A Sneak Peek at Poetry Week

In honor and celebration of National Poetry Month, the English department is pleased to announce its line-up of special poetry events.

SPECIAL POETRY ASSEMBLY April 18

On Wednesday, April 18, there will be two simultaneous Poetry Assemblies. The upper school will attend a reading by award-winning poet Kazim Ali, while the middle school will work on a Found Poetry project in advisories.

Upper School: Kazim Ali is a poet, essayist, fiction writer and translator. He is an associate professor of Creative Writing and Comparative Literature at Oberlin College and teaches in the Masters of Fine Arts program of the University of Southern Maine. His books include several volumes of poetry, including The Far Mosque, winner of Alice James Books’ New England/New York Award; The Fortieth Day; and the cross-genre text Bright Felon: Autobiography and Cities. His novels include Quinn’s Passage, named one of “The Best Books of 2005” by Chronogram magazine, and The Disappearance of Seth, and his books of essays include Orange Alert: Essays on Poetry, Art and the Architecture of Silence, and, most recently, Fasting for Ramadan. For more information, please visit his websitewww.kazimali.com.

Middle School: Found Poetry gives us an opportunity to celebrate ordinary language, to find the richness and surprise that inhabit the words we encounter every day. Poetry often hides in the things we say, write, and read. Middle school students will mine the words we see as we move through the classrooms and hallways of Greenhills to create poems of their own. The middle school Found Poetry project will culminate in decorating the alumni forum to spell out POETRY with a collage made from the students’ poems.

MAGNETIC POETRY COMPETITION April 20 at lunch

Four students from each grade will compete in a bracket-style poetry competition. Using Magnetic Poetry Kits, students will work in teams of two to create poems on small metal sheets in timed rounds of elimination. English teachers will score poems to determine who will advance to the next round. The winning team will receive iTunes gift cards and finalists will also receive a special prize.

24 HOURS OF POETRY April 24 12:01am

On April 24, beginning at midnight, there will be an online event called 24 HOURS OF POETRY.  The goal is to see how many original poems the Greenhills community can write and post in that timeframe. The Greenhouse wiki for this event will be open to students, teachers, staff, and parents! Prizes will be awarded for the first posted poem, the funniest poem, the shortest poem, the best use of the word gryphon, the best ode to Greenhills, and the best poem about springtime.

PUBLIC POETRY April 13-27

For two weeks, April 13-27, Greenhills students will have the opportunity to participate in Public Poetry in the cafeteria. There will be a large-scale version of magnetic poetry made from 300 words printed on clear contact paper displayed on the windows of the cafeteria. Students will be able to move the words around to create poems. Public Poetry is a great way to be expressive, spontaneous, and playful with words, accompanied by the knowledge that parents, teachers, visitors, and students of all ages use the cafeteria space.

POETRY AROUND THE SCHOOL April 13-27

There will also be poetry available throughout the building. The Greenhills Library will host a poetry display of anthologies and single-author books; students will read famous poems at grade meetings and division assemblies; poems will be read in non-English classes; and the members of the upper school poetry club, SPEAK, will post poems in unexpected places around the school. You may have already seen poetry chalked on the school driveways—keep an eye out for more!

POEMS IN EVERY CLASS April 27

To close the Poetry Celebration, teachers in every subject area will be sharing poetry with their classes. This means that students will hear several poems throughout the day to reinforce the way that language not only creates bridges between disciplines of study but also fosters community here at Greenhills.

For more information about any of these events, please email the English Department Chair, Kelly Williams, atkwilliams@greenhillsschool.org.