A Place Inside Of Me
Woke
Zetta Elliott's A Place Inside Of Me: A Poem to Heal the Heart is on of those books where the illustrations (by Noa Denman) add immensely to the text. A Black boy (always accompanied by his ginger cat) describes the feelings that hide inside him from joy "that glows bright & warm as the sun" through fear that "seeps like poison into my dreams" and a furious anger to pride, peace, compassion, and hope "that I will use my life to help others."
The richly detailed pictures show the context. A barbershop television shows a story of a Black girl being shot. Protesters are brutally beaten by the police. Eventually there is a candle light ceremony around a shrine to the dead child.
Boys in our society are still taught to only show a limited number of "acceptable" male emotions. This narrative gives permission to experience and show a much wider range of feelings.
"In the simplest sense it [being woke] means to be aware. It means to see your surroundings and challenge how we strengthen our relationships with the government, the community, and nature. To be WOKE is to fight for your civil rights and to fight for the rights of your neighbors...The idea of being aware of your surroundings, especially in a time when we are taught to be quiet and not rock the boat, can be difficult to embrace, but this is where our freedom begins."
I recall when woke went from being a rarely used verb (Isn't it about time you woke your brother up?) to being an adjective on just about everyone's lips, often used to describe an anti racist state of grace. It became almost like a merit badge to differentiate "good" whites from the others, the racists.
I much prefer Mahogany L. Browne's definition (quoted above) from Woke: A Young Poet's Call To Justice, an anthology she coauthored with Elizabeth Acevedo and Olivia Gatwood. Rather than an attained state requiring nothing more, wokeness is active and dynamic--requiring seeing, fighting, challenging, and boat rocking.
Dynamic is also the word that best describes the book. Its poems elicit active reader engagement rather than passive admiration. Browne asks readers to contemplate what sounds like and to "live to fight for a better day." Acevedo urges us to say the names of the leaders throughout history and draw inspiration from them. Gatwood instructs us all to use all the tools in our collective toolbox to build "a house that will hold everyone."
Theodore Taylor III's illustrations are vivid, bold, and also dynamic. A girl with braces ice skating in an amazing multi colored outfit exudes confidence. Migrants trudge across a dusty desert, uncertain what awaits them at the end of their journey.
This is a wonderful way to introduce children to all the revolutionary power of poetry and maybe even inspire them to write some poetry of their own.
On a purrrsonal note, I don't know about you, but I'm really psyched for a 3 day weekend. It's been a good but tiring first week of fall semester. Eugene and I are going to camp. I'm bringing homework but it will be great being out in nature and getting a vacation from cooking. Eugene cooks or gets McDonalds or Subway when we're at camp. I went to something really cute on the mall on campus. The many student organizations were tabling. I made some great connections, saw lots of friends, and collected lots of candy. (Jules)
Jules said there was a cat on a leash there. Aren't leashes for dogs? (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the organizations that tabled, especially the ones that put out free candy!
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
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