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THE BREAD OF
LIFE:
-Children & Poetry in
Non-Traditional Places
There are many of us who
believe that poetry is more important to our lives and our community's
survival than most people think. I have often pondered the question of
importance in this particular art form that is so often placed at the
lowest rung of the arts' ladder. I am continually asked, by students,
interviewers, co-workers, and even poets of our community, "Why is poetry
so important in the late 20th century?" And, "Why has poetry become so
popular in Metro Detroit and throughout the country, especially with
children and teens?" I'm not sure I know all the answers to these oft
asked questions, but I have some ideas to share:
Poetry is the one art form
that many of us seem to count on to see us through the troubles, struggles
and desperate moments of our lives. It is a process that involves a basic
set of tools: paper, pencil and emotions. Poetry is what we do when
someone close to us dies, makes us angry, sad, or happy. It is what people
do when they're lonely, down and out, left all alone in the big dark minus
sign of the world or fighting the good fight. It's as simple and as
difficult as that. For many people in Detroit, the reality of struggle for
hope, prosperity and longevity have long helped to define us, sustain us
and shape us through the hopeless days of layoffs, plant closings,
outsourcing, and union busting in Post-Industrial America. I do not
believe that this struggle is limited to Detroit or even the Midwest. This
struggle rages full on in many American communities from Los Angeles to
New York City. However, and through it all, it is poetry that puts us in
touch with ourselves when everyone (friends, family, politicians,
corporations and government) has abandoned us. Urban decay, racism and
high unemployment have long burdened Metro Detroit and urban residents
everywhere, yet through it all, Americans continue to fight, and get up
again. Over the past ten years, poetry seems to have played a major role
in re-building the American spirit, strengthening our character and
providing us with the truth and vision for a new future. This phenomenon
can be seen in the many area bars, cafes and coffeehouses that feature
literary events, but more importantly the poetry renaissance is occurring
in schools, and after school care programs at YMCAs across North America
and everywhere where children live and/or spend much of their time:
domestic abuse shelters, youth facilities, homeless shelters, runaway
shelters, etc. In Detroit we have a world famous in-progress art project
where children from throughout the city are encouraged to participate in
creating and adding to the project. This in-progress piece, known as The
Heidelberg Project, takes up more than one city block of abandoned houses
and empty lots. It has been transformed into an ongoing art exhibit built
from the materials of everyday life with liberal splashes of poetry from
community children. We in Detroit see The Heidelburg Project as a
contemporary living monument to poetry, art, culture, humanity and
diversity. The world famous Diego Rivera's Murals in the Detroit Institute
of Arts still stand as an artistic witness and historical statement of
both Detroit's and America's early 20th century struggles between class
and industry. If the words of famous American working class poet and
activist Muriel Rukeyser are true that "The fear of poetry is an
indication that we are cut off from our own reality," then by America's
highly visible and accessible literary arts scene, many people, young and
old, are showing no fear of our reality: past, present or future.
I first came face to face
with my "fear of poetry" several years ago while visiting Chicago to do a
series of poetry readings. A close friend of mine invited me to go with
him to an afternoon poetry reading in The Loop. This was not an unusual
offer since much of my life has been about poetry, but I didn't realize
the true lesson of the word I was about to encounter. I'll never forget
that spring day at Chicago's Harold Washington Cultural Center where my
life and view of poetry were to be forever changed. The program was a
group reading by several orphaned children who lived in a Northside
orphanage and who had recently participated in a creative writing program
sponsored by Poets & Writers, Inc. Each child came to the microphone to
present his or her poem or song. Towards the end of the program, a child
of about nine quietly and carefully walked to the microphone and read a
poem that he had entitled "For My Mother." The poem poetically described
how much he still deeply cared for his mother even though she had
abandoned him, later to end up doing time at Cook County Jail on drug
possession charges. The boy ended his poem by tearfully reciting these
lines, "My mother /My mother / My mother / I'll love you / Forever." I was
taken aback. Even though I had been around poetry ever since I was 7 or 8
years of age, I thought to myself in the lonely darkness of that recital
hall that I really didn't know anything. Here was an orphaned child who
had latched onto the art of poetry to save his life. I heard his words and
I witnessed real poetry in motion for the first time. I thought to myself
that if I had been an orphaned child, I might have been too caught up in
the sadness, desperation, and hurt to be thinking about writing any poetry
or dealing with art. But that wasn't the case for these kids. At that very
moment, I then flashed back to something I had heard the great poet and
novelist Alice Walker recite from one of her poems: "Poetry saved my
life!" It suddenly all made sense to me. I came back to Detroit ready to
take some kind of role in helping to make poetry accessible to the
community. I realized that poetry was not an exclusive art form only for
academics and college students. It occurred to me that the future of
poetry was not in the hallowed halls of academia at all, but rather in
homes, the after-school care programs, the community centers, the public
libraries, the churches, the union halls and, in some cases, the streets
of our nation. This is the case already with The Writer's Voice in Detroit
and Writers Corp USA in Washington, D.C. I believe it will be the children
and adults of our working class (urban and rural) communities who will
fill the writing workshops, the local poetry readings, the museums and the
art classes at YMCAs and community centers. All the intellectual people in
the world couldn't put the world back together again, but poetry, art and
the working class majority seem to realize that poetry offers us a clearer
sense of truth and community.
These days I spend much of
my time as the Director of the Arts & Humanities for the Metropolitan
Detroit YMCA and The YMCA's Writer's Voice, raising funds and planning
ways to start more creative writing workshops for children and adults in
many non-traditional venues across the Metro Detroit area. I am blessed to
have the help and support of Donald and Hilda Vest (owners and publishers
of the nationally acclaimed African American Broadside Press-founded in
the early 1960's by the great Dudley Randall). Together, we have developed
two significant community based programs that have had a major impact on
many children and adults across the Metropolitan Detroit area, and, as of
the summer of 1997, we expanded the program throughout the state of
Michigan. The two major programs are, The Detroit Public Library's
Poet-in-Residence Summer Library Program, and The Vision of Words
Non-Traditional Venues Writing Workshop Program. These two programs have
become widely attended literary workshop programs for both children and
adults at every City of Detroit Library, several suburban and out of state
libraries, as well as literary programs at many area domestic abuse
shelters, youth homes, mental health facilities, retirement homes, union
halls, and at various health facilities for the terminally ill. This year
The YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit will offer a new Arts & Humanities
Program entitled The Crossing Borders Arts Program that will bring all of
the arts (writing, painting, dance, music, photography and more) to all of
the 16 Detroit area YMCAs and selected community centers. It is amazing to
think that all of this arts' programming came through the poetry
renaissance that started in America in 1987. The literary arts throughout
the Detroit area and the entire country continue to grow and blossom in
many positive ways and in many different directions. Maybe the answer to
those oft asked questions can best be responded by contemplatively
observing and actively participating in the many nationally available
literary arts activities and programs. From the nightly open mike poetry
readings at area coffeehouses and bars, to the monthly Poetry Slam in
rural and urban areas across the USA, to the many different weekly poetry
radio and cable television programs, poetry is reaching more people of all
ages than ever before in our national history of the arts. Working class
people, and children in particular, seem to profoundly understand that art
is one way to discover the truth that is needed to enrich our daily lives.
Poetry lives in Detroit and everywhere for the same reason that people
have refused to roll over and die in Post-Industrial America. Poetry lives
because it is one of the tools we now use to teach our children in their
search for the truth, for justice, and for a better understanding of the
realities of the every day struggle to live honest lives in progressive
communities. We've learned in Detroit that more is accomplished when we
work together (in the true union spirit), than when we separate ourselves
from each other. Poetry, and all art, brings us closer together in a
community spirit to discover who we really are. In more ways than we'll
ever know, poetry is, indeed, the bread of life. Just ask the children and
adults in our many city and suburban arts programs, or just ask those
children of that Northside Chicago orphanage. Poetry is important because
we are important, and our struggle is depicted in the language of our art.
For more information on
the various art programs that are offered throughout the Detroit community
call The Writer's Voice at The YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit at
(313)267-5300 Extension 338 (anytime) or e-mail its director at
MLLiebler@aol.com. You can also
check The Writer's Voice Home Page on the Internet at
http://www.ymca-artsdetroit.org.
M.L. Liebler has a web site at
http://www.mlliebler.com.
Two recent and excellent, highly recommended books are available on this
subject: June Jordon's Poetry for the People and Ross Talarico's
Spreading the Word: Poetry & The Survival of Community in America
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