Bullish on Mythology

Bull by David Elliot
Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, [2017]
185 p. ; 22 cm.

This Bull gives you a wild ride! It's a whip-smart retelling of the Minotaur myth, told in structured poetic forms but with the tone and attitude of hip-hop.

Well, it's a pretty bizarre myth to begin with - a king slights Poseidon who causes his wife to fall for a bull and she ends up giving birth to a half-human, half-bull monster. Elliot runs with it with a bit of street language that might be too rough for middle-schoolers but should intrigue high-schoolers.

At the end of the book he explains the various poetic forms he used for each character - it's a study in prosody worth reading.

It's not a book for every taste, but I'll recommend it to students looking for something mythology based or who like hip-hop influenced writing.

X + U = SLAM

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
New York, NY : HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.   
361 p. ; 22 cm.

I'm not even going to pretend to be objective about this book.  After seeing and hearing Acevedo read at our local library last week, while I was about half way through this book, all I can say is "Yes, read this book and recommend it to students you know." 

She is a great performer and a strong writer, too.  When I handed a copy of this book to a student recently, I said, "Be sure and look her up on YouTube."

The book is a fine telling of Xiomara, a girl coming of age in contemporary Harlem, NYC.  She is a sensitive, but bold, young woman who is being raised by a very strict and very religious mother, and a somewhat distant and checked-out father - both who are immigrants from the Dominican Republic. She is also a twin of a brother she loves, and they both are struggling to become the adults they want to be - while under the restraints of their loving, but oppressive family.

Fortunately for Xiomara, her salvation is in nurturing her gift for poetry and spoken word performance.  Will it be enough to overcome the binds of family and religion?  Will she be able to find romantic love when her mother doesn't even want her talking to boys?  Can she help her brother as he struggles to own his gay identity?

Well, you'll have to read the book to find out.  There are unexpected plot twists and scenes of great emotion - and you won't be disappointed. I swear!

Are You a Citizen?

Citizen by Claudia Rankine
Minneapolis, Minn. : Graywolf Press, [2014]
169 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 21 cm.

I heard Claudia Rankine read some of her essay/poems on a Poetry Magazine podcast [and you can listen to these stunning works here ] , and knew I had to read her book.  Her book also made national and local (Central Illinois) headlines when a woman wisely chose to read the book instead continuing to listen to the offensive talk of Donald Trump at a rally in Springfield, IL. 

The book is a wonderful mix of poetic essays and meditations on the experience of being Black in the United States and being "other" in the world.  There are vignettes from her personal and professional life, explorations of the career of Serena Williams, and the experience of the French soccer star Zidane.  Some of the works in the book are described as scripts for "Situations" videos and can be viewed on her website.  

I love that the poems and essays are thoughtful, provocative and complex - but also very accessible.  They invite the reader in instead of pushing her away.

I'll keep this book in mind for any student curious about African American poetry or essays, particularly in this time of racial awareness and organizing as evidenced in the Black Lives Matter movement. And I'll definitely recommend it.

a poet 'swonder full i fe!

Self Portrait by e.e. cummings 

at the National Portrait Gallery

E. E. Cummings: a poet's life by Catherine Reef
New York : Clarion Books, c2006.
149 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.

Finishing up April, National Poetry Month, with this biography of the famous US poet, e.e. cummings, seemed like a good idea.  And it was!  Reef has put together a wonderful and accessible biography of Cummings.  I really appreciated that Reef manages to present a lot of information in a manageable number of pages - and yet really develops a fascinating portrait of Cummings as a truly unique artist and human being.

I was really struck by how original Cummings was.  His poetry still has a freshness and vitality, but must have seemed stunningly unique when he published it. Reef also gives attention to Cummings serious work as a painter (as the self-portrait above reveals).

Reef also conveys what an original Cummings was in so many ways.  Though from a very conventional family, he rebelled by moving to Greenwich Village, volunteering to be an ambulance driver in WWI, traveling widely abroad, championing avant-garde artists (e.g. the Armory Show artists).

Reef manages to convey the various milieus that defined Cummings' life - WWI, the 1920s, WWII, the New Deal, etc.  She also brings Cummings to life as a man of great dedication, passion, talent, wit, playfulness and (yes) love - and all in the space of 149 pages enlivened with wonderful photographs and illustrations.

I would definitely recommend this book to any student curious about E. E. Cummings specifically or the life of an artist and writer generally.

An Addictive Novel

Crank by Ellen Hopkins
New York : Simon Pulse, 2004.
537 p. ; 18 cm.

Hopkins manages to pull you into the mind and world of a high school-aged good kid drawn into a downward spiral due to her growing addiction to methamphetamine (crank).  She does it with really nice verse that allows her to often have the main character's thoughts, spoken words, and dialogue from others all in one poem.

This book, and many of Hopkins very long novels in verse are very popular and I can see why. Her strength is that she deals honestly with the appeal of drug abuse - while at the same time illuminating the horrors and dangers of addiction.  It's a skillful balancing act that keeps her book compelling but not preachy.  Also the variety of poetic line structures works pretty well - allowing calm meditative poems, jumbled high-on-meth poems, broken blocks of verse to reflect multiple voices and perspectives, etc.

In a short "Author's note" at the beginning of the book, Hopkins reveals that much of the substance of her novel in verse is from her own life as a mother with a meth-addicted daughter, though she admits that many events, characters, etc. are composites based on real life experiences.

No need to recommend this book, as it remains very popular.  I'm glad I finally got around to reading it, so I can appreciate its many strengths.

Brutal Beauty: Slavery & Poetry

Sugar Plantation - from the NYPL Digital Gallery

The Poet Slave of Cuba by Margarita Engle
New York : Henry Holt, 2006.
183 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

I'm not sure why this 2008 Pura Belpre Award winner didn't grab my attention until recently.  Maybe it's just that I'm not sure that biographies in verse are very effective (or appealing to young readers).  However, the book was recently turned in, and and I decided to give it a chance.  I'm glad I did!

The book tells - in poetry - the amazing (and heart breaking) story of Juan Francisco Manzano (1797-1854) a slave and poet who excelled at literature, yet suffered horrendous cruelty and was eventually silenced by repression.

Though the poetry is accessible and interesting, I think some students might find the details of Manzano's life a bit confusing.  He is celebrated by some of Cuba's literati of the time and granted freedom (that is never achieved) by his first "owner" - while his second "owner" both dotes on him and subjects him to grotesque abuse.  However, the story of  Manzano is so compelling  -and his accomplishments in such a hellish world so wondrous - that I'd be pleased to recommend this book to any student looking for a slave narrative, a compelling tale in verse, or a resource on slavery or Cuban history.

The notes at the end of the book are helpful and a few excerpts of Manzano's poetry bring the character of Engle's poems to life.