Stormy Seas, A Crack in the Sea, and Freedom Over Me
Persona Poems
A Crack in the Sea poem by Madeleine Campbell
I am Putnam, the Raft King.
I live in the Second World, more specifically, the Second World.
Raft World is a place that is big, but feels small.
I know my people and my people know me.
Boats are docked, tree's grow.
The warm air hangs heavy when the sunset melts into the ocean.
Raft World is all I have ever known to be home.
I wonder what the First World is like.
I hear my mother explaining to me why she can't stay here with me.
I see her beautiful face and vibrant red hair walking away from me as a child.
I want closure, to know how she could leave her only son.
I am as broken as shattered glass.
I am Putnam, the Raft King
confused and searching.
I wonder if I wasn't enough for my mother.
I feel like if I had been stronger, smarter, braver she would have stayed with me.
I taste a salty tear running down my cheek and onto my lips.
I worry I will die believing my own mother didn't love me.
I understand that as a King, I am supposed to push back against these feelings of inadequacy.
I am Putnam, the Raft King
insecure and fearful.
I say that Pip can help me find my mother.
I believe that the fish know where the portal is.
I dream about seeing my mother again, and finding answers.
I try to tell my people that the First World is where we are meant to venture to.
I hope I am not selfishly leading them.
I was once a young boy, tormented by uncertainty.
But now, I am a taking charge of my life.
I am Putnam, Raft King.
For this poem, I used Dr. Frye's persona poem model (I Am poem). I chose to use this model first because it has been years since I have written a poem, I and needed to kickstart my creativity in regards to writing a poem. One of my favorite parts of using Dr. Frye's "I Am poem" outline was how much room it gave for a deep sense of connection to the text. According to the article titled 'The Voices of Children: Re-imagining the Internment of Japanese Americans through Poetry" I Am poems are "...written in the first person where the poet assumes the identity of the poem’s subject. Through imaginative entry, the poet becomes the person, place, animal, or object about which he/she is writing" (Frye and Hash 2013). The beginning of each line of poetry connected to the senses, or something that the character felt in his or her emotions, under the surface of their actions. I loved how the "I Am" poem invites the reader further into experiencing the characters, as they write from a characters perspective.
I chose to write about Putnam because I thought it would interesting to write about what could be happening in the king's heart and mind aside of the reputation he has to uphold as king. Because Putnam is a king, readers (and those in the book) might be under the impression that he is incredibly strong, even unbreakable. Although Putnam is king, he struggles with abandonment issues from his mother leaving him at a young age. Putnam's obsession with finding the first world leads him to take action with taking Pip to Raft World. It is always really interesting to see a character that is supposed to be in a place of leadership being vulnerable and truthful.
Stormy Seas poem by Madeleine Campbell
Sometimes I wonder what my life would be like if Afghanistan hadn't been controlled by the Taliban.
I, Najeeba, imagine myself learning to read in my home country.
My worries being small.
I would sit in the kitchen with my mother while she cooks, smelling her spices and listening to the clinging and clanging of the pots and pans.
But that wasn't my story.
Instead, I was forced to leave, to get on a boat.
My brothers and sisters joined me as we left the only home I have ever known.
I'm seasick, homesick and feel anxious,
The boat is small, I was expecting a boat as big as the Titanic.
But that wasn't my story.
A hole explodes in our boat.
We see others at sea, we pray that this means we will be saved.
The American Sailors tell us they will fix our boat if we turn about, we let them fix it.
We turn back to home, but we decide, there is not option to go home.
I wish we had the luxury to back to our country.
But that wasn't my story.
In Australia, we are not better off.
We are under a new Taliban, one that treats us like dogs.
The guards laugh.
We crowd around a TV, more only way to be entertained.
Big Brother is the show we watch.
They are crowded into a small space too, only no guards.
I wish that I could have a life like I watch on TV.
But that wasn't my story.
The detention center is not permanent.
I know this now, as mother says we will be leaving in a few days.
I don't know where we are going, and the worry keeps me up at night.
I think of my days, running carefree with my family, laughing at simple things.
I think of how the Taliban stole my childhood.
I think of how the Taliban stole my home.
But the Taliban won't steal my future.
That will not be my future.
For my second poem, I felt confident enough to write a persona poem with my own inspiration, with a nod to Dr. Frye's poem that had repetition in the last line. In this poem, I walked through the Najeeba, a girl who has a story in Stormy Seas. Najeeba is forced to leave her home in Afghanastan and heads in a tiny boat to Australia. The trip doesn't go as smoothly as planned, and turns out to be a horrible experience for all of Najeeba's family. Najeeba's story was appealing to me, because not only were there unexpected road blocks to freedom, but when she got to what "freedom" was supposed to be (Australia), she felt as if this new home was worse than her old home. Something I wonder is if people leaving war torn countries often feel this way. In this poem again I allowed myself to enter into Najeeba's world by writing a persona poem. In the article Walking into the Wardrobe and Through the Sliding Glass Door: Writing Persona Poems with A Crack in the Sea, the authors present the idea that persona writing can be thought of as a metaphor exemplifying a wardrobe. Persona poems (wardrobes) allow for readers to to "try on and borrow the appropriate attire and instruments to in order to move throughout that sliding glass door better outfitted and equipped to enter inhabit the (characters's) world." (Frye, Hardin, et. al 2018). As I was writing this poem, I was able to step into a wardrobe, which was Najeeba's world.
Something that about refugee's that I have noticed is that they are incredibly resilient. Even as Najeeba has to leave her home and live in a refugee camp, she is able to rise above by living through these circumstances, and eventually pursuing her education, as well as making a home in a new place. I chose to say the line "but that wasn't my story" to repeat because I can imagine for refugee's that it is very difficult for them to not long for the normalcy of their life before they leave their home country. In countries where the freedom is abundant, people of privilege get to write their stories freely... But that is very hard to do in a country where there is little freedom and lots of persecution.
Review for Stormy Seas
I really loved all the different perspectives in this book. This book took readers all over the world, from The Ivory Coast, Cuba all the way to Vietnam. I liked that the stories were written from the perspectives of the children who left their home country, versus someone who has never gone through the horrors of these stories. In this day in age, its common to group all refugee's together into one group of people. Often, people have an idea of what "refugee's" are like, where they come from and why they left their country. This is so ignorant, considering that refugee's come from so many different backgrounds, cultures and countries. As our country is faced with politically charged issues such as immigration, refugee issues, etc., we must strive to learn instead of judge. This book shows the diversity in reasons why refugee's leave their countries, their mode of transportation and their lives after fleeing. I also appreciated how the stories were followed up by having a passage called "What Happened to _____?". This inspired me to keep reading, to see how these resistant children lived after the hardships they faced. I think that this book would be a great book to have on the shelf in your classroom as you explore topics of immigration and migration in the classroom. Students could flip through this book and learn from a diverse group of young people. These stories are stories that need to be heard, especially in a classroom full of the next generation of Americans. If I taught upper-elementary or middle grades, I would love to have this book in my classroom.
Additionally, the illustrations in the book were phenominal! I loved the mixture of photographs, various graphics, paint, maps... This book is really fun and interesting to just look at. I can see this book being really appealing to readers who struggle with reading at this level. The pictures really tell the story, along with the words.
Review for Freedom Over Me
I also enjoyed Freedom Over Me. This book is full of unique perspectives, striking poems and colorful illustrations. I can see how Ashley Bryan is an award winning author. I appreciated how all the different characters focused on how slaves truly made a household work, with all the different gifts that they possessed despite the hardships and persecution they faced. Although I believe the book did not paint slavery in a positive light (which I think some books do by making slaves seem as if their work is fulfilling), it gave a perspective in which slaves could tell their stories through poetry. The prices of the slaves is also interesting (under each character). It makes me wonder why the author decided to include the prices. A child would be very intrigued by learning about the "price of a person". I would like to learn more about what made a person valuable.
Although I did enjoy this book, I noticed that I preferred Story Seas as I was reading. I liked that Stormy Seas was written from the perspective of the child who had to travel. Bryan definitely has the background knowledge to write this book, but I loved being able to see the artifacts and hear about experiences first hand. But, without people like Bryan, stories like this would fall through the cracks. Another thing to think about is the difference in genres. That being said, I definitely still appreciate this book. This book would be a great way to introduce poems to children who are going to write Persona Poems!
Citations
Bouwman, H.M. A Crack in the Sea (2017). Penguin Publishing. London, England.
Bryan, Ashley. Freedom Over Me: Eleven Slaves, Their Lives and Dreams Brought to Life by Ashley Bryan (2016). Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books. New York City, New York.
Frye, Hardin, Bouwman, Stumb (2018). Walking into the Wardrobe and Through the Sliding Glass Door: Writing Persona Poems with A Crack in the Sea. Retrieved from https://asulearn.appstat
Frye, Hash (2013). The Voices of Children: Re-imagining the Internment of Japanese Americans through Poetry. Social Studies and the Young Learner Volume 25, No. 4. pages 30–32. Retrieved from https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/96944/mod_page/content/14/Frye_Internment%20Poetry.pdf
Leatherdale, Mary Beth. Stormy Seas (2017) illustrations; Shakespeare, Eleanor. Annick Press. Toronto, Canada.