Here’s something to think about, courtesy of William Butler Yeats: “Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire.” It’s a wonderful thought, putting inspiration at the head of learning. And with over half of all working-age people in Philadelphia struggling with illiteracy, it’s a place where children could use a dose of inspiration to help them learn. So, this summer, Mighty Writers—a Philadelphia-based literacy organization—took that thought to task by making education the filling of a pail… of soil, of carrots, of okra.
The nonprofit’s Garden Writing program used gardening and food to spark kids’ interest in the natural world,in tasting new things, and of course, in expressing their experiences through writing. Gilt Taste is honored to share with you some of the work of the young writers in this program. We’re also so happy to have Cara Tratner, who served as one of the program leaders, introduce them.
Photo of the group on a visit to the farm
Cara Tratner: Mighty Writers visits Mill Creek Farm in West Philly. One of the most exciting things about the program is how it challenges our assumptions about “nature.” For a kid in Philly, it’s not always easy to see what role nature plays in your life; bringing the kids to a farm inside the city was more powerful than just driving them far away to some beautiful place. It’s more real if it’s in your own community. And from there, the kids might be more aware of, say, the trees on their own street that they might not have noticed before.
When Christian was writing this poem, “Philadelphia Rain,” I could see it click for her that things in her life are a part of natural life. And they’re in city life. That there isn’t a firm boundary of “This is the city, and this is nature.”
Philadelphia Rain
By Christian Precise, sixth grade
Look at the sunlight
Slanting in dim gold bars; melted along the floor
Look at the raindrops
Glowing bits of diamond; shining shattered rainbows
Look at the radio
Jazz flowing in an endless river of saxophone solos and lounge vibes
Look at the cars
Slinking past; silent tigers roaring down the street
Look at the bulldogs
Looming skyscrapers, engulfing and spitting people like a giant monster
Look at the cats
Silent and deadly as ninjas, hiding in alleyways
Look at the people
Dodging the rain, umbrellas popped up as giant mushrooms
Look at the sun
A warm egg yolk, sliding behind a pillar of gray storm clouds
Look at the city
Falling silent as night hushes the bustle of a rainy summer day
Jada Lowery
Cara Tratner: Jada holds up greens she just plucked. Mighty Writers gets a diverse range of kids in its programs—racially, religiously, culturally. Some kids grew up with gardens, and other kids are like, “Wow! I didn’t know you can just grow food, pick something out of the ground and eat it.”
Jada Lowery is a first grader; she was wonderful and enthusiastic, coming a half hour early every time. We did an exercise: Writing about your favorite meal – who prepared it, who makes it, is it healthy? This was such a great interpretation of what “healthy” means.
My Favorite Meal
by Jada Lowery, first grade
My ingredients are noodles, sauce, meat balls, and salt.
I like this meal because it tastes good.
My mom and my sister make my meal.
This meal tastes like meatballs. It smells very very good.
It looks red and brown.
It feels very mushy too.
I think this meal is healthy because it does not have any sugar in it and because my whole family likes it.
Photo of Carrington, discovering okra
Cara Tratner: This is Carrington, exclaiming, “I learned a new vegetable today: Okra!” Only she kept pronouncing it “orka, orka.” I wish I could get that excited about a new vegetable! The kids were always so curious, so excited to try new things, even things they didn’t think they wanted. Someone would say, “That’s nasty!” But then I’d ask who wanted a taste, and the same kid would say, “I wanna try it!” The whole room would buzz with energy.
Ishoq was one of the older students, kind of quiet, not the kind of kid who holds up vegetables, screaming. But he was so positive about his experience. For this assignment, we asked the kids to imagine you’re a new, growing plant, and to tell the story of your life from being a seed to fully grown. The metaphors he uses for himself are so interesting…
Growing Plant
by Ishoq, sixth grade
My seed was as small as a peanut.
Later on my stem shot up like a sniper at close range.
My leaves were as big as elephant ears.
At night the dirt was as dark as space.
When I came out the bark grew like a rash.
Cara Tratner: I was inspired to work with the kids through the Garden Writing workshop because the experience has lots of components. You’re enveloped in the physical world. Seeing, touching, smelling, tasting—that kind of sensory experience influences and inspires the kids to write.
And below is a poem by Sumaiyah. She’s very quiet, one of those voices that might not come out in person, but will in writing. This poem is another side of the experience with the natural world. She has such reverence, so thoughtful about one piece of nature in her life.
Leaves
by Sumaiyah Abdu-Shaheed, sixth grade
Out of the soft soil is a tree
And on the tree are beautiful leaves
Most of the time they are green and common
they stay until fall
Very meaningless and very small
As the wind blows softly
the leaves will follow and ride
the big wave like a sailboat
drifting in the wind gracefully. As it softly
touches the ground I sit and admire
its beauty in this
big world. Even if it’s just one small
leaf it is different in its own
mysterious way.
To learn more about Mighty Writers and how you can get involved, please visit www.mightywriters.org.
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