pimblr.com

See, I never thought much whenever a known poet took interest in a lesser known, up-and-coming poet. Not until I met Chase Berggrun, a 17-year-old poet who lives in Yarmouth and goes to the Sturgis Charter Public School on Main Street, Hyannis. Watching this young man move up amongst the ranks of the poets is a phenomenal event to eyewitness. It is as moving as meeting Gwen Brooks was, for different reasons. I despise the word “protégé,” but must admit having a young poet around to offer advice to certainly elevates my spirit.
Chase is a funny kid. He had been threatening to show up at The Black Spot poetry open mic (the last Thursday of the month) for some time. His mother Susan Russell, a friend of mine, had been calling me, asking that I encourage her son to pursue his writing. She gave me his cell phone number, and I stopped by the house a couple of times to talk with him. Chase had been writing poems for four years, and finally showed up at The Black Spot this past January. Everyone loved him.
The poetry that Chase writes is short, refreshing in a day and age when Slam poetry and Hip-hop, with a leaning toward performance, spout poems as long as songs on the radio. But Chase’s poems work on the page, and are easily remembered. There is something to be said for brevity, and Chase Berggrun has it down to a science.
After that first open mic, Chase used the resources available to him at Sturgis to print up his first chapbook. At his second open mic, he had a table with a book display going on. Sweet. Every artist should take a course in business, except Chase. He’s done quit well in figuring out how to turn poetry into a 100 percent margin of profit, and that’s unheard of.

barnstablepatriot.com

SPRINGFIELD — Standing before a class of 20-plus Maple Elementary third-graders, Maria Avila reads with the poise and enthusiasm of a seasoned teacher, even stopping on occasion to ask the children a question or remark on something silly.
She gets tripped up only once — over “bow wow,” the only English word she comes across in her Spanish-language version of a book of children’s poetry. She pronounces it “boe-woe,” laughing because she knows she didn’t get it right.
Avila didn’t always have such confidence. For her and a dozen other Hispanic parents who read stories at Maple, it’s taken time to grow comfortable at the head of the class.
Helping Spanish-speaking families feel comfortable, welcome and valued is a primary aim of Maple’s Family Bridges/Puentes de Familias program, which began in earnest in the fall of 2006, spearheaded by English Language Learner teacher Zehra Greenleaf.
The program encompasses a range of activities, but at its core are classroom readings, scheduled once every couple of months. Hispanic parents (mostly mothers) stand side-by-side with teachers, taking turns reading storybooks — the teacher in English, the parent in Spanish. Afterward, the pair lead the children in a craft — typically something related to the story and Hispanic culture.
On this day, Avila and student teacher Gina Pearson read “From the Belly­button of the Moon and Other Summer Poems,” a whimsical compilation featuring sunflowers, summer storms and a bi­lingual dog that barks in English (“bow wow!”) and Spanish (“guau guau!”). Then they pass out orange and yellow construction paper circles and ovals, and the kids use glue sticks to create their sunflowers.
Near the front is 8-year-old Giovanni Avila, Maria’s son. Having his mother come in to read to his class (this is her fourth appearance) makes him proud and happy, he says, “because I love her so much.”

registerguard.com

“O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!” a character chortles “in his joy” in Lewis Carroll’s poem, “Jabberwocky.” Thursday promises to be a “frabjous day,” launching the first national Poem in Your Pocket Day, which New York has celebrated since 2002.
Join in by carrying a poem in your pocket and pausing to read it during the day. Copy down poems for friends and family, too. The American Academy of Poets at www.poets.org makes it easy by providing short poems to print out. It’s all part of April’s National Poetry Month, for which you’ll find 30 more ideas and activities at the Web site.
Invite children to celebrate the day and month. Lewis Carroll’s poem is a perfect place to start with the stunning picture book version illustrated by Christopher Myers, titled Jabberwocky. Myers re-imagines the poem by setting it on an urban street. Readers, told to “Beware the Jabberwock,” see a huge basketball player who takes on a much smaller hero in a game of one-on-one. The vivid, angular pictures give the famous poem a new twist.
For elementary school — and even middle school — readers who like their poetry and pictures humorous, two new collections will have them chortling. Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky has paired up with the incomparable illustrator, James Stevenson, to create My Dog May Be a Genius. Bouncing rhymes and light-hearted themes prevail throughout the 150 pages from this popular poet. Stevenson’s droll sketches add to the humor. The combination will win fans even among children who think they don’t like poetry
Similar in theme and even more outrageous in humor is Alan Katz’s Oops!, with drawings by Edward Koren. Underpants make their appearance on the first page and bathroom humor emerges often in the hundred-plus pages of verse. Scruffy, cheerful characters by Koren, the erstwhile Brown University art professor whose cartoons appear in The New Yorker, extend the jokes. Many children already love Katz’s earlier Take Me Out of the Bathtub and Other Silly Dilly Songs, which sets funny words to well-known tunes.

projo.com