Godine and Farrar, Straus and Giroux are two publishers that report little growth in poetry sales over the same period. 2. These outlets range from well-established magazines like The Kenyon Review and Ploughshares to hand-stapled newsletters. 3. But still not easy. A piece on National Public Radio's All Things Considered in the spring of 1996 indicates that many poets, perhaps most, still wait tables, sort mail, tend bar, pump gas, harvest mint, and even taste-test scotch for a living. Note 1. The "cultural literacists" will surely take issue with this, but people like Harold Bloom and William Bennett have probably spent less than ten authentic minutes in a public school classroom in the last twenty years. Two points: (1) I do not favor banishing the canonical poets outright, but I would limit them to the classes for which they are appropriate. And (2) I do not propose a watered-down curriculum in poetry. I propose one that is intellectually challenging and emotionally engaging at the same time. , II Selection 25 3 Selecting Poetry to Teach Three Poems One of the biggest barriers to the successful teaching of poetry in today's schoolsespecially to students' liking itis our choice of what to teach. Consider, for example, the following poems about death: Death, Be Not Proud John Donne Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For, those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow; Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then, from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. 42 Teaching Poetry in High School may prefer the more subtle poetic humor of Dorothy Parker and John Updike or the satire of a Tom Lehrer. Cr.gg Prelutsky for for Adults (and Young Adults) Along with Shel Silverstein, Jack Prelutsky has long been the indisputable poet of choice among children, who love his outrageous humor in books like The New Kid on the Block: Poems and Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep. By the time these same kids reached high school, though, Prelutsky was passeuntil 1991, when he came out with There'll Be a Slight Delay and Other Poems for Grown-ups. The title itself may attract adolescents, but if it. doesn't, some of the poems will, especially "The Dreaded Hemorrhoid," "Computer, Computer," "A Staunch Republocrat," and "I Watched a Televangelist." Be forewarned: all of the poems are fun, but a few, like "They Did It in the Shower," are rated R. The book is published by William Morrow and Company. Strong emotion: As teachers, we have an obligation to lead students away from an insistence upon excessive sentimentality in poetry, but young adults ...
