Poetry speaking out against hate
My deepest gratitude to every member of our team (Rene Saldana Jr., Chrystal Giles, Saranyan Vigraham, Ruth Behar, Edna Cabcabin Moran and other mentioned below) as well as all our friends (such as Edith Campbell) and so many allies (including Liz Steinglass and Michelle Schaub, among others), who helped us launch our hashtag last month and who supported our campaign on using poetry to speak up and speak out against hate and hate crimes. Here are a few social media posts from #DiverseVerse launch day, highlighting poems or poetry resources that educators may use as a starting point to engage in nuanced discussions to help fight hate and hate crimes:
A very special memory of this launch is this wonderful video made by students at Winsor school, reciting ROCK THE BOAT by Elizabeth Acevedo; thanks to their teacher and our team member Lisa Stringfellow for contributing this message - I am sure it will inspire many and serve as an excellent resource for years to come
#DiverseVerse team member Ari Tison’s rendition of the opening lines from Sonia Sanchez’s poem THIS IS NOT A SMALL VOICE brought tears to my eyes, as did this beautiful video poem created by #DiverseVerse team member Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie
I was also so moved by this poem by Avalon Felice Lee; we look forward to welcoming her as our first intern; she’s a poet in her own right, clearly, and also the daughter of NYT bestselling author of Luck of the Titanic, Stacey Lee
Thought-Provoking questions were the thrust of this thread contributed by #DiverseVerse team member Anindita Basu Sempere
author Lyn Miller Lachmann gave a shout out to Zetta Elliott, award winning author of SAY HER NAME, who, in turn, gave a shout out to ALL THE RAGE by Rosamund S. King.
YOUR HEART, MY SKY by Margarita Engle, part of our “wisdom council” received a third starred review
book lists containing diverse verse titles were shared by some, including Sylvia Vardell, Elly Swartz, Gayathri Sethi and #DiverseVerse team members Aida Salazar and K. A. Holt
Team member Suma Subramaniam recited a poem by Sarojini Naidu (a female Indian poet)
I recited a poem I’d learned by-heart written by Rabindranath Tagore and although I forgot one line (!) I hope my recitation captures the power of the work, which feels like a prayer against hate that I carry in my heart
In addition to sharing titles by Jackie Woodson and Nikki Grimes, and Janet Wong’s SUITCASE OF SEAWEED AND MORE which contains so many brilliant writing prompts, I also shared a Blackout poem, created from Linda Sue Park’s PRAIRIE LOTUS. If you are thinking of encouraging young people to create Blackout Poetry, here’s a poem about creating Blackout poems that might come in useful:
A“Blackout” poem isn’t a Blockout poem…
Your bright black marker: a night sky
holding stars
holding meaning, feeling,
holding a message
Which words will you allow
through?
- Padma Venkatraman
Before I sign off, I’d like to bring to your attention a wonderful series of blog posts by Laura Shovan, in which she’s highlighting novels written by Asian / Asian American authors (such as Kathleen Burkinshaw, Madelyn Rosenberg, Wendy Wan-Long Shang and others) and pairing them with poems (by Amanda Gorman, Toi Derricotte, Illya Sumanto, Ron Kipling Williams and others). I did a panel at the Texas Library Association Conference (TxLA) recently, on allyship, together with Laura and others – and I love seeing her effort to amplify Asian voices. I can’t wait to co-teach a mini workshop at the Highlights Foundation with her and #DiverseVerse team member Aida Salazar this month.
As we continue to build our website, and add to our pages, we plan to post regularly, updating this blog on a bi-monthly basis. Up next: a celebrating of our #DiverseVerse team member Reem Faruqui’s novel in verse, UNSETTLED. And then: a poem by #DiverseVerse team member Ray Anthony Shepard, author of the picture book and poem, RUNAWAY. So visit us, on a monthly basis, or sign up for our newsletter by contacting me, Padma Venkatraman, via my website (our newsletter pop-up is acting up, right now!), and we’ll send you a quarterly summary of our posts. Have a safe and healthy spring, and thanks for your support.
