Sheesh! Some of the poems these young students of Ken Koch came up with gives me a serious insecurity complex...
V. ---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: Kenneth Koch and Co. From: "Knopf Poetry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu, April 28, 2005 3:00 pm To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, a special selection from ROSE, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT RED? Teaching Great Poetry to Children by Kenneth Koch. The book, originally released in 1973 and updated in 1990, is a classic of educational literature. Anyone who knows a child and has an interest in the vitality of the imagination will find this book to be extraordinarily useful, a welcoming celebration and introduction to the power and mystery of language. Koch's empathy, generosity, and insouciance continue to be irresistible. Related links follow the text, including a link to a many-author multimedia tribute to Koch, who passed away in 2002, from the Australian on-line literary journal Jacket. Also, find information about voting for week four's poem-of-the-week and our Poetry in the World contest. Kenneth Koch's highly anticipated COLLECTED POEMS will be released by Knopf in fall 2005. *************************************************** The idea of talking to an animal appeals to children a great deal. The whole air of mystery and magic about [William Blake's] "The Tyger" is very interesting to them too. The main question the poet asks is a question they often think about: How did something get the way it is? They ask this question about animals, about apples, about the sky and the clouds, and about themselves. Blake has an excited idea of how the tiger got to be the way it is: that a Superpowered Being gathered materials from the ocean, earth, and sky, and then pounded and twisted them all together until He had made a tiger. Blake stresses the amazingness and scariness of this Being: He has wings and can fly, can hold fire in his hand, and can control the terrible force of the tiger... The Tyger Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes! On what wings dare he aspire! What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp! When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger, Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? The poetry idea that I gave the children was "Write a poem in which you are talking to a beautiful and mysterious creature and you can ask it anything you want--anything. You have the power to do this because you can speak its secret language. "The Tyger," speaking to children's sense of strangeness and wonder, could heighten their awareness of nature and their place in it...Yes, you can talk to a stone if you wish, instead of an animal. Yes, Markus, you can write it in "octopus language." Yes, you can, instead of asking the animal questions, tell it what to do. I would stress, all the while, the part of it I thought would most inspire them: But remember, whatever you do, that you are really talking to it--really...When I praised the children's lines, it was not for their resemblance to Blake or Donne, but for what they were in themselves. ++++ Monkey Oh, you must come from a hairy god. Where do you get your funny voice? Monkey, where did you learn to climb? Monkey, how did you live to eat bananas? You feet must come from a chicken farm. --Michelle Woods ++++ The Sick Rose "O Rose, why are you sick? The little worm kills you now?" "Yes, the little worm kills me now?this is the end of me!" Up in the sky, down in the earth, "Why do you die in the light of the earth?" "I die now because the worm eats me." Up in the sky, down in the earth, the worm is crawling in the ground. Up in the sky, down in the earth, why do you die in the light of the earth. --Vivian Jenkins ++++ Little duck, little duck, how did you get those iron legs? How did you get those steel eyes? How did you get 43 ears? How does your head glow in the light? What god made you? --Edgar Guadeloupe ++++ Tiger Dog Oh, Tiger Dog, why do you eat my clothes? Oh, why do you jump on the flowers in my garden? Oh, why do you mark up my furniture? Why are you such an awful Tiger Dog? I eat your clothes because they taste good. I jump on your flowers because it makes me bounce. I mark up your furniture so it will have a design. I am a bad dog for the fun of being bad. --Wendy Hyman ************************************************** >From ROSE, WHERE DID YOU GET THAT RED by Kenneth Koch Copyright (c) 1973, 1990 by Kenneth Koch. Excerpted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. ************************************************** Related links: About Kenneth Koch: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eRQ0Er About "Rose, Where Did You Get That Red:" http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eRR0Es Pre-order Kenneth Koch's COLLECTED POEMS, coming Fall 2005: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eRS0Et A posthumous tribute to Kenneth Koch, with contributions from writers such as Ron Padgett, Barbara Guest, and Robert Creeley, including ?Popeye and William Blake Fight to the Death?--an audio recording of a public rhyming contest between Allen Ginsburg and Kenneth Koch at St Mark's Poetry Project, NYC, 9 May 1979: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eRT0Eu Kenneth Koch "On Aesthetics:" http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eRU0Ev Discuss the work of Kenneth Koch on the Knopf Poets Forum: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0dyo0Ez ************************************************* POEM-OF-THE-WEEK: Tomorrow is Friday, time to vote for your favorite poem-of- the-week (April 22-28) on the Knopf Poetry Forum: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eNx0ES The first five to post on Friday will receive a signed first edition of Camille Paglia's bestselling BREAK, BLOW, BURN. You can review the week's poems here: http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eNz0EU Poem-of-the-Week for Week 2: J. D. McClatchy's "The Orchid" Poem-of-the-Week for Week 3: A TIE! Jack Gilbert's "A Brief for the Defense" and Nancy Willard's "A Human Error" THE POETRY IN THE WORLD CONTEST: We invite you to send us photos and descriptions of how you've seen poetry celebrated out in the real world. If you are a bookseller, send in images of your in-store display. If you admire the display in your favorite bookstore, send us photos of what they did. Teachers, show us a poetry bulletin board you created. Find poetry broadsides hanging on the wall in a library. Have you found a new poetry Web site that you love? Send us the link. If you hang our poems from string in trees outside your house, make poetry kites, or serve your meals out of poetry paper plates, let us know. Surprise us. Whatever you find or choose to do, let us know about it. We will pick the five most creative tributes to poetry and post them on the Borzoi Reader. Winners will receive five books of poetry from Knopf. View the official rules here. http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/ejMc0KPbYZ0Wa0eEq0EC ---------------------------------------------------------------------- You received this issue because [EMAIL PROTECTED] is in Knopf's Poem-a-Day mailing list. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or if you received this poem as a forward and wish to subscribe, send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We welcome your feedback. Please send any thoughts or questions to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/S.QlOD/3MnJAA/Zx0JAA/yqIolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Did you get this mail as a forward? 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