained no advertising.
By 1985, our Waterways Project of Ten Penny Players, Inc. was adopted as an arts in education partner for New York City’s Office of Alternative High Schools and Programs, turning out weekly site based magazines and an annual student anthology, Streams. The limited edition site based magazines were typeset, printed, collated, and saddle stitched in our loft. Streams was printed offset and perfect bound by the Print Center, a not for profit literary printer in lower Manhattan.
In 1996, David Bickimer, from Pace University, suggested Ten Penny Players reward students, who present 15 or more poems, with an individual chapbook. The books became part of our chapbook series (In Search of a Song) which Barbara began with the children from her weekly writing workshops at PS 276 and 114 in Canarsie and the Jefferson Market Branch of the NY Public Library in 1981.
In Search of a Song Vol. 1
The original library chapbooks (2.75” x 4.25”) had letter press printed covers and were typeset on an IBM Selectric and saddle stitched. The chapbooks that became part of our arts in education curriculum were modeled after the early Bard Press books I had published. They were (4.25” x 5.5”) typeset using Quark on a Mac computer, printed and collated on a Minolta copier, and saddle stitched by hand.
We adapted to the special needs of our students by publishing literacy students with less than 15 poems, and on occasion publishing prose. A student who made the effort to write 15 poems did not prove she was more deserving of being published than the student who wrote one or two brilliant poems.
Ten Penny Players/Waterways poetry chapbooks were intended to reward the student for positive behavior (creative writing) and develop a new audience for poetry and expressive writing. We published all students, and on occasion discovered the writer who was capable of exceptional poetry. Finding a talented writer did not mean that the student would create better work over time. An author may be constantly challenged to write better, but that will not always be possible.
For many alternative high school students from poor urban neighborhoods, writing a book and seeing it published was the rare occasion when success touched their lives. The same would be true for our students in hospitals and other institutions. And in the adult world for most people the rare joy of that kind of recognition also holds true.
The Waterways Project of Ten Penny Players worked in partnership with NYC’s Alternative High Schools and programs. Waterways brought expressive writing and publishing to schools, group homes, community centers, hospitals, rehab centers, and teen parent programs.
Waterways poetry teachers engaged students with disabilities in New York City’s prison schools in creative writing. Students wrote expressively in their own voices, to state their cases through poetry published in chapbooks. In the mid 1980’s the Waterways Project was introduced as part of NYC’s public school curriculum. Ten Penny Players community of poets, artists, and NYC licensed teachers used word processors and worked on line. Students created files of fifteen poems and submitted them on floppy disks.
For the Internet of the late 90’s, we developed Streams On Line (SOL), an open source program. SOL ran on local intranets and later on the Internet itself. It was designed to help students develop a body of work while getting feedback from teachers and peers.
In 2010 Scribd.com offered us a presentation application and free space for our large archive of print publications. We wanted our archive to be accessible to students, parents, educators, researchers, and the interested public. Giving voice to an era. We had already put the work in print. We never charged for the books. They are our only asset. I digitized chapbooks by scanning them on our Minolta printer, uploading them to Scribd.com, and sharing the link on Facebook and Twitter.
Students were reliving memories from their youth on the Internet. Our work online got the word out while publishing and developing new audiences for poetry. The Waterways Project of Ten Penny Players put creative expression and poetry online to give others a chance to learn.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Struggling For Survival (part I)
(Excerpts of student writing from STREAMS 10 ©1996 Ten Penny Players)
There is hope that schools will serve as lifeboats out of inner city poverty and the ghetto. But, success in school is not guaranteed for everyone. When only a few succeed, we must ask what about the rest?
In the Babylonian epic, Gilgamesh, a prototype for the Biblical Noah, Utnaphishtim, survives the great flood. But, at what price? He sees all those around him drown:
Bodies lay like alewives dead
And in the clay. I fell down
On the ship’s deck and wept. Why? Why did they
Have to die! I couldn’t understand. I asked
Unanswerable questions a child asks
When a parent dies -- for nothing. Only slowly
Did I make myself believe -- or hope -- they
Might all be swept up in their fragments
Together
And made whole again
By some compassionate hand.
(from the Herbert Mason translation. New American Library 1970 page 78)
In the urban ghetto there are street gangs, immigrants, poverty, and those trying to emerge from the stresses of their situation. Some people, sensitive to the struggle because of their roots, return as teachers, not as strangers to the place, but in the hope that their empathy will help the children in the schools.
Along with millions of other East Europeans, the grandparents of many New York City teachers put their own roots down in the New World in the early years of the Twentieth Century.
Their children moved away from Brooklyn, out of Williamsburg, Crown Heights, Ocean Hill Brownsville, Bedford Stuyvesant; leaving the grandmother in Brighton Beach, and the grandmother with a wheelchair living in the projects with her adult epileptic son and Pitsy, the family dog.
Brooklyn’s Frederick Douglass Literacy Center was not far from where their grandparents lived. What common experiences did the teachers find in the writing from their students, who were also immigrants? But this time from the Caribbean, Central and Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, as well as people relocated from states outside New York.
On My Block
by Priscilla H
(page 4)
On my block, the kids
they play.
They play in the Johnny pump
most of the day.
And when the sun is shining bright
and the mood is just right
they go to the pool
to get really carried away.
On my block
music can be heard from Nostrand to Bedford.
Yo, that’s my word.
On my block
you can smell charcoal burning,
smoke roaming the air and
many activities going on
here and there.
Relocating is a common occurrence of a society in transition. Ben wrote of Stravitz, a friend, who moved away.
Stravitz
by Ben
(pages 11-12)
I remember you from seventh grade...
or maybe it was sixth...
You and I were friends,
one of my few friends in our school...
Of course, you had more than me.
You got a guitar that was better than mine;
and you asked me if I was jealous;
and I said no
and that was a lie.
I was jealous of you from time to time.
You had a new brother,
when we went on that audition with our acting class you
got the call back.
You had a country house.
You seemed to often have something that I wished I had.
But then I saw your problems.
Your brother was mentally disabled;
you were always really small;
you had to move.
When you moved
I thought that was going to be horrible for me.
But, I realize it was probably worse for you.
I can’t imagine anyone liking moving away from their
home and friends.
I can imagine you now.
You probably got really tall;
your family is probably quite distressed over your
brother;
you probably listen to music that I would hate.
I know I’ll most likely never see you again.
I can’t imagine how or why I would.
I don’t really get upset over that
and I’m sure you don’t either.
I’m getting along fine.
I was quite upset when you left, being that you were my
best friend.
But, hey,
I lived and so did you.
It just shows how much things can change.
The 125th Street Massacre
by Freddy M
(excerpted from pages 13-14)
On December 8, 1995, my focus of life was blanked. My best friend who I knew for ten years, was dead in a massacre burning. When this incident happened at 125th Street, in Freddy’s Clothing Store, I was waiting for her to go to a party. My friend, Cynthia Martinez, was making a good move up in her life.
....
Cynthia Martinez was getting herself together. She was wearing nice clothing. She stopped drinking beer, had lots of nice jewelry and also helped her mother with the rent. I was happy for her. I loved Cynthia as if she were my own sister. We laughed together. We went places together. We were just enjoying life. That was until December 8, 1995, when the disaster happened. A crazy person went inside Freddy’s. He started to shoot everyone inside with a hand gun that he was carrying. He shot two people. The other six ran downstairs to the basement including Cynthia Martinez. They were downstairs terrified. The crazy man lit the whole store up. It was on fire. The people downstairs did not know what to do. the fire was getting bigger and bigger. The smoke was too much. It was so much that it killed four of the six that were downstairs in the basement. One of the victims who died was my best friend, Cynthia Martinez. The others were friends of hers. Two survived because they were getting air from a hole in the wall. Everyone else was killed.
....
I could not believe that all of this was really happening. She was a sweet and intelligent person trying to get her life together. She was always there to solve problems One time she told me she was tired of working at Freddy’s and was ready to quit her job. When I was speaking to her, though, I told her not to quit her job. “You are looking good and doing good for yourself.” Now I feel guilty. I feel like I was the one that killed her. I wish now that she had quit her job. If she did, she would be alive.
All families sooner or later deal with life and death issues. Cynthia was getting her life together at Freddy’s Clothing Store. Her friend, Freddy (no relation to the store), blamed himself for Cynthia’s death. Writing about and sharing his thoughts about the incident, served as a catharsis to help purge his pity and terror.
My Story
by Colleen
(excerpted from pages 16-17)
I was born on May 25th, 1978, in Queens, New York. I am Chinese and, although I was raised the American way, I tend to stay around people of my own culture.
.....
Three days after my father’s death I was raped by two ex-boyfriends. That’s when everything started to affect me. My mother started to give me all the freedom she could possibly give me. I started to cut school all the time. I hung out with gangs; got into a lot of fights; stole other people’s money and started smoking. When I went to high school, I attended school for three years. I decided to take my GED, since I couldn’t finish school on time.
....
My Story
by Lena
(excerpted from pages 19-20)
I am 18 years old. I was born in North Shore Hospital on June 17, 1977. My cultural background is Palestinian.
....
I left home because my parents were influenced by their culture and religious beliefs. They thought that they had to marry my sisters and me at the age of sixteen. The first time they tried to arrange a marriage for me I tried to commit suicide, because I didn’t think there was another way out. The second time they tried to arrange a marriage for my sisters and me we decided that’s not the way we wanted to live our lives. We wanted to live a normal and healthy life, have our education and become successful people. So we decided to leave home on June 12, 1994. We had to hide out for a year, and we weren’t able to attend school. Now we are both legal adults and are able to face our parents. We have decided to get our education and make something of ourselves.
....
My life has been rough, but I am strong, and I have been a lucky person. Now I have a chance to make my own decisions as with whom and where my life is directed.
How My Parents Met
by Carlos A
(excerpted from page 22)
My parents were about seventeen and eighteen years of age. They were attending John Dewey High School. They both were at lunch and they didn’t know each other until the incident.
My mother was sitting a few tables from my father. My mother decided to talk to one of her friends, and she yawns at the same time. My father saw her yawning, so he got ready and shot a spit ball straight in to my mother’s mouth. My mother choked for only a little bit. She stood up and walked towards my father.
....
Chip Off the Old Block
by Lordikim aka L. Boogie
(excerpted from pages 24-28)
The streets. There’s many rules and codes of the streets. As a young man growing up on Webster Avenue in the South Bronx, the streets were basically all I knew. I am the middle child of my mother’s five children. My father went to prison a few months after my birth. But no matter what, my mother always did what she had to do to keep a nice clean apartment and food on the table.
.......
As I got older, around 14 years old, I began to think the world revolved around me. boy was I wrong. By the time I turned 15 I was in with the wrong crowd and more disrespectful than ever. Disrespectful to my brothers and sisters, disrespectful to my mother, disrespectful to everybody.
Soon after that my mother was pretty fed up with my $#!. At nights when I was supposed to be home at 8 pm, I was home at 11 pm. When I was supposed to be on punishment I would sneak out anyway. After several warnings I was finally on the streets. Fifteen years old and on the streets. I couldn’t believe my own mother would do that to me, not realizing I did it to myself. And come to find out, all the *!&&$ I ran with didn’t give a ?@% about me. I mean these were the people I thought I would kill for. After days of thinking and talking to my younger brother, I was finally back in the house, but I hadn’t changed at all. Still on my same $#!
I’ve been rapping since 11 years old. The only times that I was off the streets and at ease was when I was home writing rhymes. Soon I exposed my talent and before I knew it everyone knew me as L. Boogie, the kid with mad skills. The excitement and publicity got to me, but it didn’t swell my head. It made me realize that this was the route for me. I was never a drug dealer; sticking people up was my thing. I figured -- why sell drugs for money when I could just take the money? That would be easier and, besides, that was the route my older brother took. There would be times when he’d come in the house with more loot than I’d ever seen in my life.
Wishing I had the money he had I started to do the things he did. The only difference was I wanted to be a rapper, not a stick-up kid. My brother seemed to enjoy the crime life. For him and his crimes it was an every day thing.
Before I knew it my brother was on Rikers Island charged with several accounts of armed robbery.
......
The Life of a Chinese Gang Member
by Jack
(excerpted from pages 30-32)
I was born and raised in Taiwan. When I was born my mother and father didn’t treat me well. Actually, my grandmother and grandfather raised me until I was 3. My grandparents went to the U.S. and left me with my parents. After one year my grandparents called and told my parents to come to the U.S. to live. I left Taiwan when I was 7. I didn’t want to leave but I was happy to see my grandparents, though that’s something I do not want to talk about because my grandfather passed away when I was hanging out.
.......
I joined Ghost Shadows in the summer of 1990. One reason I joined the gang was because my grandfather passed away and my mother divorced my father. I had nobody to take care of me so I ran away from home. Life is not easy out there. You have to do anything to survive in the streets. Once I was involved in a shoot out with the Flying Dragons. It was dangerous and exciting. I shot somebody in the leg who was 30 yards away. For about ten months, I was out there doing thing s that I knew were bad.
.......
Let’s talk about Riker’s Island, C-74, ARDC, the building of pain and sorrow. This is life in jail. If you snitch you will get cut. The most important things in jail are the phone and commissary. Without them things would be very wild. How to survive in jail: the way I see it is when somebody is trying to hurt and play you, either you fight or cut them. If you don’t, you’re the herb. I found that being a Chinese minority in jail is not hard. If you don’t get loose, the people won’t violate you or try to hurt you. When other Chinese come in, me and other Chinese brothers will try to tell them everything about jail. If they don’t do the right thing, we will correct them...
We Almost Made It There
by Akbar M
(excerpted from pages 33-34)
We almost made it there, to the March, that is. What March? The historic Million Man March. My father and I had been planning to attend the March for a little over a month, before it took place. We had anticipated the spiritual and positive vibe the event would hold and bring out of us all, the million brothers that would attend. We knew it would reach a million.
The preparation for the March excited us to the full extent. We saved money, collected food, and inspired others to attend throughout the whole month. We had a lot of inspiration from many sisters within the community as well as my mother and aunt, who actually bought the tickets. The excitement grew to the point we actually visualized ourselves there.
The day of the March was a day I felt intense pride for my black heritage. The bus was said to leave at one A.M. We arrived at the bus site at midnight with tickets in hand....
Incarcerated Fathers
by Lamont B
(excerpted from pages 36-38)
Let me tell you this story. I have a friend who has been incarcerated for six years. When Ernest was first arrested his child was 1-year-old. As it is known, all human beings need to be loved by their parents. Ernest loves his child, but since he was incarcerated things changed. His baby’s mother being lonely felt she needed someone to be with. She started seeing another man who was there when she needed him and would give love to her child. Kevin became closer and closer to Renee and her child. A year went by and little Lenny began calling the mother’s boyfriend “Daddy.”
As time went by the baby developed certain illnesses. Because of the seriousness of the illnesses Lenny was hospitalized. Kevin would visit Lenny with Renee and show that he cared about him. Kevin taught Lenny how to make friends and be responsible. Inside, Lenny was feeling a bond between him and his new found father.
After six long, lonely years Ernest was released from his incarceration. He came home eager to see his son, but did not know what was going on with Lenny, Renee, and her boyfriend. He knocked on the door and was surprised, not knowing who the man was that answered the door.
“May I ask who you’re looking for?” Kevin asked.
Ernest replied, “I’m looking for my baby, Lenny and his mother Renee.”
“Who are you supposed to be?”
“I’m Lenny’s father.”
As they continued to talk, Kevin and Ernest became angry and began to argue....
A Trip Down Memory Lane
by Gary B
(excerpted from pages 40-3)
....Now I’m facing life imprisonment, no parole. My mother always told me there’d be days like this so now I know what to expect. Being incarcerated ain’t easy, especially when you have a smaller brother growing up in your footsteps. I tell him to go to school and stay away from drugs. I even let him know that he would be a fool to get caught up in the same situation like me and my pops did. Now he’s living with his girl having kids, struggling for survival the right way, because he realizes that you can’t take money with you when you die. In reality, life in the fast lane does not pay. All the cars, drugs, women and money that I had can’t help me now ‘cause there’s nothing I could possibly do with them in jail....
Poverty and hunger makes it hard to learn. It’s hard to concentrate on learning when your stomach is empty and growling from hunger. Working with New York City students presented challenges similar to those I faced as a Peace Corp Volunteer teaching in Liberia before war ravaged that country.
As educators, the Waterways teachers guided their students’ passage through the world past daily terrors and uncertainties along the path of a curriculum of expressive writing and publishing. Students wrote about their families, neighborhoods, and schools.
The Streams anthologies presented in print the students’ observations in their own words. The opening section of Streams 10 was titled, “Songs and Stories.”
Music
by Starr
(from page 2)
Music is art.
Music tells stories.
Music expresses feelings;
Whether happy or sad.
Music deals with emotions;
Feelings good or bad.
Music is joyous.
Music is sober.
Music is jive.
Music is soap to wash away tears.
Music is a society
Dealing with life and death.
Music is the jewel of my life.
Streams 10
Monday, May 2, 2011
The Cosmic Streams and Rhythms IV
Teaching is passing on the culture and facilitating the present moment. It is the relationship between experience and innocence in the classroom. It is an exchange between maturity and youth, knowledge and ignorance, understanding and anxiety.
Teaching is also helping students acquire the tools to question. Students, who are taught a system of critical ideas, can use their own judgment to critically examine the concepts that are being passed on.
Children want to believe. They learn from their peers and the adults around them. They learn to doubt and discern. They cope with disillusionment. They say to their teachers, “Adults shouldn't tell children lies.”
The Principal
by Mary Clark
Venetian blind poses, Venetian blind blues.
A life grew smaller behind them, trying to see through
engulfed in a large leather chair, made of men,
I waded into his ice-sea blue eyes.
What are we going to do with you? he asked.
Throw me back. My father, who art in this world,
outside this school beyond my understanding,
I am a girl-child waiting to be born.
Poetry brings the experience of life outside the school into the classroom. Recently, a student I worked with fifteen years ago, called after a fire destroyed his home. He wanted to know if I had kept copies of his poetry book. Barbara and I found the original mechanicals and printed a copy for the student.
Summer
by Nancy Montalvo
Summer tastes
like a wet, juicy
watermelon slice
running down one’s
mouth as if
struggling
to remain inside
sweeter than an apple,
cooler than ice.
Summer smells like
suntan oils:
musky,
pungent,
promising gold.
Summer sounds like bells
bringing ice cream, as children
fight on line:
vanilla cone
sprinkled with goodness
inside.
Summer brings
excitement
to the children running
through the sprinklers
playing Catch & Kiss
as the others
play Hide & Seek;
drinking each other,
laughing
with the
sun.
Meanwhile
the cool moon
slowly
creeps
from behind
staring
in your eyes,
running
with fright
just to be
on time.
(Streams 9, page 123-4)
Streams 9
Teaching is also helping students acquire the tools to question. Students, who are taught a system of critical ideas, can use their own judgment to critically examine the concepts that are being passed on.
Children want to believe. They learn from their peers and the adults around them. They learn to doubt and discern. They cope with disillusionment. They say to their teachers, “Adults shouldn't tell children lies.”
The Principal
by Mary Clark
Venetian blind poses, Venetian blind blues.
A life grew smaller behind them, trying to see through
engulfed in a large leather chair, made of men,
I waded into his ice-sea blue eyes.
What are we going to do with you? he asked.
Throw me back. My father, who art in this world,
outside this school beyond my understanding,
I am a girl-child waiting to be born.
Poetry brings the experience of life outside the school into the classroom. Recently, a student I worked with fifteen years ago, called after a fire destroyed his home. He wanted to know if I had kept copies of his poetry book. Barbara and I found the original mechanicals and printed a copy for the student.
Summer
by Nancy Montalvo
Summer tastes
like a wet, juicy
watermelon slice
running down one’s
mouth as if
struggling
to remain inside
sweeter than an apple,
cooler than ice.
Summer smells like
suntan oils:
musky,
pungent,
promising gold.
Summer sounds like bells
bringing ice cream, as children
fight on line:
vanilla cone
sprinkled with goodness
inside.
Summer brings
excitement
to the children running
through the sprinklers
playing Catch & Kiss
as the others
play Hide & Seek;
drinking each other,
laughing
with the
sun.
Meanwhile
the cool moon
slowly
creeps
from behind
staring
in your eyes,
running
with fright
just to be
on time.
(Streams 9, page 123-4)
Streams 9
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The Cosmic Streams and Rhythms III
“Soul and Symbol,” the title of part 3 of Streams 9 (1995), relates to the heuristic elements of transcendence and symbolism.
“All the bright lights and bells
are yourself returning
from wandering.”
Mei Mei Berssenbrugge
Book of the Dead, Prayer 14
Poems exist apart from the poets: “For poetry was all written before time was, and whenever we are so finely organized that we can penetrate into that region where the air is music, we hear those primal warblings, and attempt to write them down, but we lose ever and anon a word, or a verse, and substitute something of our own, and thus miswrite the poem.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Poet”
In Celestial Pantomime: Poetic Structures of Transcendence, Justus George Lawler wrote, “poetic patterns are . . . (the poet’s) own unthematized and spontaneous response to the same reality that mystified primitive man.”
In a Minute
by Robert B. Feliciano
In a minute a world could end
Yet I strive to live and stay alive
Each day is another adventure in the worst weather
In a minute two people fall in love
Or shove one another aside as the daytime
Sky slides to the west
I’m not the best
But in a minute anything could happen
A minute is all I really need to keep alive
And above the knees
(Streams 9, page 102)
Reflections
by Isamar DeJesus
When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who lost almost everything
Her heart was all bruised
Her mind was confused
A life filled with only despair
When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who found hope
So that she can cope
Her mind is steady
Her heart willing and ready
When I look in the mirror
I see all that was and is
A reflection of me!
(Streams 9, page 118)
“The map is not the territory,” is a General Semantic axiom.
The map is a tool for the wanderer; and it furthers the understanding of the world for those who do not travel.
Rachel Lauer was a strong influence in the development of Ten Penny Players’ educational program. She wrote:
“At Pace University, New York, we have incorporated critical thinking into a program called Roots of Knowing. Our objectives are (i) to offer a framework of universal concepts that unify the disciplines and (ii) to show how these concepts can help people process personal and social events throughout life.”
A meta curriculum based upon critical thinking
These universal concepts became the prototype for Ten Penny Players’ Seven Heuristic Elements of Poetry. Our objectives were (i) to offer a framework of critical concepts that unify the poetry from all our students and (ii) to show how these concepts can help teachers across the disciplines present poetry to their students.
Dream Drifter
by Dervis Joyner
I dream and often get caught
up in what I’m dreaming about. Sometimes
I mistake my dreams for reality. Could
it be that what I dream about has
not yet happened, but I saw it before
time?
If so, it’s not a dream anymore
It’s a vision. Or is it? I often
drift too deep into my mind, sometimes
it feels like I can’t come back, but
I do not yet know myself, why is that?
I ask the same question
over and over again, Who am I?
But I don’t get a reply, sometimes
I wonder if I’m all alone.
(Streams 9, page 119)
What I Seem to Be
by Jamel Williams
I seem to be an R&B singer,
But really I am a hardcore underground rapper.
I seem to live life in a dark alley,
But really live life as a mystery.
I seem to be a 1950 Nova,
But I’m really a 1995 Lexus Coup.
I seem to be Christmas,
But really I’m Halloween.
I seem to like it here,
But really I want to go home!
(Streams 9, page 133)
Streams 9
“All the bright lights and bells
are yourself returning
from wandering.”
Mei Mei Berssenbrugge
Book of the Dead, Prayer 14
Poems exist apart from the poets: “For poetry was all written before time was, and whenever we are so finely organized that we can penetrate into that region where the air is music, we hear those primal warblings, and attempt to write them down, but we lose ever and anon a word, or a verse, and substitute something of our own, and thus miswrite the poem.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson “The Poet”
In Celestial Pantomime: Poetic Structures of Transcendence, Justus George Lawler wrote, “poetic patterns are . . . (the poet’s) own unthematized and spontaneous response to the same reality that mystified primitive man.”
In a Minute
by Robert B. Feliciano
In a minute a world could end
Yet I strive to live and stay alive
Each day is another adventure in the worst weather
In a minute two people fall in love
Or shove one another aside as the daytime
Sky slides to the west
I’m not the best
But in a minute anything could happen
A minute is all I really need to keep alive
And above the knees
(Streams 9, page 102)
Reflections
by Isamar DeJesus
When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who lost almost everything
Her heart was all bruised
Her mind was confused
A life filled with only despair
When I look in the mirror
What is it I see
A girl who found hope
So that she can cope
Her mind is steady
Her heart willing and ready
When I look in the mirror
I see all that was and is
A reflection of me!
(Streams 9, page 118)
“The map is not the territory,” is a General Semantic axiom.
The map is a tool for the wanderer; and it furthers the understanding of the world for those who do not travel.
Rachel Lauer was a strong influence in the development of Ten Penny Players’ educational program. She wrote:
“At Pace University, New York, we have incorporated critical thinking into a program called Roots of Knowing. Our objectives are (i) to offer a framework of universal concepts that unify the disciplines and (ii) to show how these concepts can help people process personal and social events throughout life.”
A meta curriculum based upon critical thinking
These universal concepts became the prototype for Ten Penny Players’ Seven Heuristic Elements of Poetry. Our objectives were (i) to offer a framework of critical concepts that unify the poetry from all our students and (ii) to show how these concepts can help teachers across the disciplines present poetry to their students.
Dream Drifter
by Dervis Joyner
I dream and often get caught
up in what I’m dreaming about. Sometimes
I mistake my dreams for reality. Could
it be that what I dream about has
not yet happened, but I saw it before
time?
If so, it’s not a dream anymore
It’s a vision. Or is it? I often
drift too deep into my mind, sometimes
it feels like I can’t come back, but
I do not yet know myself, why is that?
I ask the same question
over and over again, Who am I?
But I don’t get a reply, sometimes
I wonder if I’m all alone.
(Streams 9, page 119)
What I Seem to Be
by Jamel Williams
I seem to be an R&B singer,
But really I am a hardcore underground rapper.
I seem to live life in a dark alley,
But really live life as a mystery.
I seem to be a 1950 Nova,
But I’m really a 1995 Lexus Coup.
I seem to be Christmas,
But really I’m Halloween.
I seem to like it here,
But really I want to go home!
(Streams 9, page 133)
Streams 9
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The Cosmic Streams and Rhythms II
In the second section of Streams 9, “Passion and Paradise,” the student work related to the Heuristic Elements of catharsis and sublimation.
Aristotle wrote of catharsis as a cleansing and purging of emotions:
“An emotion which strongly affects some souls is present in all to a varying degree, for example pity and fear, and also ecstasy. To this last some people are particularly liable, and we see that under the influence of religious music and songs which drive the soul to frenzy, they calm down as if they had been medically treated and purged.” (Politics 8.7.3-5)
and
“Tragedy, then, is the imitation of a good action, which is complete and of a certain length, by means of language made pleasing for each part separately; it relies in its various elements not on narrative but on acting; through pity and fear it achieves the purgation (catharsis) of such emotions.” (Aristotle’s Poetics chapter 6 1449b)
Freud adopted “catharsis” in reference to the means by which he and his early colleague and mentor, Joseph Breuer, addressed the emotional distress of their patients. In “The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis” (1910), Freud wrote:
The cathartic treatment, as Breuer had made use of it, presupposed that the patient should be put in deep hypnosis, for only in hypnosis was available the knowledge of his pathogenic associations, which were unknown to him in his normal state. Now hypnosis, as a fanciful, and so to speak, mystical, aid, I soon came to dislike; and when I discovered that, in spite of all my efforts, I could not hypnotize by any means all of my patients, I resolved to give up hypnotism and to make the cathartic method independent of it. (American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181)
In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud developed his concept of sublimation:
“Sublimation of instinct is an especially conspicuous feature of cultural development; it is what makes it possible for higher psychical activities, scientific, artistic or ideological, to play such an important part in civilized life. If one were to yield to a first impression, one would say that sublimation is a vicissitude which has been forced upon the instincts entirely by civilization.” (James Strachey translation. W. W. Norton & Co. 1962 page 44)
Sublimation requires discipline. Adolescents are compelled to attend school. In the Streams anthologies they articulated their emotional responses to time spent in classrooms furthering the progress of civilization. They also wrote of their sublime expectations and their hopes for a better world.
Fears, What Are They
by Lloyd Pulley
Fears can come at any time or any place.
Fears are hidden within your mind and soul
and can take over your heart.
Fears are like winds
that blow through the trees
on a cold winter day.
So you ask me what fears are?
I ask you the same thing,
because the fears in my heart no one can answer.
(Streams 9, page 59)
Pride
by Steven Evangelista
I seem to be an uneducated person,
But deep inside I am willing to understand
and look forward to learning.
My pride makes me hide away the shame,
But if I never learn then I’ll remain the same.
I don’t want to remain confused and ignorant
Just because I want to impress you,
So I guess I got to move on,
‘Cause I got much work to do.
(Streams 9, page 62)
I’m Going to tell You About the Way I Feel (excerpt)
by Devin Williams
The way I feel
is like when I go some where
I feel funny
because I’m around different people
When you are home
You are around your family
You feel safe
Because you know that’s where you are loved
But the real reason why I’m telling you this
Is because I feel someone
Has to know I feel like that
I have no choice
But to do what other people tell me
I mean if I do something
I have to tell my mom or my boss
I just don’t feel free
(Streams 9, page 63)
A Kiss
by Lashawn Richardson
You walk up to me
Your tongue I can taste
You gently put your arms
Around y waist
You pull me close
Your body to mine
Working very slowly
Just taking your time
Around your neck
My arms are placed
Then we stare at each other
Face to face
When both our lips
Finally meet
The warmth
Then tenderness
Is oh so sweet.
(Streams 9, page 65)
A Better Place
by James Williams
Wondering about the love I have
In my heart and soul
Sitting here watching children
Till the day that I grow old
In life there are lots of struggles
Little kids without any dreams
Let’s make the world a better place
Stop killing human beings
Our future depends on children
On each boy and girl
To grow up and change the world
From negativity to positive thoughts
Education in a society like this
Is most definitely a must
Remember we are in our children
And in God they’ll surely trust
(Streams 9, page 82)
Peace
by La-Taameka Bradford
Increase the peace,
Live in it or rest in it I always say
For we may not live to see another day
With so much violence going on,
My time is decreasing but I’ve got to hold on,
Peace is the word that we need to spread
Live in it, or rest in it,
You choose the way.
(Streams 9, page 91)
Streams 9
Aristotle wrote of catharsis as a cleansing and purging of emotions:
“An emotion which strongly affects some souls is present in all to a varying degree, for example pity and fear, and also ecstasy. To this last some people are particularly liable, and we see that under the influence of religious music and songs which drive the soul to frenzy, they calm down as if they had been medically treated and purged.” (Politics 8.7.3-5)
and
“Tragedy, then, is the imitation of a good action, which is complete and of a certain length, by means of language made pleasing for each part separately; it relies in its various elements not on narrative but on acting; through pity and fear it achieves the purgation (catharsis) of such emotions.” (Aristotle’s Poetics chapter 6 1449b)
Freud adopted “catharsis” in reference to the means by which he and his early colleague and mentor, Joseph Breuer, addressed the emotional distress of their patients. In “The Origin and Development of Psychoanalysis” (1910), Freud wrote:
The cathartic treatment, as Breuer had made use of it, presupposed that the patient should be put in deep hypnosis, for only in hypnosis was available the knowledge of his pathogenic associations, which were unknown to him in his normal state. Now hypnosis, as a fanciful, and so to speak, mystical, aid, I soon came to dislike; and when I discovered that, in spite of all my efforts, I could not hypnotize by any means all of my patients, I resolved to give up hypnotism and to make the cathartic method independent of it. (American Journal of Psychology, 21, 181)
In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud developed his concept of sublimation:
“Sublimation of instinct is an especially conspicuous feature of cultural development; it is what makes it possible for higher psychical activities, scientific, artistic or ideological, to play such an important part in civilized life. If one were to yield to a first impression, one would say that sublimation is a vicissitude which has been forced upon the instincts entirely by civilization.” (James Strachey translation. W. W. Norton & Co. 1962 page 44)
Sublimation requires discipline. Adolescents are compelled to attend school. In the Streams anthologies they articulated their emotional responses to time spent in classrooms furthering the progress of civilization. They also wrote of their sublime expectations and their hopes for a better world.
Fears, What Are They
by Lloyd Pulley
Fears can come at any time or any place.
Fears are hidden within your mind and soul
and can take over your heart.
Fears are like winds
that blow through the trees
on a cold winter day.
So you ask me what fears are?
I ask you the same thing,
because the fears in my heart no one can answer.
(Streams 9, page 59)
Pride
by Steven Evangelista
I seem to be an uneducated person,
But deep inside I am willing to understand
and look forward to learning.
My pride makes me hide away the shame,
But if I never learn then I’ll remain the same.
I don’t want to remain confused and ignorant
Just because I want to impress you,
So I guess I got to move on,
‘Cause I got much work to do.
(Streams 9, page 62)
I’m Going to tell You About the Way I Feel (excerpt)
by Devin Williams
The way I feel
is like when I go some where
I feel funny
because I’m around different people
When you are home
You are around your family
You feel safe
Because you know that’s where you are loved
But the real reason why I’m telling you this
Is because I feel someone
Has to know I feel like that
I have no choice
But to do what other people tell me
I mean if I do something
I have to tell my mom or my boss
I just don’t feel free
(Streams 9, page 63)
A Kiss
by Lashawn Richardson
You walk up to me
Your tongue I can taste
You gently put your arms
Around y waist
You pull me close
Your body to mine
Working very slowly
Just taking your time
Around your neck
My arms are placed
Then we stare at each other
Face to face
When both our lips
Finally meet
The warmth
Then tenderness
Is oh so sweet.
(Streams 9, page 65)
A Better Place
by James Williams
Wondering about the love I have
In my heart and soul
Sitting here watching children
Till the day that I grow old
In life there are lots of struggles
Little kids without any dreams
Let’s make the world a better place
Stop killing human beings
Our future depends on children
On each boy and girl
To grow up and change the world
From negativity to positive thoughts
Education in a society like this
Is most definitely a must
Remember we are in our children
And in God they’ll surely trust
(Streams 9, page 82)
Peace
by La-Taameka Bradford
Increase the peace,
Live in it or rest in it I always say
For we may not live to see another day
With so much violence going on,
My time is decreasing but I’ve got to hold on,
Peace is the word that we need to spread
Live in it, or rest in it,
You choose the way.
(Streams 9, page 91)
Streams 9
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The Cosmic Streams and Rhythms
“Power lies in understanding that all of life is a unified whole; that human kind is part of nature which is part of the cosmic streams and rhythms. Survival and growth accrue from suspending personal ego boundaries by noticing and resonating with on-going harmonies, by accepting insights from the well-springs of ‘higher consciousness’ or ‘spiritual’ sources.” - Dr. Rachel Lauer, Director of the Strauss Thinking and Learning Center at Pace University.
The power of the Streams anthologies was to reach out to, and bring together, the wide range of students attending school in a variety of settings: prisons, GED programs, New Vision schools, Outreach programs, vocational training sites, homeless shelters, college preps, pregnant and parenting programs, literacy centers, group homes, service learning sites, ESL programs, community centers, hospital sites, and theater schools.
A unifying aesthetic arose from our work with Dr. Lauer and General Semantics which we called 7 Heuristic Elements of Poetry. The Elements presented a means to assess all writing, maintain a constructivist approach to expressive writing, and teach about historic developments in literary criticism.
Beginning with Streams 9, the editorial choices and organization of anthologies were influenced by a progression through 7 Heuristic Elements of Poetry. The Elements were paired to allow for 3 sections with the final element (publication) embodied by the book itself.
The first section, Music and Memory (for mimesis) contained poems that addressed music as a theme, were distinguished by a rhythmic pattern, and imitated or reconstructed reality from memory.
Students imitated vernacular. They spoke or wrote in the voice of another. They verbally constructed a “faithful reproduction.” Mimesis in education would be “learning by rote.” Mimetic poetry manifests the memorable properties of things, animals and people.
Fatima Coleman, in her poem “Uncle”, wrote:
I will never forget his silver gray hair,
Always neatly combed in place.
There were three beautiful generations
All over his precious face.
He was so sweet and kind, nice and wise.
He was the greatest.
I was a young girl in my early teens, he said,
“Now baby listen. Things aren’t always the way they seem.”
He would always sing the same song to me.
He would always say,
“Take your time, young girl. Don’t you rush to get old.
Take it in your stride, baby. Just live your life.”
(excerpted from page 39)
Streams 9
The power of the Streams anthologies was to reach out to, and bring together, the wide range of students attending school in a variety of settings: prisons, GED programs, New Vision schools, Outreach programs, vocational training sites, homeless shelters, college preps, pregnant and parenting programs, literacy centers, group homes, service learning sites, ESL programs, community centers, hospital sites, and theater schools.
A unifying aesthetic arose from our work with Dr. Lauer and General Semantics which we called 7 Heuristic Elements of Poetry. The Elements presented a means to assess all writing, maintain a constructivist approach to expressive writing, and teach about historic developments in literary criticism.
Beginning with Streams 9, the editorial choices and organization of anthologies were influenced by a progression through 7 Heuristic Elements of Poetry. The Elements were paired to allow for 3 sections with the final element (publication) embodied by the book itself.
The first section, Music and Memory (for mimesis) contained poems that addressed music as a theme, were distinguished by a rhythmic pattern, and imitated or reconstructed reality from memory.
Students imitated vernacular. They spoke or wrote in the voice of another. They verbally constructed a “faithful reproduction.” Mimesis in education would be “learning by rote.” Mimetic poetry manifests the memorable properties of things, animals and people.
Fatima Coleman, in her poem “Uncle”, wrote:
I will never forget his silver gray hair,
Always neatly combed in place.
There were three beautiful generations
All over his precious face.
He was so sweet and kind, nice and wise.
He was the greatest.
I was a young girl in my early teens, he said,
“Now baby listen. Things aren’t always the way they seem.”
He would always sing the same song to me.
He would always say,
“Take your time, young girl. Don’t you rush to get old.
Take it in your stride, baby. Just live your life.”
(excerpted from page 39)
Streams 9
Monday, April 18, 2011
Listening to the Waves IV
In his NOTES ON WATERWAYS PEDAGOGICAL PROJECT- http://bit.ly/i5PBfg - Richard Kostellanetz wrote:
“The first steps to distinction usually come from doing what others cannot—in sports with technique, in art with form. The fundamental negative rule is transcending easy moves, whether with one’s body or with words. Obvious sentiments or clichés are finally no more acceptable than dribbling directly at the basket. There is a hint of such development in Matthew Rydell’s text “Panorama” on p. 127 of the Streams 8 anthology (1994), where a skinny vertical text becomes a counterpoint to more extended horizontal lines. “
In the same volume, Zenzilé Green concluded her poem, Selfless (on pages 128-30), with these lines:
The poetry flows
from my eyes
an unbearable monsoon.
Unstoppable
overwhelming pressure.
So I plaster on
a feelingless mouth
of burgundy matte
and freeze the sadness
with foundation #6.
Hardened mascara
dark lines under my eyes
covered completely
by Korean sunglasses
a mask of effortless cold
made more effective by life.
Streams 8
“The first steps to distinction usually come from doing what others cannot—in sports with technique, in art with form. The fundamental negative rule is transcending easy moves, whether with one’s body or with words. Obvious sentiments or clichés are finally no more acceptable than dribbling directly at the basket. There is a hint of such development in Matthew Rydell’s text “Panorama” on p. 127 of the Streams 8 anthology (1994), where a skinny vertical text becomes a counterpoint to more extended horizontal lines. “
In the same volume, Zenzilé Green concluded her poem, Selfless (on pages 128-30), with these lines:
The poetry flows
from my eyes
an unbearable monsoon.
Unstoppable
overwhelming pressure.
So I plaster on
a feelingless mouth
of burgundy matte
and freeze the sadness
with foundation #6.
Hardened mascara
dark lines under my eyes
covered completely
by Korean sunglasses
a mask of effortless cold
made more effective by life.
Streams 8
Friday, April 15, 2011
Listening to the Waves III
In 1994, a number of NYC’s Alternative High Schools and Programs were designed to teach ESL to students from immigrant families. The STREAMS anthologies welcomed their participation and published the students’ poetry in English and their native languages. Contributions came from schools such as Liberty High School on 18th Street, the International School at Laguardia Community College in Queens, and the Lower East Side Prep just north of Manhattan’s Chinatown.
These poems touched on topics like music, love, and friendship. Many young poets wrote of the loss of friends and family. The theme of leaving home was common to many. Breaking away from tradition and facing a new world with different values has been a theme for teens around the world, since the end of tribal society.
Occasionally we scanned in the handwritten poem, as in the following Asian and East European poems from STREAMS 8.
American Moon by Phan Thuan translated by Ai-Jen Lin Chao
American moon,they say, is the roundest one,
But have they experienced it?
Do they know that the U.S. is:
The paradise of the teenager,
The battle field of the middle-ager,
The hell of the elderly?
If you are not the one who won the battle,
Do you still consider the moon of America
The roundest one?
What a bliss it is to be a teenager in the U.S.!
Every day is a joyous day.
How exciting life is to them,
Can’t compare even with paradise.
What a torture is is to be a middle-ager in the U.S.!
Work! Work! Work! Day by day.
Rent! Bills! Making a living isn’t easy,
Not to mention the fear of being unemployed.
What a misery it is to be elderly in the U.S.
Dusk for them always comes early,
Look at the blue sky through the window
Tear by tear the nostalgic tears flow
Hoping to fly back like birds,
But utterly exhausted,
One can only watch the twilight pass away.
As you see someone succeed,
Do you know how much he paid for it?
If you are not the one who won the battle,
Do you still consider the moon of the U.S. the roundest one?
(page 38-9)
“And My Grandma Can’t Come” by Anna Zalewska
I wish I was four, no troubles, no tears,
when all I would do is play with my friends.
Those days are gone. I’m almost seventeen
and I can’t handle it any more.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I want to dance, I want to get married,
I want to have kids and live by the ocean
I wish that school would start at eleven.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I wish I could love a person like you,
someone who’s sweet and loves me, too.
But my grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I want to learn to play the guitar,
before the music becomes too loud,
I wish all the people who really don’t know me,
would keep their mouths shut
and mind their own business.
I wish my parents would realize that
I’m just a human being.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
Often I wonder if the world would be better
if I wasn’t here. No broken hearts,
no jealousy, no painful rumors.
And still nothing helps
because my grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
(pages 139-40)
Streams 8
These poems touched on topics like music, love, and friendship. Many young poets wrote of the loss of friends and family. The theme of leaving home was common to many. Breaking away from tradition and facing a new world with different values has been a theme for teens around the world, since the end of tribal society.
Occasionally we scanned in the handwritten poem, as in the following Asian and East European poems from STREAMS 8.
American Moon by Phan Thuan translated by Ai-Jen Lin Chao
American moon,they say, is the roundest one,
But have they experienced it?
Do they know that the U.S. is:
The paradise of the teenager,
The battle field of the middle-ager,
The hell of the elderly?
If you are not the one who won the battle,
Do you still consider the moon of America
The roundest one?
What a bliss it is to be a teenager in the U.S.!
Every day is a joyous day.
How exciting life is to them,
Can’t compare even with paradise.
What a torture is is to be a middle-ager in the U.S.!
Work! Work! Work! Day by day.
Rent! Bills! Making a living isn’t easy,
Not to mention the fear of being unemployed.
What a misery it is to be elderly in the U.S.
Dusk for them always comes early,
Look at the blue sky through the window
Tear by tear the nostalgic tears flow
Hoping to fly back like birds,
But utterly exhausted,
One can only watch the twilight pass away.
As you see someone succeed,
Do you know how much he paid for it?
If you are not the one who won the battle,
Do you still consider the moon of the U.S. the roundest one?
(page 38-9)
“And My Grandma Can’t Come” by Anna Zalewska
I wish I was four, no troubles, no tears,
when all I would do is play with my friends.
Those days are gone. I’m almost seventeen
and I can’t handle it any more.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I want to dance, I want to get married,
I want to have kids and live by the ocean
I wish that school would start at eleven.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I wish I could love a person like you,
someone who’s sweet and loves me, too.
But my grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
I want to learn to play the guitar,
before the music becomes too loud,
I wish all the people who really don’t know me,
would keep their mouths shut
and mind their own business.
I wish my parents would realize that
I’m just a human being.
My grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
Often I wonder if the world would be better
if I wasn’t here. No broken hearts,
no jealousy, no painful rumors.
And still nothing helps
because my grandpa is gone
and my grandma can’t come.
(pages 139-40)
Streams 8
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Listening to the Waves II
The Streams anthologies gave NYC Alternative Schools and Programs a space for their students’ writing to be taken seriously. Every student had the opportunity to write a poem. They wrote out of their own experiences in urban communities. Gifted writers found their talents appreciated by a new audience.
In 1994, working with Waterways Teaching Artist, Orfelia Rodriguez Goldstein, Kimberly Robinson put together a chapbook that contained her poem, “Being Your Neighbor’s Neighbor”:
My window is open.
Quick, everyone duck ‘cause all I hear is a buck, buck.
These are sounds I’ve become accustomed to,
But should it be?
My neighborhood gave this luxury to me.
Guns--that’s not the half.
Blades scar and never take away.
Now I must fight each and every day.
Someone looked at me wrong.
Now I’ve made them look like me,
All scarred up for everyone to see.
(excerpted from p.14)
Tratia Wilson’s poem, also in Streams 8, used the experience of children in the hood to reprimand adults for the dangerous level of urban violence:
Come on it’s time to play
live as a child and try not to get hit with a stray
It’s a dangerous long road to go but we will keep striving
to be alive
People might say it’s tough and
rough living in the hood,
But look around
Open your eyes
It’s all around the way.
Kids feel rejected and insecure
That’s why you grown-ups should be
mature
(p.26)
Such strong poems carried the edition forward. The young poets were talking to their peers and their teachers
In her poem, “This Isn’t What You Want,” Chenica Lee wrote:
I can’t write what you want
I can only write what I see
What I see is pain
pain from where I live
(page 30)
Streams 8
In 1994, working with Waterways Teaching Artist, Orfelia Rodriguez Goldstein, Kimberly Robinson put together a chapbook that contained her poem, “Being Your Neighbor’s Neighbor”:
My window is open.
Quick, everyone duck ‘cause all I hear is a buck, buck.
These are sounds I’ve become accustomed to,
But should it be?
My neighborhood gave this luxury to me.
Guns--that’s not the half.
Blades scar and never take away.
Now I must fight each and every day.
Someone looked at me wrong.
Now I’ve made them look like me,
All scarred up for everyone to see.
(excerpted from p.14)
Tratia Wilson’s poem, also in Streams 8, used the experience of children in the hood to reprimand adults for the dangerous level of urban violence:
Come on it’s time to play
live as a child and try not to get hit with a stray
It’s a dangerous long road to go but we will keep striving
to be alive
People might say it’s tough and
rough living in the hood,
But look around
Open your eyes
It’s all around the way.
Kids feel rejected and insecure
That’s why you grown-ups should be
mature
(p.26)
Such strong poems carried the edition forward. The young poets were talking to their peers and their teachers
In her poem, “This Isn’t What You Want,” Chenica Lee wrote:
I can’t write what you want
I can only write what I see
What I see is pain
pain from where I live
(page 30)
Streams 8
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