I will be doing a long (10 sessions) poetry workshop in a few weeks. I’m looking for poetry recommendations, either a book or a single poem even. Here’s the catch – the audience is a group of 10 incarcerated boys (men?) aged 16-18. I want to start each session with reading some different poems then I’ll get them writing.
While I have a lot of poetry books on my shelves I wonder if anyone has any favorites they think would work well with this age group and in this situation?
So far in my stack I have:
You Hear Me? By Betsy Franco
The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur
Paint Me Like I Am: Teen Poems from WritersCorps by Bill Aguado
What Have You Lost? by Naomi Shihab Nye
Do you know Arthur Slade? Maybe not incarcerated but he has dealt with teen guys who are reluctant readers. I know one thing he likes is using Metallica lyrics to get their interest.
Oh thank you. I do know Art and will drop him a note. Using lyrics is a great idea.
Whoops…that was me. Wrong ID. LOL
I figured so. 🙂
You might want to look at Gary Snyder’s THE BACK COUNTRY and see if anything in there works.
Thanks! I’m unfamilar with Gary Snyder so I will look forward to learning about someone new.
Whoops…that was me. Wrong ID. LOL
From my posts for GuysLitWire: Tough Boy Sonatas; No Sleep Till Brooklyn; Here, Bullet.
Also More than Friends by Sara Holbrook and Allan Wolf; Technically, It’s not my Fault by John Grandits
Thanks, Kelly. I was hoping you would share.
Shel Silverstein?
Concrete poems?
I cannot believe I didn’t think about Shel Silverstein. Thanks!
Not at the beginning, but maybe Sonya Sones’ WHAT MY GIRLFRIEND DOESN’T KNOW?
Maybe some Francisco X. Alarcon or Gary Soto?
I just picked up A Fire in My Hands by Gary Soto to see what I could use from there. Good idea on something from Sonya’s book. Thanks.
Could you use some (carefully chosen) Charles Bukowski? I think there might be something to the rough and conversational nature of those that would be a relief to those daunted by the IDEA of poetry…
I am such a non-poet that I didn’t know who Charles Bukowski was! I need to get myself to the library to see what I can find. I like the idea of bringing relief to those daunted by the very idea of poetry. thanks!