Photo Source: Amazon Website. 2011. http://www.amazon.com (accessed February 22, 2011, using title as search term).
Summary: Stone bench in an empty park is a book of poetry selected by Paul B. Janeczo with photographic pictures by Henri Silberman. This book of poetry is all about finding the beauty and nature in the city. All of the poems and paragraphs relate to things seen in big cities like New York, London and Los Angeles. There are many well known poet’s poems in this book. These include poems by Myra Cohn Livingston, Nikki Grimes, J. Patrick Lewis, and Jane Yolen. The book also contains many other poets whose name I do not recognize. This mix of known and unknown poets is a sign of a quality poetry collection.
The book provides the reader with an introduction as to the history of haiku poems and the qualities that make a poem a haiku. Acknowledgements are located at the back of the book, giving information on the poet who wrote each poem. If the poem is found in another book, information is provided to locate that book.
Quality: The poems within this book are pretty amazing although I must admit that I might not have recognized some as haiku poems if I wasn’t told they were haiku. I always believed that haiku poetry had to follow a specific format of 17 syllables (three lines, with a 5-7-5 format). These haiku poems do not always follow that format. For example, a poem by Anita Wintz:
full moon shining
squeezes between skyscrapers
f
l
u
o
r
e
s
c
e
n
t
Once I overcame my belief in the strict formatting of the haiku, I came to really enjoy these poems although I realize that the poems that fit the strict format of a haiku are my favorite. The sound of these poems is so appealing. For anyone who has been to the city, these poems will bring a smile to his or her face. They will remind the reader of special times spent in the city by producing sensory images for the reader. One of my favorite, by Jane Yolen:
Ice-cream wrappers bloom
In overflowing baskets.
Summer in the park.
There is also a lot of detailed descriptions found in the poems. For example, Myra Linvingston talks about fences and concrete walls in two of her poems, there is talk of cranes in the poetry of Erica Silverman and J. Patrick Lewis, and other poets talk about flower stands, news stands, carousel horses and guys beating plastic paint pails as drums. All of these things one will only find in the city. The idea of presenting these city items and events in a poem is a unique and fresh idea from the other poetry I have seen.
Appeal: While I find this book fascinating and a joy to read, I do not think it would appeal to elementary or middle school age students unless those students live in a city. Not all of the poems in this book relate to familiar childhood experiences of all children. For example, the first poem by David E. LeCount refers to the “bridge toll-booth” and the second poem by Cor van den Heuvel refers to a newsstand. While these are interesting subjects to an adult who know something about them, I think the meaning of the poem will be lost on many children. I would read this book with high school students. If they are unfamiliar with the topic of one of the poems, they have the maturity to learn more about the particular topic on their own without major adult intervention. These poems would extend a high school students knowledge of life in the city.
Use: I would recommend this book to a high school photography teacher or art teacher. At the beginning of the book, the photographer wrote a note explaining how the poems were not written based on the pictures but instead he had to find the pictures that would fit with the poetry. As he says, he “let the haiku guide” him. This would be a good example to art students of letting poetry guide them in their art. After reading this, students could find other poetry and create their own interpretation of the poem either through photographs or other media.
References:
Janeczko, Paul B. ed. 2000. Stone bench in an empty park. Ill. Henri Silberman. New York: orchard Books. ISBN: 0-531-33259-4
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