Authors: Anastacia-Reneé, Ariana Benson, Mary Beth Cancienne, Leona Sevick, James Smethurst

Target Group: Undergraduate

Framing Questions – “I, Identity, Legacy”

• What has been the contribution of the Furious Flower Poetry Center?
  • History, liberation, etc.
• How can we invite students to consider poetry as a way to explore themselves and their lives? Note: a way to hook undergraduates: writing the “I,” identity, and legacy.
  • Identify and list the poems that are about writing the “I.”
  • Where are we now, and where have we come from?
  • What is your creation story in these poems?

Generative Writing Prompt

Consider this prompt as an effective way to discuss issues of identity and to invite students to think about the multiple layers of meaning behind particular metaphors.

What would you be in a garden? How does this relate to your family history?

Poems

From Furious Flower: Seeding the Future of African American Poetry

• “self-portrait with no flag” by Safia Elhillo (pp. 36-37)
  • I poem
• “Fish Fry” by Remica Bingham-Risher (p. 28)
  • no over reliance on “I”–still writing about the self. A lesson in form
• “For the Dead Homie” by Danez Smith (pp. 130-132)
  • in comparison to “Fish Fry”–identity
• “My Resistance is Black” by DéLana R.A. Dameron (p. 187)
  • also talk about form–what is this? Is this a poem? What do you make of the big spaces in the poem? It’s an “I” and “you” poem
• “Sure, You Can Ask Me about Hip-Hop” by Alan W. King (pp. 244-245)
  • Learning how to teach an I poem. Teach with Diane Burns poem?
• “The Root” by Derrick Weston Brown (pp. 87-89)
  • legacy and form–haibun
• “Let My Anger Be the Celebration We Were Never Supposed to Have” by Natasha Oladokun (p. 118)
  • legacy; do with recordings of Hughes, Brooks, Baraka…
• “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” by avery r. young (p. 143) 
  • writes about I, identity, and legacy–all three! Can also talk about form

Reading Exercise

Identify and consider the pronouns in “self-portrait” and “Fish Fry.”

• How are the pronouns used differently?
• Is there any change in the way pronouns are used throughout the poem?
• What is the writer trying to accomplish?
• Notice the active “I” vs. observing “I.” What significance does this distinction hold?

Writing Prompts

• Consider the major “rites of passage” in one’s life. How are these rites of passage individual and communal? Can you produce eight lines that speak to rites of passage?
• What is your soundtrack for the week?
  • pick a form–14 lines?
• What is your season today?
  • give a form–haibun?
• Explain the form of haibun:
  • “More than the Birds, Bees, and Trees: A Closer Look at Writing Haibun”
  • Poem Analysis: Haibun 

Revision Exercises

• Rewrite one of your poems after rereading the poems we looked at in class.
• Flip the order of the lines to see how it feels. 

Part One

Writing the “I”: Exploring Personhood (the internal, life experiences, family histories, etc.) and What Makes You Uniquely You

• Read these two poems:
  • “self-portrait with no flag” by Safia Elhillo (p. 36)
    • I poem
  • “Fish Fry” by Remica Bingham-Risher (p. 28)
• Discuss: How do the poets resist overreliance on the “I” while still writing about the self? Consider the variations/similarities in form.
• Complete the following reading exercise: Look for the pronouns in “self-portrait” and “Fish Fry.”
• Consider and discuss the following questions:
  • How are pronouns used differently?
  • Is there any change throughout the poem (from one stanza to the next, from the beginning of the poem to the end)?
  • What is the writer trying to accomplish?
  • When does the poet use the active “I” vs. the observing “I?” What do you notice?

Part Two

Writing the “Identity”: Exploring Belonging to Groups (racial, ethnic, gendered, generational, etc.) and Cultures

• Read these two poems:
  • “For the Dead Homie” by Danez Smith (pp. 130-132)
    • in comparison to “Fish Fry”—identity
  • “My Resistance is Black” by DéLana R. A. Dameron (p. 187)
• Discuss: Form—what is this? Is this a poem? What do you make of the big spaces in the poem? It’s an “I” and “you” poem.
• Complete one of the three following free-write prompts:
  • Write about a personal rite of passage. What sights do you see, what do you smell, hear, taste, feel? Why is it important to you? Who were you before the rite of passage, and how did you change after?
  • What is your soundtrack for the week? In 14 lines, list the sounds you’ve heard, the music that is the background of your life, the voices that have spoken to you or that reverberate in your head.
  • How would you describe the season (fall, summer, spring, winter) that you’re in today? What does this reveal about how you’re feeling, what you’ve been thinking about, what your world looks like, what you want it to be like?

Part Three

Writing the “Legacy”: Exploring Poetic and Personal Lineages, Global Histories and Events, and Ancestors (i.e. which stories have made yours possible?)

• Read these two poems:
  • “Sure, You Can Ask Me about Hip-Hop” by Alan W. King (pp. 244-245)
  • “The Root” by Derrick Weston Brown (pp. 87-89)
• Discuss: How do these poets understand themselves as part of a lineage? What are they inheriting? What do they hope to leave behind? What influences from the past inform their writing and their work?
  • Learning how to teach an I poem. Teach with Diane Burns poem? legacy and form—haibun
• Writing exercise: Have students turn what they’ve written from the above prompts into a haibun.

Conclusion

How can all the kinds of written “I” work together in one poem?

• Read these two poems:
  • “Let My Anger Be the Celebration We Were Never Supposed to Have” by Natasha Oladokun (p. 118)
    • legacy; do with recordings of Hughes, Brooks, Baraka…
  • “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” by avery r. young (p. 143)
    • writes about I, identity, and legacy—all three! Can also talk about form.
• Revision exercise: Have students “flip” their haibun—rewrite the poem beginning with the last sentence, then the second-to-last sentence, and so on, until the entire poem is flipped
  • try it with the haiku as well!

Visuals:

• Amiri Baraka and Askia Touré Furious Flower
  
• Gwendolyn Brooks at JMU