April Book of the Month

April is National Poetry Month in Canada, and many students and teachers are celebrating in the Junior School by looking closely at a poem or a few poems of their choice. Several students have gravitated toward this anthology of poems by students, England: Poems from a School, which was released in 2018 and edited by a teacher at that school, poet Kate Clanchy. Students at Oxford Spires School speak over thirty languages and have migrated from many different countries for different reasons. Many are refugees that have experienced traumatic loss and violence. The poems they write are raw, lyrical, and beautiful. Most importantly, they speak directly from the heart in a way that teenaged readers can understand and empathize with. Here is one example by a 12-year-old poet:

 

 

and half of it is still in Syria. 

When the sun shines in Syria

the warmth flowers in my cheek.

 

And when the sun sets there

my heart remembers shadows 

and the closing of flowers.