Like Bread, Poetry Is Always in Demand

Today, more people write poetry than read it. This was the lament of one of my college professors; poetry is a crowded market.

As an English major with literary ambitions, this was not music to my ears. However, after working with California Poets in the Schools for three years, this claim no longer strikes a chord of doom. Rather, it suggests that the world is becoming a better place.

I grew up with many poetries. In the beginning, poetry was what we sang to remember which months had so many days. It was the songs of my grandfather and nursery rhymes.

Later, poetry became a language that had to be deciphered--the highest form of art.

Elevated to such a level, I never referred to the pages of sentence fragments that filled my journals as poetry. The literary education I received never empowered me to do so.

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda wrote that poetry is like bread. Predating the printing press, its necessity brought people together and established their story. Since everyone has a story, poetry is for everyone. (Unfortunately, we didn’t study Neruda.)

Now we have the printing press--and television and radio and cyberspace. That so many people take time to write poetry is a triumph. To do so despite the crowded market proves that poetry is not merely merchandise, it is bread.

California Poets in the Schools is a nonprofit organization determined to protect that quality of poetry.

The gap that I experienced in my own education is where the program steps in.

Studying poets is an important aspect of the education process, and writing is even more important. Yet many educators do not feel comfortable introducing their students to the practice of writing poetry, perhaps unsure of their own ability to do so.

The Ventura County chapter of Poets in the Schools consists of 10 poets from culturally diverse backgrounds. These poets bring their experience and enthusiasm for poetry into classrooms, which include special-education, at-risk youths and gifted populations. Participating students learn of modern and ethnic poets and learn to write their own imaginative poetry.

An advantage of teaching poetry to youth over other writing genres is the looseness of its form.

Students are free to express themselves without the usual distractions of grammar and logic common to prose writing. In place of those rules, students create their own structure in order to emphasize their message.

In the context of poetry, fragmented sentences are powerful. Line breaks do the work of most punctuation. Students rethink the value of isolated words and phrases. We encourage students to trust their creativity in this process.

Unfortunately, many young people have the notion that creativity is genetic rather than developed. To learn that they are creative beings is an empowering new concept.

In addition to creativity, we teach students that as individuals, they have a voice. They have an emotional response to what is happening around them. Poetry is presented as a creative means to express this voice.

This gives students the opportunity to develop a form of creative self-expression. Because it is a written form, poetry can be used to spark an interest in writing and improve oral communication skills.

For many students, poetry has even become a survival mechanism. By that I mean the students have embraced their skill as a tool for problem solving. This is especially critical for young people who are facing many contradictions socially and emotionally. For these, poetry becomes a place to ponder unanswered questions or explore complicated emotions.

Developing this kind of writing process, the students learn to listen to themselves.

Metaphors are explored to articulate complex issues in a tangible way. This fosters a habit of working through issues rather than trying to escape them through destructive practices (i.e., drug abuse, violence).

There are innumerable ways to embrace poetry. California Poets in the Schools presents it to youth as a tool for prevention, healing, personal development, cultural awareness, educational enrichment, art appreciation and more. To reduce it to a career would be sacrilege.

There could never be too many poets. And there could never be more poets writing poetry than reading it. To write is to read. Maybe more people write poetry than buy it. This doesn’t mean the world will suffer for having too many poets. Like bread, leftover poetry has always decomposed nicely, enriching the planet.