Welcome once again to Poetry Friday! This week's round up host is Margaret Simon at Reflections on the Teche blog. Be sure to click over to read all of this week's poetry goodness.
Michelle at Today's Little Ditty blog spent National Poetry Month interviewing a plethora of talented poets. At the end of the month, Michelle randomly chose winners to receive copies of books written by her featured guests. One of those featured was Alice Faye Duncan. Because I'm an Illinois native and grew up enjoying Gwendolyn Brook's poetry at school, I was especially excited to learn that I had won a digital copy of Faye Duncan's A Song For Gwendolyn Brooks.
Although I had read plenty of Brook's work, I really didn't know too much about her early life. A Song For Gwendolyn Brooks takes readers back to her early days growing up on Chicago's south side, a beloved daughter to parents who nurtured and encouraged her love for writing poetry. Brooks was often allowed to skip chores to work on her craft, and when one of her teachers doubted that she had written something sumitted for an assignment, Brook's mother marched to the school and proclaimed her daughter's innocence and talent. This particular experience inspired Brooks to write the following:
FORGIVE AND FORGET
If others neglect you,
Forget; do not sigh,
For, after all, they'll select you
In times by and by.
If their taunts cut and hurt you,
They are sure to regret.
And if in time, they desert you,
Forgive and forget.
As the book moves forward chronologically, we see Gwendolyn grow in confidence. We see her study and learn from other great poets of the time. We see her talent explode and flourish and watch her collect the first ever Pulitzer Prize given to a black American.
This lyrical biography is a lovely mix of Faye Duncan's bluesy rhythm with Brook's own poems dotted throughout. This book is an insightful introduction to one of the world's greatest poets, and it should be on the shelf in every elementary school library.
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