AFRICAN AMERICAN POETRY

Smith, Hope Anita., and E.B. Lewis. Keeping the Night Watch. New York. Henry Holt and Company, LLC. 2008.

ISBN: 978-0-8050-7202-0

Keeping the Night Watch, written by Hope Anita Smith and illustrated by E.B. Lewis, is a book of poems which deal with the hurt and anger a teenage boy, C.J., feels when his father returns after walking out on his family and the healing process the family goes through. The poems are emotional in nature and cover many of the issues that I imagine most middle school children would have in this situation. For example in the poem Sticks and Stones, the author writes, “What were you thinking?” “Where did you go?” “Why did you leave?” “How could you do this to us?” which are all questions that children would naturally want answers to in a situation such as this. Overall, the book consists of poems which portray C.J.’s feelings about his father but it also has poems which tell the reader about his first feelings of love for a girl during this time.

The poems in this book do not have specific rhyme schemes. However the emotional pull of the poems is significant and the reader can truly feel and understand the pain and confusion that C.J. is feeling. This is the type of writing that will appeal to teenagers, especially those who have been in this type of position. The poems will let them see that they are not alone and that is okay to feel what they are feeling and may even give them some insight. The poems which deal with C.J’s first love will also appeal to the middle school age group as this is the time when boys and girls first begin to “notice” each other. Students will be able to relate to the feelings of nervousness and awkwardness that they too have experienced when talking to a girl or boy that they like.

All of the poems in this book were written by Hope Anita Smith. The book has a table of contents in the front and is divided into two sections named "FALL" and "SPRING". The poems in the "FALL" section, deal mainly with C.J.’s relationship with this family and his feelings about his father coming back. The poems in the "SPRING" section pertain to his emotions concerning his first love, Maya, as well as the continuation of his feelings about his father. The illustrations by E.B. Lewis are suitable for the middle school student and are ideally suited to the poems they represent.

SPOTLIGHT POEM

 One poem from Keeping the Night Watch that had an impact on me was “If You Can’t Stand the Heat” on page 5. Students at the middle school level and older, do not know how to handle their anger and this particular poem would be good to use as an illustration.

I am mad.

I am the worst kind of mad.

I don't yell.

I don't slam doors.

I don't throw things.

I'm a pot with the lid on,

I keep all my mad inside.

I just let it stew.

I want Byron to be mad, too,

but he isn't.

Says he doesn't want to hold on to mad.

He takes the lid off his pot,

lets mad go.

Says he wants his family back.

Says he's glad Daddy's home.

I'm mad at Daddy,

but it feels like I'm mad at Byron, too.

We're two different kinds of pots,

Byron and me,

and when it comes to Daddy,

we can't cook together.

ACTIVITIES:

To introduce this poem, I would engage students in a discussion about things that make them mad and how they handle their anger. I would lead from there into the poem telling them that we will find out how C.J. handles his anger. After reading the poem, I would ask the students about whether C.J. handles his anger in a good way. To illustrate the point that it is not good to keep your anger in, I would set up two pots on heating elements with water in them. I would heat both of them up and when they get good and boiling, take the lid off of one and keep the lid on the other.  When the one pot boils over and makes a mess, I would compare that to what happens if we hold all our anger and feelings in.