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

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

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

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

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

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

Listening to the Waves

In February 1994, Michael Mirakian, Principal of Concord High School on Staten Island, wrote “Our school has worked with the Waterways Project which annually publishes a volume of student works called Streams. This project, under the direction of Richard Spiegel and Barbara Fisher, has proven to be a most worthwhile venture. Mr. Spiegel personally recruits and guides the students. He is so well regarded for his capabilities in extracting from at risk students writings which they ever knew they had in them, that several of our English teachers eagerly await the day he is scheduled to visit us and do a guest lesson.

“I am especially pleased by the end result. To see a youngster’s face when he sees his name and work in a publication is difficult to adequately describe. Suffice it to say that it has to be one of the most breathtaking moments in any educator’s professional career.”

Later that spring, Professor David Bickimer, Director of the Promise of Learning Foundation invited Ten Penny Players’ to hold our year end poetry events at Pace University. NYSCA’s Arts in Education Program Director, Hollis Headrick, directed funds to enable Ten Penny Players to continue publishing Streams. Young Adult Librarians, Merilee Fogelsong, Mary Jane Tacchi, Sandra Payne, and Joanne Rosario included the Streams anthologies in the New York Public Library’s recommended list of books for the teen reader.

Streams 8 opened with poems addressing teenagers’ strength and vulnerability, beginning with Monique’s classic imagery --

I sat on the beach
listening to the waves
crash up against the rocks
like they were in constant battle
thinking to myself,
I am like the rocks
strong and powerful
I can withstand anything.
(excerpted from “I Sat on the Beach” p.1)

Jennifer’s poem explored her friend’s vulnerability --

You walk around
with all your organs exposed
for everyone to see
your kidneys and
your pure, pure blood
rushing through
your cellophane vessels
(excerpted from “Admiring Your Nakedness” p.3)

And Vanessa’s poem asked, “What do you write about when...

...you can’t decipher your emotions.
When your surrounding world is
confusion, and your only shield
seems to be corrupted.
When the future reflects the
Brightness of the sun, but the
Present looks as dismal as
the mud you just stepped in.
What do you write about when
Hope no longer has promise
and “Love” lost its meaning;
when “Nigga” is a
synonym for “Brother”,
and “Bitch is another word to
describe your mother;
when respect in all aspects
has gone down the drain, like
that 40 of Ides just put to your lips,
winding its way to the brain;
when “Black” has no meaning
except for a hole in the
Universe...
(excerpted from “What Do You Write About” p.11)

Streams 8