Remixing Allison Joseph's "Thirty Lines" Poem at the Charter School

students working on their remixes

Yesterday, at the SIUE/East St. Louis Charter High School, I worked with a couple of students to remix a poem by Allison Joseph. On Monday, I read Joseph's poem "Little Epiphanies," and when I recognized that it was 30 lines, that made me think of her previous poem "Thirty Lines about the Fro," which I first heard her present during a reading at SIUE in September 2010.

Yesterday, we first read and discussed Joseph's poem. Then, I presented the students with a prompt. Keeping some of Joseph's phrases and lines intact, we produced a poem entitled "Thirty Lines about East St. Louis."

Joseph's poem begins:

The fro is homage, shrubbery, and revolt—all at once.
The fro and pick have a co-dependent relationship, so
many strands, snags, such snap and sizzle between
the two. The fro wants to sleep on a silk pillowcase,
abhorring the historical atrocity of cotton.

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 My prompt went like this:

East St. Louis is ______________, ______________, and _____________—all at once.
The city and _______________________have a co-dependent relationship, so
many__________, ______________, such _______________ and ___________ between
the two. Folks in East St. Louis want to _______________________________
abhorring the ______________ of _____________________________.

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Here's what one student, a black boy (J.O.) produced: 

East St. Louis is crazy, violent, and peaceful—all at once.
The city and mayor have a co-dependent relationship, so
many rebellions, resolutions, such reach and revise between
the two. Folks in East St. Louis want to reach a better age
abhorring the spreading of racism.

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Another student, a  black girl (J.H.) wrote:   

East St. Louis is broken, bumpy, and blissful—all at once.
The city and its people have a co-dependent relationship, so
many unrealistic, careless, such power and conflict between
the two. Folks in East St. Louis want to drop out
abhorring the orders of parents.

Related:
• Fall 2015 Programming