Mice see potatoes!

This morning I finished my second of two visits this week to Anne McKenna's Grade 7s and 8s at City View Alternative School here in Toronto. (Margaret Christakos set this up for me — thanks, Margaret!) On Wednesday, I did a talk and reading for each of the two classes, and today I did sound poetry workshops. The Wednesday sessions were a challenge, as the kids didn't know me yet, but they asked smart questions, had some great comments. Today they really stepped up to the plate for the sound poetry. It was exhausting but exhilirating. What amazing students.

The differences between the Grade 7s and the Grade 8s was sort of astonishing, though. Wow, I didn't remember how much kids changed at that age. The two experiences were wildy diverse, but each had its own pleasures. We ended each session by creating a two-line collaborative poem to form a chant around.

The kids wrote the poems. They're gorgeous and surprising. And here they are:

Grade 7:

Flaming water dancing in glue
Mice see potatoes

Grade 8:

Lemon lime she wrote while dreaming
Made it big with thoughts

And then their chants were sublime, as was so much of their other improvised performance this morning. I always enjoy visiting schools, but sometimes I get to leave the gigs walking on clouds.

This afternoon I'm driving up to Barrie to work, for the entire weekend, with a group of eight businessguys who have an annual retreat in cottage country. I'll be leading them through poetry, autobio, and fiction over the course of the three days. I think I'll skip sound poetry, though. Unless they're into that sort of thing.

Have a good weekend.

Over and out.