topics: |  poetry | children

Review

River of Words is an organization founded by Pamela Michael and Robert Hass, which "trains teachers, park rangers, youth leaders and educators from around the world on ways to incorporate nature and the arts into their work with children." (p.xiii). They hold art and poetry contests and exhibit these in the kids' own communities.

This book is a selection of poems and art by children, all on the theme of water. For poems written by young kids, many pieces are surprisingly mature. In general, the poems are comparable to the schoolkid poems curated by Gieve Patel in his Poetry with young people. A big difference however is the sumptuous production and artwork interspersed creatively with the poems.

I was fortunate to have stumbled upon this elegant book at an online used book store where I picked it up for a pittance.

Excerpts

Rain Feeling : Jessica Mozes (age 7) p.1

The nap time rain
sings lullabies
And throws all kinds
of flowers on your head
shimmering stars
and rainbows

I Am a River : Natalie Lasavanich (age 14) p.15

I am liquid glass sparkling
pure and innocent.

I am the great ear of the world,
I hear the hurt, anguish, love and hate

I spy on romantic couples
eavesdrop on father-son conversations

I hear murders being plotted
see drugs being sold
I witness the slaughter of unarmed creatures

people ask me for advice, wishing
hoping I have answers

I have heard a million things and am still astonished
by what people have the gall to think of
or worse,
even do