Remixing poetry at the East St. Louis Charter High School

On October 7, we listened to music by Kendrick Lamar and produced remixes to a poem excerpt by Allison Funk. We began with the following prompts:

Notice how the wildflowers
open as if nothing
restrains them. –Allison Funk

And then:

Notice how the _________________
_________________ as if nothing
Restrains them.

And also:

Notice how _________________ in East St. Louis
_____________________ as if ___________________
_____________________.

Here goes some of what we produced:

Notice how the gods
Look down as if nothing
Restrains them. –T.B.

Notice how the young child
Strives as if nothing
restrains her. –D.L.


Notice how life in in East St. Louis
Is downplayed as if we can’t hear
you. –T.B.

Notice how education in East St. Louis
Falls apart as if no one
Can agree*. –A.W.*

Notice how togetherness in East St. Louis
stays alive as if this strike*
was all it needed. –D.L.

Notice how everyone in East St. Louis
cries as if they’re
sad

Notice how everyone in East St. Louis
dances as if they’re
glad. --J.O.

* Note: There's currently a strike among public school teachers in East St. Louis, which is what A.W. and D.L. are referencing.

After we finished writing, we took some time to read the remixes out loud.

Student reading her remix

Related:
• Fall 2015 Programming