Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 196
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4758-2792-7 • Hardback • July 2016 • $77.00 • (£59.00)
978-1-4758-2793-4 • Paperback • July 2016 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
Shelley Savren is the author of two poetry books, The Common Fire (Red Hen Press 2004) and The Wild Shine of Oranges (Tebot Bach Press 2013), and Welcome to Poetryland: Teaching Poetry Writing to Young Children (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). She is an English professor emeritus at Oxnard College and has been teaching poetry writing for the past forty years. Visit her at www.shelleysavren.com.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Getting Serious about Poems: Middle School and High School
Chapter 2: Can Words Save Me? Teens with Mental Health Issues
Chapter 3: Does Anybody Love Me? Juvenile Justice
Part I: Girls’ Rehabilitation Facility
Part II: Colston Youth Center
Chapter 4: Poetry in Academia
Chapter 5: I Remember: Cedar Community Center for Senior Citizens
Chapter 6: Every Bird Can Sing: St. Madeline Sophie’s Training Center
Chapter 7: The Feminist Poet: Women Take Back Words
Chapter 8: Freedom Journey: R.J. Donovan Maximum Security Men’s Prison
Appendix: Additional Exercise Ideas
Resources
About the Author
As a teacher of creative writing at the college and university level for over thirty years, I am always looking for new texts to engage my new generations of students. To find a text appropriate for the wide variety of talents one engages on the undergraduate level is not an easy task. Shelley Savren’s The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults has become the answer to this search. Relying upon her over twenty-five years of reading, studying, writing, publishing and teaching a wide variety of poetry, Ms. Savren has constructed the most practical, user friendly and insightful creative writing text that I’ve seen in a long time. I look forward to my students holding this book in their hands, and I look forward to sharing it with you, reader.
— Bruce Weigl, 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry
Inspired by the pleasures, the thrills and the curative powers of poetry – reading it, hearing it, writing it – Shelley Savren has devoted a lifetime teaching her passion. As a sometimes itinerant poet who leads writing workshops on high school and college campuses as well as in senior centers, prisons and juvenile “facilities,” I understand where she’s coming from – and going back to again and again. I salute the insights and techniques Shelley Savren shares in her mindful, heartfelt guide. The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching PoetryWriting to Teens and Adults rocks.
— Al Young, California’s Former Poet Laureate
Anyone who dedicates their life to reaching behind razor wire and bars and walls to reach the oppressed and work with them on expressing their emotions and thoughts and in doing so organizing their lives into a comprehensible contribution to society should be commended. Read this book and welcome back to humanity those we have exiled into oblivion.
— Jimmy Santiago Baca, Author of Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande (New Directions, 2007), Winner of the American Book Award
As a school principal, I have witnessed firsthand the effectiveness and success of Shelley Savren's poetry in the classroom program. Her program has been instrumental in increasing the self-esteem of students and contributes to the enhancement of their reading and writing skills. The poetry program has had phenomenal results, particularly for students with emotional disturbances and incarcerated youth. Now, finally, this innovative program is available in print for everyone!
— Alan L. Murray, Former Principal, Ventura County Office of Education, Professor of Education, California State University, Channel Islands
The Forms of Things Unknown is chock-full of ideas, inspiration, and down-to-earth advice for teaching poetry in a wide variety of settings. Shelley Savren offers such accessible, practical guidance that even if you’re not a poet and have never taught poetry, you could dive right in with confidence. And if you are an experienced teacher, this will add a multitude of strategies and suggestions to your toolbox.
— Ellen Bass, Author of Mules of Love (Copper Canyon Press, 2014), Winner of the Elliston Book Award for Poetry