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Samuel Coleridge, a British poet of the early 19th century, once said that poetry is “the best words in the best order.” Our students learn the craft of writing prose and poetry. Just as the art of batik is a montage of color, shape, and harmony, good writing is a composition of experience, insight, technique, and the writer's voice. In these pages of The Batik of Life, this year's middle school literary magazine, the voices of adolescent angst, friendship, young love, and parent problems are shared. Janet Wong was our visiting author this school year. A bundle of energy both on and off stage, she described her decision to leave her law career and write children's poetry. She described the many rejection letters she received, her husband's unfaltering cheerleading, and her love and satisfaction with what she was finally doing with her life. She also discussed some of her favorite poems which portray her Chinese-American heritage. Good writers take risks, and Janet Wong is no exception. One concern I have as an English teacher is what will happen to creative writing in our busy school curricula of the future. In our hurried world of sound bites, snap judgements, and instant messaging, what will happen to the language tapestry of “the best words in the best places”? Included on pages 52-54 are Shakepearean sonnets: 14 lines exactly, three quatrains and a rhyming couplet, ten syllables in each line. Precision, carefully selected words, rhyme scheming, word sounds. Eighth graders have new appreciation of Shakepeare's talent with the English language. Hopefully, one of the pieces in these pages will speak to you. It will reach out and grab you and make you think, “I know that feeling!” Again this year, the middle school thanks Mr. Shahram Dinyarian for taking upon the production of The Batik of Life along with his seventh grade Media Technology students, many of whose Literary work also appears in this magazine. |
Literary Magazine 