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From April 3 to April 17, Performance
Poet Tracie Morris served as the poet-in-residence
at East Side House Settlement
in the South Bronx, and met with ten high-school
students who were interested in poetry over the course
of three weeks. Typically, the National Book Foundation
donates the authors' books to each participant in advance
of their visit. For this residency, Tracie wanted the
students to meet her without any preconceived ideas.
As the students streamed into the room for their first
meeting, Tracie initiated a conversation with each one
by asking their names, which schools they attended,
and their hobbies. During each visit, she introduced
the participants to works of other poets,  discussed
poetry techniques, interpreted poems, and conducted
workshops. If participants heard poems that they liked,
they made copies of them at the end of the session.
"I'm impressed with the high-school students' interpretations of the difficult poems that I read," said Tracie. At the end of the residency, the Foundation donated a set of three poetry books to each student and to the site library. Many of the poems that Tracie read to the group were from the books donated to the students.
In addition to meeting with the high-school students, Tracie also met a group of elementary students for a few hours. She read books written by Dr. Seuss and poems written by other authors. One male student was in awe when Tracie read a poem written in Spanish and English. He admitted that he was not aware that you could mix the two languages in poetry. Many of these young students participated in their first poetry workshop and all of them read their work. One kindergarten student, who couldn't spell yet, wrote the alphabet and read that to the group.
Tracie ended her visit at East Side by meeting with
GED students ranging from late teens to thirty-years
of age. She spoke to the twenty students about the importance
of being descriptive when writing, and used rap artists'
works as examples of the most descriptive rappers.Tracie
read poems and gave the students the opportunity to
interpret them. She ended her session by giving advice
on taking the GED, told them the importance of being
relaxed, and introduced the group to breathing exercises
as a way to relax.
 SCAN/Mullaly,
located in the Crotona section of the Bronx ,
was another settlement house visited by Tracie from
May 8 through May 9. She conducted a two-day poetry
workshop with twenty-five eleven through thirteen-years-olds
in the after-school program. Each participant was given
a copy of Listen Up! Spoken Word Poetry. Over
the course of the visit, Tracie read her poems published
in Listen Up! and discussed what inspired her
to write them. The students were given the opportunity
to write their own poems. Even though all wrote, a few
were shy about reading their work in front of their
peers. After encouragement from Tracie and fellow peers,
all students eventually read their pieces. The participants
made requests to hear Tracie recite her poems from Listen
Up! and she obliged. One student said, "I didn't
know that poems could make you tap your feet."
The parent group at SCAN also met with Tracie. She read poems from Lucille Clifton's Blessing the Boats. "The group was surprised that Lucille's poems were accessible to them," stated Tracie, "and this lead to a discussion of the joys and pains of being a woman." The one male in the group of six females commented that now he has a better understanding of women.
Ballantine and W.W. Norton generously donated books to the Foundation,
which were given to the participants.
Photo credit: Sherrie
Y. Young
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Tracie
Morris at East Side House Settlement
