When I was at Fairview Middle in Dayton, there was a girl who asked me several times for love poems. I wish I'd had this book then. Partly Cloudy: Poems of Love and Longing (Soto) is divided into two parts. The first part are poems told from the girl's point of view (A Girl's Tears, Her Songs) and the second from the boy's (A Boy's Body, His Words). Poetry is free verse and explores jealousy, tenderness, fear of rejection, joy, breaking up, humor.
Don't You See
If only you would turn
And see me. I think I am nice.
And you're nice too.
Doesn't that mean we are compatible?
And look! We go to the same
School, at the same hour,
And under the same sun.
The blossoms are fluttering
From the fruitless cherry tree.
Is this fruitless? I'm flying
In and out of your shadow,
Stepping up steps,
Down steps, slowing
For water at the drinking fountain,
And bending over to tie my shoe.
If only you would turn
And see me
Seeing you.
10 comments:
The poem you highlighted was very moving. I could just feel the longing. I'm sure it would appeal to teens, especially those who are shy and not as apt to be noticed as some of their more outgoing peers. It seems that it could be from either a male or female perspective - which section was it in?
I think this book sounds interesting how it is told from two perspectives. I would be interested to see what is different in the boys and girls poems!
HA! "I think I am nice." I like it. Good poem, the longing is there. There were a few other collections mentioned in the text along this format, it's very interesting to see the two different perspectives tied together like that. Good exposure.
I like the fact that this book has a section for boys and a section for girls. I am interested to see how different the sections are from each other. The kids who read the book can get a feeling for how the other side thinks (and feels).
I read the same book! I really feel like this book would be great for some of the teenagers I work with. Also, reading those poems reminded me of how much of my teenage life was occupied by the emotions related to relationships.
I like the poem you shared. This sounds like it would be a good addition to a school poetry collection. I also like the two different perspectives.
I enjoyed the poem that you posted. I think it really expresses well what teenagers go through. Were these poems all written by one person or were they collected and written by high school students?
The poem I shared was in the girl section but I think it could have worked in the boy's section too.
The poems were all written by Gary Soto. I'll share some books in class that are student's writing.
I really liked the poem you selected. I think I felt exactly the same way when I was in high school. It seems that teenagers could really relate to the poems in this book because there is something for boys and something separate for girls. Most teenagers experience some form of love and longing in school, so it would be great for a collection.
I wonder how it might be to divide a class into same gender groups and read the poems from the opposite gender, then discuss? I still am not a huge fan of poetry and for some reason I think I am losing my empathy for teenage angst. (Probably because it is May and one of my students just broke a $900 computer monitor!)
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