Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in Syracuse
"Community Life in Poetry"
a year of poetry, a day of celebration, a constant community voice

Poetpourri, Jr. - a recollection

When we initiated the Poetpourri, Jr. project in conjunction with the Syracuse City Schools, I don't think we had a clue as to what we were about to bring to the children of Syracuse. We learned so much as we went along.

At the first reception, which was held at a television studio on James Street, we learned that the parents of elementary students, unlike secondary students' parents, go to their child’s events. We had to do two separate presentations, one after the other, because parents and children spilled out of the studio, down the hall, through the foyer and down the sidewalk to the street. Wayne Maher and Jackie Robinson gave us time and energy those first couple of years and acted as hosts.

When we moved the reception to the Salem Hyde School the second year, one mother was overheard to say about her little guy, "the kids already think he’s a faggot, the bumper sticker (“My Kid is A Poet”) will confirm it.” Within just a few years, boys were vying for a place in Poetpourri, Jr. in the same way they fought to make the football squad. Over the years, we had as many boys as girls win a place in the booklet.

In the beginning, ours was a K-12 production. In short order, we were forced to go K-6. There were just far too many contributions for us to deal with any more influx of work and kids than that...we moved in the fourth year to H.W. Smith because the auditorium would hold the over 600 guests who came to hear the poems.

We learned very quickly that if we did not have something to hold them to the end of the program that as they read, they left. So, I began spending my summers at garage sales. I found pristine stuffed animals at prices we could afford...and we filled bags with Comstock Writers' Group memorabilia and gifts. It became a very huge deal for a child to get a place in Jr. We also made certain that every single child who did not win received a Certificate of Participation and that they were acknowledged in their home schools during assemblies.

While it was hundreds of hours of work year after year, we believe that we created a community of poets in Syracuse. The most poignant reading for me was not the child whose father had killed his mother or whose mother was in prison for drugs (we found many children whose lives were absolute horrors and were able to contact the schools and seek assistance for them)...the most poignant was the grown man who attended the Adult Basic Learning Center (an exception we made to accommodate those who never had a chance as a child to excel in much of anything) who was the last to read his poem on stage....he was shaking and crying and I had to stand with him as he struggled to get the words out...it was probably the proudest moment of his life. I learned later from the principal of ABC that he wore his Poetpourri, Jr. T-Shirt every day thereafter. The last time I saw him he was still wearing it and it was in tatters. That makes all the work worth it over and over. It was one of the most humbling and elevating experiences of my life to date.

Kathleen Bryce Niles, editor emerita, Comstock Review