This month’s guest teacher-writer is Anna J. Small Roseboro who helps us celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15 — October 15, a time of year to pause and reflect on the rich history, heritage, and contributions of Hispanic and Latino (LatinX) Americans to the United States. However, we share resources during this 5-day writing challenge to support plans to develop an inclusive curriculum all year long.
A Spine Poem
Today, consider “spine” as a pun, a word with multiple meanings that work in the same setting. Millions of men and women of Hispanic heritage have served as the “spine” or backbone of our nation by assuming the backbreaking and back bending work that keeps our food industry strong and enable to buy healthy food at affordable prices. A spine also is the part of a book’s jacket or cover that encloses the inner edges of the pages, facing outward when the book is on a shelf.
Process
Today, let’s honor Latinx authors whose writing contributes to the literary wealth of the United States. I invite you to create a 12-16 line spine poem based on titles of fiction or non-fiction books that tell stories of Latinx life. This simply means arranging the book titles in a way that captures an experience as a poem. Please send a jpeg of your stack of books to Sarah J. Donovan, and she’ll add it to a photo collage. If you wish, add your own words to clarify the flow.
- Alternatively, choose from the titles offered in the image below and create a found poem, which means to use the words in the lines to create a new poem.
- Or, select the one title from the image below that most resonates with you today, and create a short poem around whatever is in your heart or on your mind.
Anna’s Poem, Photo Inspirations (Inspiraciones Fotográficas)
It is Hunger of Memory that makes me pull out my photos.
Here’s one from that Spring of my senior year at the university,
In the Time of Butterflies, when I first met him.
At lunch that day, I learned about Enrique’s Journey.
Who would have thought he and I would become business partners?
Oh, another photo! This one makes me smile with understanding.
Juan looked so young that day in those ragged jeans.
He sidled up to our table and introduced himself as “I, Juan de Pareja”.
Back then, he didn’t know how to use the verb “to be” in English.
How things have changed. Just this morning, Juan dropped by the office.
He told us about Esperanza Rising to become CEO of that tech company.
Enrique suggested we send her “Congratulations!” and invite her to stop by.
Maybe she will hire us: me, Juan and Enrique.
We can design a terrific marketing program for her company.
Yes, that’s what I’ll do. The Distance Between Us is not that much.
I’ll invite them all to come to celebrate.
Hispanic Heritage Month here at The House on Mango Street!
National Hispanic Heritage Month Video Bonus
All are welcome to participate in the 5-day Open Write — from one day to all days, depending on your schedule. There are no set rules for the length of a poem, and you are free to modify or reject the prompts as you wish, allowing you to write whatever is on your mind or in your heart. We firmly believe that the best writing instructors are actual writers, and this platform offers a supportive environment for you to nurture your writing journey. Just scroll down to share your poem in the comment section. For more information about the Open Writes click here.
I choose Esparada rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan as the book I resonate with.
Esparada,
Rising?
To the occassion? above your tears?
Immigrant, brown girl.
daughter of a strong mother,
Esparada, did you rise?
for a new beginning?
or was it just a dream
Esparanda?
Puriviben, is this a play on words? When I checked the spelling, I see that “esparada” in Spanish means “swords”. Or, as what happens to me, is this a typo and you meant to enter “Esparanza”? Either way, the closing lines make me sad. Swords….a bad dream of violence. Hope…just a dream unrealized.
And that’s a purpose of poetry, to evoke emotions from the reader. Either way your poem works! Thanks for sharing.
Anna,
It is a typo. Thanks for catching it.
Esperanza Rising is a story close to my heart. Takes one transplanted girl to know one. Like hers, our famil had to adjust to changing economic life style. Unlike her, we had my our little family unit almost intact; we had to leave my older sister behind. Like her, the communications back home was few and far in between. Ending of the book always makes me wonder, is the happy ending aimed at the younger readers or there are many more happy endings than sad ones?
Coming to the grit, as a teacher, I have seen many of my hispanic kids struggling, striving and standing firm. Last year, I had a student who was unraveling due to immigration horror stories. Couple more had family breakdowns. One thing common among them was the determination of younger generation and sacrifices f older one.
Once again, thank you for your supportive comment and teaching me a new word. 🙂
I can’t seem to load an image to my post!
Here’s my titles:
Enchantee
Wild Beauties,
A conspiracy of Stars
Shatter the Sky
Brightly Burning.
Gods of Jade and Shadow
New World Rising
Nocturna
People Kill People .
I’m Not Dying with You Tonight .
Bodega Dreams:
The Girl the Sea Gave Back.
Shout (s)
The Language of Fire.
Hearts Unbroken
Carry On,
Latino USA
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Thanks for sharing your poem, Robin. Your final lines, “Hearts Unbroken/ Carry On,/Latino USA” is such a voice of triumph! How encouraging to those who may be experiencing what you describer earlier lines. Glad I kept reading!
Send image to Sarah. She can add it to your post in her role as Admin of this site.
Send it to me. Sarah.j.donovan9@gmail.com
Yes! Like Anna, those last lines really packed a punch for me. What an encouragement and message of power!
Robin,
What a powerful poem 🙂
Thank you for bringing these impactful books to my little universe. How much I need to know and learn!
Best wishes.
Tonight I pulled up a BUZZFEED list of 15 Essential Books By Latino Authors in America: https://www.buzzfeed.com/nicolasmedinamora/15-essential-books-by-latino-authors-in-america?bfsource=relatedmanual
I copied the titles and authors, which you’ll find beneath my poem, and then made a poem using only words found in the titles. I challenged myself to use at least one word from each title. (I used “plum” from “Emplumada”!)
Anna, I appreciate how your prompts this week have pushed me to explore Latino/a writers. You’ve given me a nudge to expand my bookshelves and reading lists. Thank you. Or should I say, Bless you.
Bless the lost girls.
Bless the animals, slow running.
Bless the paper butterfly.
Bless plum and mango.
Bless house, city, kingdom.
The new lightning, bless.
When beautiful, when lost, bless.
Drown me,
Bless me.
A Puerto Rican in New York by Jesús Colón
The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Álvarez
We the Animals by Justin Torres
Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcón
Drown by Junot Díaz
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Slow Lightning by Eduardo C. Corral
When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
Always Running: La Vida Loca by Luis J. Rodriguez
Kingdom Animalia by Aracelis Girmay
Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto González
Allison- You have a list loaded with books I need to scope out. I have several, but most are new to me. I’m learning a bunch! I’m intrigued by the images in the poem…lost girls…paper butterfly…and was caught by “drown me” that pulls Diaz’s Drown. That’s supposed to be his best book…I want to get that one soon.
Susie, Diaz’s “This Is How You Lose Her” was one of my favorite books I read this year. Last night as I wrote this poem, I ordered “Drown”! Looks like we’ll be reading it together!
Allison — Don’t you just love this marvelous flurry of poetry, story, cultural gusto? I’m eating this up! Sending hugs! Susie
Allison, you’ve beautifully demonstrated how such power can exist in such short form. What a beautiful invocation! This line: “When beautiful, when lost, bless” was particularly beautiful and really struck me.
Thank you, Chea. Over the weekend I read Jane Hirshfield’s poem “A Blessing for Wedding.” I invoked it when I saw the Anaya title. Thank you for your kind response to my poem.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53393/a-blessing-for-wedding
Anna, I love the story you’ve created here. I especially likke the sense of change in the poem and how you end it with an invitation to celebrate.
Also, my eighth graders read the Scholastic On the Record book about Enrique’s Journey and are fascinated by his story. I love how it opens their eyes and helps them become more empathetic.
The distance between us
Is really not so great.
After all
I still believe in fairies
And so do you—don’t you?
Once, in the time
Before you spoke the
Truth, butterflies
Spun in my stomach
My temperature rising
Just a bit; just for you.
Esperanza, eternal hope
We are fools
When love beckons, the journey
Takes us to places unintended.
I hunger for what we had
The memory of you fills the house
With what-ifs and if-onlies
And the sound of butterfly wings
Ohhhhh I love this poem, Gayle! I feel it! I was definitely a fool before. LOL! Thank you for making me remember something that I have forgotten.
The purpose of poetry: remembering something we have forgotten. <3
This is such a lovely, powerful poem.
“And so do you—don’t you?” As a J.M. Barrie fan who believes in the power of BELIEVING in fairies, I loved this line. Your use of butterflies in the middle worked to echo the fairy wings…and then when butterflies reappeared at the end, I gasped. Thank you.
OWNING YOUR NARRATIVE: A TRIBUTE TO HISPANIC AUTHORS WHO DIDN’T ALLOW AMERICA TO WRITE THEIR NARRATIVES
Teaching my fourth graders
To be the authors of their narratives
To be the definers of their identities
To be the harvesters of hope
To be dreamers
Teaching my fourth graders
To shout their stories
Until they ECHOOOOOOOoooooooooo
Beyond the boundaries of disbelief
Beyond the borders of shame
Teaching my fourth graders
About the House on Mango Street
About Red Hot Salsa
About the importance of family traditions
About Abuelita and Nana and Grammy
Who dreamed of and harvested hope
(books: Dreamers, Harvesting Hope, Echo, The House on Mango Street, and Red Hot Salsa)
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Stacey, glad to see someone else using ECHO by Pam Munoz Ryan. That is one of my new favorite books. I’d love to see high school students in US and World History reading that book and linking it to what they are learning in those courses.
Yes, I also am delighted that your fourth graders have a teacher like you introducing them solid authors and encouraging your young ones to tell their own stories! Your poem emotes your passion for teaching.
Anna, thanks so much! I have to admit, I have not read Echo. 🙁
It’s in my classroom library and I absolutely ADORE Pam Munoz Ryan. I will read it. Oh the cleansing feeling of confessing what I haven’t read but hold as a treasured possession.
I am fascinated by the notion that they didn’t allow anyone else to write their
Narrative –
Shows fierce
Independence! Love your titles.
Stacey, since you joined this writing community, I have known you as a gifted/profound poet and wordsmith. I had no idea you were also teaching fourth grade! How lucky your young students are to have you as their language/word/poet guide. Please keep teaching, but also PLEASE keep writing.
Thank you Allison! This community has been such a God-send!
Writing this poem was a blast! I loved the opportuntiy it gave me to look at some of my favorite books!
Yo, daughters of fortune and
Sisters of Eva Luna!
You may want to see your glamorous portrait in sepia
Among the woodcuts of women,
But before we were free,
Before we started saving the world
And were so far from God,
There were one hundred years of solitude.
Eventually, we developed the infinite plan.
No longer could one be called
A loose woman.
We could do what we wanted,
Even have love in the time of cholera if we wished.
Well, Bless me, Ultima,
If I ask the impossible.
I want someone to peel my love like an onion
Because
I am Aphrodite.
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There is joy in this poem. I love the energy. I especially like “peel my love like an onion” -May steal that one!
One hundred years of solitude and Love In the time
Of Cholera –
Cleverly used titles that make
me
Smile.
The flow of your poem
Is seamless and carries an unapologetic and triumphant message about the perks of being a sensual woman! No pun intended….I love this one!
Mo,
Isabelle Allende is having a day w/ your poem and Susie’s. Your poem tells a wonderful story that reads much like an expansive novel covering multiple generations, the way Allende and Marquez do in their books. “Woodcuts of women” is wonderfully alliterative.
TO THE HISPANIC WRITERS ON MY SHELVES
Threading realism and magic
transporting hopes for better lives,
mapping love journeys,
through Silent Dancing,
with the defiance of a Loose Woman,
my noisy neighbors – those writers on my shelves –
are a bit like Zafón’s
Cemetery of Forgotten Books,
till I recrack the spines and let loose the voices
and am reminded
of Llosa’s Bad Girl,
Espada’s archiving of repression and oppressions
and the resistance that can drown out The City of Coughing,
I can wander back and forth
across the borders,
sharing dreams and nightmares
that Constancia knows well
and Veronika cages in her madness.
I ferry through cockroaches on the ceiling,
through courtrooms that do not care,
on boats that refuse to moor,
jangle through the kitchen drawers
of Neruda’s Common Things,
and take note.
I hear the hurt of being “born bad” with polio,
childhood struggles,
whether on Mango Street
or in the Infinite Plan of Allende’s barrio,
or on Quixote’s idealistic quest
in a ribbon of reading
to find on This Migrant Earth
common ground
in our thinking,
imagining,
loving.
by Susie Morice
THE SHADOW OF THE WIND – Carlos Ruiz Zafón
THIS MIGRANT EARTH – Rolando Hinojosa
DON QUIXOTE – Miguel de Cervantes
VERONIKA DECIDES TO DIE – Paulo Coelho
THE BAD GIRL – Mario Vargas Llosa
CONSTANCIA AND OTHER STORIES FOR VIRGINS – Carlos Fuentes
THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET – Sandra Cisneros
CITY OF COUGHING AND DEAD RADIATORS – Martín Espada
LOOSE WOMAN – Sandra Cisneros
THE INFINITE PLAN – Isabel Allende
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA – Gabriel García Márquez
ODE TO COMMON THINGS – Pablo Neruda
SILENT DANCING – Judith Ortiz Cofer
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Susie,
I love how you take us on a journey through these books, into the fissures within and across the spines, “till I recrack the spines and let loose the voices.”
The language is so vivid in “I ferry through cockroaches on the ceiling,” as the movement through but also the two “c’s” though not the same sound have a symmetry, and the metaphor for reading, “in a ribbon of reading” is just where I love to be.
Gracias, hermana,
Sarah
I feel like one of my students, but Sarah stole my answer! She said what I wanted to say! I don’t like to read anyone else’s poem before I write mine, so I was happy to see we chose some of the same titles. I’m also happy to see a couple I haven’t read. Your poem was like a book talk for me.
Susie, the diversity of experience is felt in your poem and then the reminder that we all share common ground and seek common things.
You creatively wove the stories and I love the approach you took in writing this smattering of stories with the common thread of hopes and dreams at the end.
Susie,
The line “I recrack the spines and let loose the voices” is my favorite because it’s exactly what your poem does; it opens those books for those of use reading. Can’t help but think of Emily Dickinson’s “There is no frigate like a book / to take us lands away.” I see you crossing borders as you read.
I tried to upload my picture, but gave up trying to figure it out….
From the Books on My Shelf
The Absent Hand
Shout
Other People’s Words
The Field Guide to the North American Teenager
Turtles All the Way Down
The Inheritance of Loss
A Velocity of Being
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Just email me the photo, and I will post it. Sarah.j.donovan9@gmail.com
Thanks so much for putting including the picture for me, Sarah!
Chea, this is another beautiful example of how to use book spines to create a Found Poem with a clear message. “The Absent Hand Shout Other People’s Words” wow, that is profound. Thank you for encouraging me to use book spines to teach a found poem to my students.
Chea, your beginning lines, “The absent hand shout other people’s words” is wonderful. I also like the seeming importance of your last line. Nice!
Chea, don’t know who chose the titles of these books! Each makes me want to read each one, just because of the titles. Then when I read the way you’ve put them together in your poem, I want to read more of what you write!
My favorite lines are “The Inheritance of Loss/ A Velocity of Being” as I try to envision ways that that inherited loss can propel one forward. Wow! The power of poetry to make us think!
Chea, THANK you for this! Creating a spine poem is no easy task, but it invites us (you, me) to think hard about language choices and also about the books that reside on our shelves. You have also sparked my curiosity about titles here I haven’t read! Thank you!
Chea,
Putting “Shout” and “Other People’s Words” together is brilliant. How often do we expect students to echo a desired response? How often do students parrot the words they think we expect from them? These are the themes I see at work in your poem.
Teachers:
The first rule of punk
is caminar.
Yes.
Let us walk.
Let us move
forward,
toward
something
better.
The second rule of punk
is la línea.
Pero
tenemos que mover
across y
through
lines that
dehumanize.
Punk is a journey of
the sparrows.
Joy and protection.
Simplicity and community.
Team work y
hard work
make sparrows
change
agents.
1931 repatriation.
600,000 citizens deported.
2019 walls and borders.
2000 children in cages.
All the Stars
denied.
Last rule of punk:
step up to the plate.
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Sarah, what a strong voice of reason you have conveyed here! I love the 2nd rule of punk — “across the lines that dehumanize”! YES! Indeed! And your image with the protest sign “No Human is Illegal” is one of my favorites in the protests. Amen! You have such powerful punch with those short lines…I must take heed! I’m so wordy. And thank you for the back and forth of English and Spanish…so right! Wonderful piece! Thank you! Susie
Wham! Grand slam homerun with some stats and an aggressive directive. If Hispanic populations took all of their contributions and left, I cannot imagine where America would be. Change agents they are – who have contributed to positive change here. Love the rules of punk!
Yes! “Pero/tenemos que mover/across y/through/lines that/dehumanize.” Tenemos que; we have to; we must! I really love how the ideas walk through the lines of your poem in short (with some longer) bursts. It really spoke to me about how we can’t walk the entire distance in one go, and some forward movement will feel more substantial than others, but tenemos que – we must continue the movement. Beautiful!
Where do I begin? This is drawing me in and into so many different directions. I don’t know if I want to read each book immediately or just stare at your poem until the books speak to me. This part-
“Team work y
hard work
make sparrows
change
agents”
Wow. I fear sparrows (all birds) but this is beautiful. I don’t ever see beauty in birds.
Then this: 600,000 citizens deported.
2019 walls and borders.
2000 children in cages.
All the Stars
denied.
I am left sad at who our children see in positions of power. Thank you for this beautiful work of art.
I love how you can take these titles and weave them into a story that, sadly, we have to deal with every day now. The call for action is clear and hard to resist. Very well done!
Sarah, I must revisit this poem after exploring its literary illusions and translating a few lines. But even in my ignorant state, I felt the power of your call to action in this: “step up to the plate.”
I appreciated the quasi-contradictions here:
Punk is a journey of
the sparrows.
Joy and protection.
Simplicity and community.
Team work y
hard work
make sparrows
change
agents
I love how you find word combinations that both challenge your readers’ thinking and delight their musical ear. (You must be a poet 🙂
I sent my poem to Sarah. Some of the titles were covered with library tags, so here it is in words:
A voice from the border
The goodbye season
No promises in the wind
Coast to coast
Refugee
Sink or swim
Half a world away
Heart of a champion
A different kind of hero
Unbroken
Liberty
Harvesting hope
Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes
-Kim Johnson
I am displaying this in my school media center today to challenge students to write their own and share them! Thanks, Anna, for a great inspiration today.
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Kim, displaying your poem for students will definitely inspire them to write their own spine poem. It’s such an accessible form for students.
I really like the way your first line plays w/ the idea of telling stories and giving voices to those at the border whose stories go untold. Your poem creates a picture of heroes. The last line is a perfect frame for the first and the middle titles.
Thank you, Glenda! We got plenty of spine poetry readers today who thought this poetry was neat!
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Kim — I particularly love that you started with the VOICE and ended with HERO. That sense that through these books and our paying attention to the stories and words of our brothers and sisters who are joining this country and our communities (and have long been part of who we are) are words and stories of value. Sharing these makes us all better. Your kids are lucky to have you as a teacher! I really do mean that. Thanks for the good work you do! Susie
What a treasure! I am a fan of Found Poems but never have I tried using book spines this way. I love it. I see so much more than the spines/titles “No promises in the wind/coast to coast/refugee” perfectly connected to the message of today. But every line speaks so beautifully together and alone.
I so love how you did this with children’s books! Guess what I’m going to have to do tomorrow?!? YOur llines, “Heart of a Champion, A Different Kind of Hero, Unbroken” really spoke to me about the kind of people who are willing to undertake such dangerous journeys.
For my spine poem I took titles from books on the Barnes and Nobel website and have used B&N’s category as my title.
“21st Century Hispanic Voices”
In The House of Broken Angels,
On a shelf in the southwest corner
Of this home we call our land,
The Book of Unknown Americans is
Filled with stories of Her Body and Other Parties.
In The Distance recedes our memory of
The places Where We Come From.
Now The People of Paper who themselves
Arrived paperless on these edenic shores,
Greeted and befriended in this Amigoland,
Offer Not even a Glass of Water,
Only The Barbarian Nurseries.
“The Regional Office Is Under Attack”!
Says the man shouting into
The Veins Of The Ocean.
Into The Beautiful North, our el Norte, families
Seek freedom, refuge, promise but
Find cages, rejection, a land lost.
We The Animals must know
This Is How You Lose Her and cut The World In Half
At Night We Walk In Circles.
In the daylight we read Names On a Map.
We are The United States of Banana republic
Fighting The Last War until
This Time Tomorrow in these Unending Rooms.
—Glenda Funk
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Glenda — How effective these lines are in taking me through not only those spine titles, but also I feel that hope drain away toward the end as we cut “The World in Half” with the loss of our once American sense of “Amigoland” and kindness. Heaven help us, I hope the spine poems we write in the future reflect and shift to the humanity we really are deep in our bones. May we have titles of possibility and strength and collaboration and community. My favorite words in your poem are “freedom, refuge, promise,” as I remain hopeful that this will quickly be who we are again. I really appreciate that you are sticking in there with your posts … yea for taking to B & N online! — even though you’re out on the retirement trail this week! Susie
Cutting the world in half is a powerful image in your poem. I love the way your titles make sense and create the image of people who are determined to have their voices heard.
This is such a creative approach! This line “We are The United States of Banana republic” made me choke on my tea because I’ve never read a truer statement in my life. As a rural out-migrant who still feels pretty lost in the city, this line “In The Distance recedes our memory of/The places Where We Come From” really got me too.
Glenda, first, kudos to all your traveling poems this week! Your dedication is inspiring.
Your poem is heartbreakingly accurate. I think it is a nice companion to Sarah’s spine poem today.