“We are all great stories, though not all written as chapter books.”

Poetry isn’t everyone’s favorite. If you talk to adults about their bad experiences in English class, many will mention grammar (sentence diagramming, anyone?) and poetry. Byron, Coleridge, Longfellow: the mere mention of these names send some into paroxysm of pain. Why can’t they just say what they mean? Why do we have to dig through all the thees and thous? With nod to Getrude Stein, why can’t a rose just be rose? I understand. While Gwendolyn Brooks described poetry as life distilled, most people prefer distilled grains.

And those people are missing out on the incredible movement of spoken-word poetry around them.

Luckily, many of our children are not. This past Wednesday, Williams Middle School hosted spoken-word poet Phil Kaye, whose quote leads off this letter. Kaye, one of the most famous poets alive today, is the co-founder of Project Voice, a group of poets who travel to schools around the world to perform for students and help them discover what many of us pay therapists a lot of money to do: find a voice.

Kaye’s visit to Moultrie included a performance on stage at the Colquitt County Art Center and two workshops on campus at Williams, one with students and the second with teachers. I was fortunate enough to attend both workshops and walked away impressed with Kaye’s ability to pull hilarious and at times strangely profound thoughts from 11- and 12-year-old kids. His humor put them at ease, and in that space they felt free to create without the worry of embarrassment. Since moving to the central office five years ago, I describe myself as a recovering English teacher who, with apologies to T.S. Eliot, often measures out his life with coffee spoons. Wednesday’s event was almost enough to knock me off the bandwagon and back into the classroom.

Thank you to Betsy Jones and Tabathia Baldy for bringing Phil to Moultrie, and kudos to the school leaders and teachers at Williams for allowing students to take a break from our often non-stop focus on achievement as measured by state assessments and turn instead toward things with enduring power: words and self-expression.

Allen Edwards

Director of K-12 Gifted Education and 3-12 ELA Curriculum

Colquitt County Schools