Poetry Inside Out (PIO)

Poetry Inside Out (PIO)

Poetry Inside Out Student Maggie Gallagher Wins Grand Prize in 2008 River of Words Poetry Contest

Three More Poetry Inside Out Students are ROW finalists

We are thrilled to announce that former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass has chosen sixth-grade Poetry Inside Out student Maggie Gallagher as winner of the 2008 Grand Prize (grades 4-6) in the prestigious national River of Words contest for environmental poetry and art. River of Words attracts more than 10,000 entrants from all over the nation and around the world.

Maggie's winning poem, "To Speak With the Dead," was written under the guidance of Poetry Inside Out Artistic Director John Oliver Simon, and was inspired by her translation of "Para hablar con los muertos," by Chilean poet Jorge Teillier (1935-1996). Maggie and her family will be flown to Washington, D.C., where she will read her poem at the Library of Congress on May 12.

Here is Maggie's prize-winning poem:

To Speak with the Dead

To speak with the dead
If you want them to hear you
You must roll
Like the crash of thunder
Or the beat of the drum
You must whisper
Like the cry of the wind
Or the path of an arrow
You must soothe them
Like the crackle of the fire
Or the footprint of a snowflake
You must prowl through their forgotten hearts
Caressing and prodding
Like the swirl of the fog
Or the slow beat of the rain
If you want to be heard
When you speak with the dead

Maggie Gallagher, age 11
Poetry Inside Out after-school program, Berkeley
ROW Grand Prize 2008

Three other Poetry Inside Out students were chosen as finalists. Congratulations to Evelín Avila Torres, Mayra Centeno Mendoza, and Brendan Fong!

Yo en el mundo

Yo en el mundo
como una gota de agua en el océano
como un germen en la mano
como una palabra en la enciclopedia
como un carro en la carretera
como una estrella en el cielo
como una hoja en el árbol
yo en el mundo

yo soy la última palabra
yo soy una mirada profunda
yo soy el retoño de la vida
yo soy tortura para los malos
yo soy una luz en la oscuridad
yo soy un misterio bien escondido
yo soy lo que nadie más es

a small waterfall
of purrs and sunlight

cat

Flores amarillas

Flores amarillas
como caras de leones
comiendo el sol y las nubes.

Me in the World

Me in the world
like a drop of water in an ocean
like a germ in a hand
like a word in an encyclopedia
like a car in the road
like a star in the sky
like a leaf on a tree
me in the world

I am the last word
I am a deep look
I am the sprout of life
I am torture for the bad guys
I am a light in the dark
I am a mystery well hidden
I am what nobody else is

Evelin Avila Torres, age 13
Dolores Huerta Learning Academy, Oakland
ROW finalist 2008

secret world
gummies, 12 cents, and magic

pocket

Mayra Centeno Mendoza, age 12
Dolores Huerta Learning Academy, Oakland
ROW finalist 2008

Yellow Flowers

Yellow flowers
with lion faces
eating the sun and the clouds

Brendan Fong, age 8
Monroe Elementary School. San Francisco
ROW finalist 2008

River of Words attracts more than 10,000 entrants from all over the nation and around the world. This is the third time in the last four years that a Poetry Inside Out student has won a River of Words Grand Prize. In the last seven years Poetry Inside Out has placed a total of 28 River of Words finalists.

Come hear Poetry Inside Out kids read their prize-winning poems!

River of Words Celebration
Sunday, April 20th, time tba
Koret Auditorium at SF Main Library

Poetry Inside Out Annual Recital and Sneak Preview of the PIO documentary
Sunday May 4th, 2 pm
Koret Auditorium at SF Main Library.

Poetry Inside Out on the silver screen

Click here to view a clip of our documentary
spotlighting a year in the life of
Poetry Inside Out students!

Poetry Inside Out (PIO) is the first in-school imaginative writing program in which translation plays an essential part. Our team of instructors, headed by Artistic Director John Oliver Simon, brings the art and craft of poetry translation and composition into Bay Area schools in order to promote student writing and deepen cultural literacy while promoting a wide range of language arts skills.

The use of literary translation to teach bilingual students is a natural choice because these students are playfully and authentically engaged with language, and they understand the practical value of their bilingualism, having served often as informal interpreters for their families and communities. As we put our students’ unique resources to work wrestling great poets like Pablo Neruda and Gabriela Mistral from one language to another, the children begin to see themselves as participants in the world of Spanish and English-language literature.

Anthologies produced in every school, and including each student, testify to the imaginative learning that flowers in a PIO workshop. Two of our students have been selected by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass as winners of the Grand Prize of the national River of Words environmental poetry contest, and several other students have been selected as finalists. Each year our best student translations and original poems are collected into a beautiful anthology available online.

Get Involved:

If you want to receive information about how to bring PIO to your school or classroom, or how you can support PIO programs in your local schools, please contact Sarah Valor at svalor@catranslation.org.

To order copies of A Pocketful of Voices or back issues of our annual Best Of PIO, anthologies, click here to go to our ordering page.

Poetry Inside Out is supported in part by grants from the California Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

last update: April 9, 2009