Poetry Break - Serious Poem

This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort

Selected by Georgia Heard

Introduction

Everyone must deal with the death of someone they care about at some point in their lives. Unfortunately, many times a child must try to make sense of what death actually is as well as figure out how to manage their feelings about it. To set the tone, wear drab-colored clothing and a sad face. Tell the children you are feeling very sad and ask them what things might make a person feel sad. The poems in this collection were chosen by Georgia Heard to offer comfort to the schoolchildren in Manhattan who witnessed the World Trade Center tragedy.

Holes by Lillian Morrison

Strangest of gaps

their goneness --

mother, father, loved friends

the black holes

of the astronomer

are not more mysterious

this kind of hole

will not be filled

with candle flames

or even a thousand thoughts

the hole is inside us

it brims over

is empty and full at once.

Extension

Share how each poem in the book was illustrated by a famed picture book artist. Ask children to draw a picture of something that might help a sad person feel better. Have them share their drawings with the group, if they wish, and explain why they drew what they did.

Another picture poetry book about coping with the loss of a loved one:

Michael Rosen’s Sad Book

by Michael Rosen

Illustrated by Quentin Blake

In this book, the author writes about his own sadness at the death of his son, how it affected him, and some of the things he tried to cope with it.

Heard, Georgia. 2002. This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort. Cambridge, MS: Candlewick Press.

Rosen, Michael. 2004. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. Cambridge, MS: Candlewick Press.