I spent half of Thursday video-conferencing with students from Clover Hill High School in Midlothian, Virginia. We discussed poetry. The students, all sophomores, were incredible – bright, engaged, and very kind. I was honored to participate. Truly a highlight of the year. Their teacher, Heather Curran (oh how I wish I’d had a teacher as committed and interesting) reported this via her blog:
Anxiety will be the death of me. I am convinced of this. I will come up with a great idea for such-and-such a project, will start the process of going through the steps of getting the idea off the ground. I’ll do the research, start the planning, buy the materials.
And then, all of a sudden, the final product is about to be revealed and I stop. Dead. In my tracks. Insert as many cliches as you want. I won’t finish off whatever it is that I am doing because I am nervous that….
This is the part that destroys me.
I don’t even know what I’m nervous about. But I am. I am internally and emotionally cringing with wracking anxiety that something will….
I can’t even finish the sentence. I don’t know if it’s about failure or some other nebulous point. But the anxiety is there.
So many…
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O at the Edges 
Bob, this is awesome, for both of you! WP has been an amazing way to interact with living, breathing poets. It’s awesome that you put yourself out there to Heather’s students. I didn’t see where I could comment directly to Heather, please tell her I wish that I could have had a similar opportunity in HS. Through you, she’s given her students the keys to understanding the importance of going with their own interpretations. Lovely on many levels!
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It was quite the experience! The template she uses “hides” the comment function – it’s indicated by a little white circle following the post. Numbers within the circles inicate the number of comments. I’m certain Heather would appreciate hearing directly from you, but I’ll pass on your message, too. And thank you!
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I’m also on mobile, which can complicate such things as “hidden” buttons. I’ll look again.
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Oh, I understand. The mobile experience is often frustrating.
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Wonderful, Bob! Great to see you so creatively busy. I had a poet come to English class in either junior or senior year, and I wrote a horrible poem about water for it. I wish I could remember more about the experience, other than the feeling that poetry was still a complete mystery and I had so, so far to go to learn how to express myself lyrically. So, instead, I’ll say a heartfelt thank-you for doing this for today’s students. Anyone who says poetry is dead, is not honestly looking [very hard] for it.
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I’m fortunate to be able to devote so much time to poetry and writing. It’s taken many years to get here, and I don’t want to waste another minute. I never met a “real” poet until I was 24-years old, and at that time I couldn’t have named five living poets. Having the opportunity to discuss poetry with young people INTERESTED in poetry was amazing.
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Thank you so much for sharing this! It was inspirational to read, and I so admire the support and encouragement that you are passing on to others.
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It is such a pleasure to share my enthusiasms! Cudos to Heather Curran for making this possible.
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How wonderful for everyone involved in this–you, students, and their teacher!
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The students were so very bright. I learned a lot, and have ideas to improve the next iteration. And it was fun!
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🙂
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What a wonderful opportunity for you to spend that time with those students and their teacher, Robert. It must be very encouraging for them to have you as a poet there to share your creative talent and the art of poetry. Lovely to read and thanks for sharing!
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It was incredible, Iris. I’m very grateful to have been able to participate. The students were spectacular! Certainly much further along the literary path at their age than I was.
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It feels so good to see you spreading your magic far and wide. Good for you, Robert, good for you.
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If the opportunities arise, I’ll certainly volunteer. I’m pretty sure that Heather and I will collaborate again next year, but repeating it elsewhere would be the icing on the cake.
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Very generous of you to share your passion and talent. Can the world be saved by poets?
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It was truly my pleasure. Whether the world can be saved by poets is another matter. I prefer to act as if it can. 🙂
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well done! congratulation!
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Thank you. It was truly an honor to take part.
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Amazing! I wish classes were more like that when I was in school.
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As do I! But I believe that the foundation set by a great teacher makes all the difference.
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