National Poetry Month: 1/30: “Soot (Black) and Spit Blues”

For National Poetry Month, I am going to attempt to follow the models presented in Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s Poems are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres (Heinemann 2017).

Further, at Amy’s site, The Poem Farm, Amy has committed to write thirty poems on the subject of Orion, the constellation. According to her introduction to the month, she will be writing these pieces based upon the mentor poems and the techniques described in her book.

I thought to myself, why not follow this model and present a subject from the poet/teacher’s perspective? Right now, I am working on a multigenre project with my students in Room 407 called T.H.I.S. (Thematic, Holistic, Innovative, and Standards-Based). My subject is outlier/outsider artist, James Castle. Presenting a real-life figure can present some challenges in multigenre, especially if one is wanting to present the subject through poetic pieces. One question that I thought about at the beginning of this project is what could be lost to the poetic form that prose generally includes and allows? And, I have found through crafting and drafting a few poems for this enigmatic subject that the poetic approach to my subject deepens my appreciation for my subject as I choose a little more carefully the way the words are arranged and the lines are presented. Each stanza presents an opportunity to share a snapshot of James Castle.

For the first piece, I’ll be using the mentor poem, “Brand New Roller Skate Blues (for Bessie Smith) by Carole Boston Weatherford from page 44 of Poems are Teachers. This poem appears as a subtopic within “Writers Find Ideas” that invites writers to Think about a Person. Rendered in four tercets in a “blues style” of presentation, the poem features repeating lines and end rhymes at the end of each tercet. This poem is originally found within the book, Remember the Bridge:Poems of a People.

 

 

“Soot (Black) and Spit Blues”

 

He used a pointed stick so he could tell his story.

Kept that pointed stick sharp so he could tell his story.

But his body of work would have to wait to receive any glory.

 

He found scratches in the soot will only blow away.

He found scratches in the soot can too quickly wipe away.

His saliva, his spit was the sealant that would help his story stay.

 

He mixed that soot and spit and he found it was a kind of ink.

Yes, he mixed up that soot and that spit and he used it as his ink.

Be he wasn’t the only artist to do this as you and I might think.

 

The world to the deaf and silent can certainly be unkind.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

But James left the world all of his stories tucked into walls for us to find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thought on “National Poetry Month: 1/30: “Soot (Black) and Spit Blues”

  1. Oooh! A Paul Hankins Poetry Month Project! I’ve been following your FB posts about your multi-genre project. This will add another deeper layer!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *