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