Poems For Life A Special Collection of Poetry Selected by E.L. Doctorow. Allen Ginsberg. David Mamet. Tom Wolf. Joyce Carol Oates. Stephen Soundheim. Kurt Vonnegut. Elie Wiesal. And many more.
With a special introduction by Anna Quindlen.
Arcade Publishing
is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
New York
1995
The Nightengale-BamfordSchool
ISBN 978-1-61145-350-8
Well, this was a wonderful for book for so many reasons. The Number 1 reason of course is poetry, and the number 2 reason it was great because of who contributed a piece for this book, and thirdly it involved children hungry for art and entertained by having meaningful literature in their lives!
This book comes as a project for a 5th-grade class at the Nightengale-Bamford School. Poetry is part of the curriculum there (also another great thing). This project took two years to complete. The students wrote to people in many fields, such as actors, authors, and politicians. The students asked of this chosen person to submit their personal favorite piece of poetry. The second part of the question was why? Why did they like it and why did they find the passage a meaningful one.
The children and teachers found it utmost entertaining as the students received their piece and then gleefully read it outloud to the class. Then the students had to learn about that particular poem/poet.
The second layer of the project is that the students from class V (from 1993 and 1994) compilled all the poetry into a collection for this book. The goodness continues; then the teachers and the student sold the book and chose to donate ALL the proceeds from the book to benefit the International Rescue Comittee, and to benefit a division within the group called the Women’s Comission for Refugee women and Children. The spirit of social service is also part of this 5th-grade cirriculum. (great again!).
Each of the senders submitted a beautiful note with their pieces to each student.
Joyce Carol Oats submitted a very profound bit of wisdom, as she shared
Emily Dickinson here;
“Tell all the truth, but tell it slant~ success in circuit lies
to bright for our infirm delight, the truth’s suburb surprise.”
“As lightning to the children eased with explanation kind, the truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind”.
This was a fantastic project by thoughtful teachers and to teach this into the 5th-grade spirit makes a truly 5 ***** star book. It is something these children will never forget and I’m hoping they’ll all grow up with a deep love for poetry and literature.
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