Spanking Chronicles: Bettys Mentor (The Training Of Betty Book 5)

Life in the Dog House is due to be released in The film will showcase their unique approach to dog rescue. Following the release of Life in the Dog House, all funds raised by Maggie, will be allocated to a dog rescue of her choice. Please help Maggie support the film Life in the Dog House and help future dogs in need. Donation info at right: Can you tell me more about it? One of the first steps in fox hunting is making sure that your horse gets used to what you are doing.

A good way to begin is with drag hunts. That is where you use a fake fox tail, scented with real fox, and then drag it around and teach the horse to follow the scent. Also, stay in the back of the fox hunt and learn everything until you work your way to the front. My daughter also fox hunts. I am working here today as the announcer and paddock master. Our farm, Haven Hill, also brought 10 horses here to the show this week and my wife was riding. My parent inspired me. My stepdad was a jockey and trainer, my Mom was rider, and my sister also rode. I did ride horses when I was younger.

I rode hunter, jumper, did fox hunting and even dressage. When I was growing up Dressage was taught as a part of the foundation of riding. I had a very bad accident around the age of 13 or 14 and mostly stopped riding after that. I see that you are a horse show manager? How did you become involved in that? What kind of training does it take and what is involved in it? While going to college I worked as a groom.

I knew I wanted to work in the horse world so I learned all the jobs found at a horse show. Jobs commonly found at horse shows include the manager, paddock master for the in gate, judge, steward, farrier, veterinarian, awards and hospitality staff. I primarily work as an announcer and horse show manager. In order to be good at this job you have to know how to do every job at the horse show — it is not just about directing others.

I thought that it was very cool that Mr. Andrew Ellis knows how to fox hunt and that he is so committed to the horse world. He was also very thoughtful and gave me a package of nice model jumps. You can find more about Mr. Andrew Ellis on his website at www. Thank you to everyone who made the most magnificent year of my life! I love all of you! If you are a growing pony rider, then you will eventually be in the same predicament that I have been in this year.

I am finally growing taller and my riding has been progressing to the point that I am ready for different challenges. Ponies are expensive and I was told that if I wanted to move up, I would need to sell one or both of my beloved ponies. I was faced with the dilemma of moving forward or standing still. The thing about my ponies is that they are not ordinary ponies. They are perhaps the most animated, silly, loving, and sometimes way-too-sassy little creatures. My grey pony Luna has been my best friend since I got her right after a bad head injury in She helped me rehab from that trauma and I have spent many of my happiest and darkest days with her by my side.

Luna taught me to be an effective rider and challenged me every step of. Whereas Luna made me sit up and dig in, Sally taught me how to ride gently and honestly with finesse and trust. Both of them gave me more love and affection that I was deserving of. The thought of having to say goodbye to my precious ponies had me feeling sick. Would their new owners love them as I do? Would they be overworked? Would they still feel special? Would they feel like I have abandoned them?

Would they know how grateful that I am to have shared in part of their lives? Would they miss me? Could I live without them? In talking with my trainer and family, it was decided that I needed to sell both ponies to move on. I have very big goals with my riding career and as. On the day that the sale was final and Molly came to pick up my ponies, I went out to the barn early to give the girls lots of treats. We took some pictures and I gave them my private goodbyes. Molly arrived and for the first time in a long time I was excited.

Seeing Molly and remembering her amazing horse care and how she loves and advocates for ALL animals, my heart was finally at peace. I know that we had made the right choice. My ponies seemed to remember Molly and gladly walked behind her to jump on the trailer. We signed the sale paperwork and off they went.

I watched the trailer drive down the long driveway and I was happy. All of the uncertainty that I had been feeling over the past few weeks just floated away. Over the past few months, I have been mentally preparing myself for the inevitable. My mom let me make the sales advertisements for both my ponies. None of it seemed fair to me. How could I set a price on my most prized possessions?

How could I tell people that my ponies were deserving and cherished and loved beyond recognition but that I was a selfish boy for even thinking of selling them… Then it happened.

Someone put in an offer to buy both of my ponies. It was a situation that was too good to be true. My ponies would go to a person that I know would take care of them and they would be together. Even though it was the best possible outcome, I was going to have to face reality. My ponies were actually going to leave me.

Every emotion possible bubbled up. I also had days where I wanted my mom to take pictures and document every snuggle, every out of place whisker, every fuzzy moment between the two of us. I suppose in a way, it was my way of letting go. I have not been horseless in years. Do I go to the barn? Do I take my tack truck home? What on earth do I do. It was also fun to meet the other riders at PBRA and stay connected to them throughout the year on my Instagram. It was so breathtaking to be able to see so many of my hunter jumper idols compete just in front of my eyes.

During the weeks at WEF there are tack trailers everywhere, so much to do and when you look around there is not a single horse that looks out of place. It was such a fun trip thanks to my Mom for taking me, and for others help as well. Hi Paisley Pony fans! Let me tell you a little bit about myself: I am 13 years old and I am from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is the best pony I could ever ask for, and although she is not always perfect, she has taught me a ton since I have received her during Christmas of Over the course of the year I had some amazing opportunities that have come across my path.

Prior to going to WEF, we reached out to PBRA to see if there was an opportunity to take a lesson and they welcomed us to ride with them. Over the summer, I attended the summer equestrian camp at Auburn University. That was one of my highlights of the year. I was excited that at the camp, there were so many other girls my age who have so much in common with me. Everyone stays in dorms, and every day everyone wakes up and goes to the barn to ride, then take care of the horses and tack. Once everything was done, we would go on tours and walk around the Auburn University campus.

One of my favorite things about. I had such a fun time at the almost weeklong camp, and I am already looking forward to more in the future. Coach Williams and the Assistant Coaches were on hand throughout our camp helping us learn what it is really like to be part of a collegiate equestrian team.

The horse show was a blast, and the great thing was that once we were done riding and taking care of the horses, we could go to the fair, ride rides, and eat the best food ever. I was so surprised when Bailey won the Junior Western Pleasure Reserve National Champion, especially since we had only practiced a couple times before. It was fun to hear her stories of traveling to Wales and visiting pony farms there.

We traveled to Pensacola, Florida for our first time in the Division in December. My Bailey was not her best and we still have a lot of work to do but we are going to keep working hard and I really hope we are able to qualify for Pony Finals in Overall, the year has been one to remember because of the amazing opportunities I experienced and the places we visited.

This would have not been possible without the help of my parents and the village to helps us as my Mom trailers me and my pony to all our lessons and shows. Flat Paisley also had quite the year as well, being able to visit all of these places with me and take some fun pictures. Connect with me in on Instagram silverbailpony. Over the holidays, Dawson went to help out at a local therapeutic riding program called Mitey Riders! All of the children were in the Christmas Spirit, as well as ponies and volunteers dressed as reindeer! The program operates four days a week with the help of over volunteers.

Misty Meadows Mitey Riders, Inc. We invite you to navigate through our web site, learn about our program, our riders, our horses and our objectives. Additionally, we invite you and your family to come visit our program and see for yourself the miracles that can happen on horseback. Yes, I have recently heard them snorting when you are not there. Here is the story The Ponies were angry because instead of them having any time off over the hot summer months they were ridden and dragged out to horse shows even more than usual! You stinky humans will pay dearly in horse treats.

Their goal, simple… make the kids cry and the trainer pass out from screaming. All the ponies were in the barn and there were no humans. I heard Trickster talking and only partially paid attention. Here are the tidbits that I heard: After they went to sleep I realized what they were doing: I watched them, and without fail they did what they said that they would do. Trickster belongs to a boy named Sean that rides at the same barn as Sean. On Monday, as Sean walked Trickster up to the barn from the ring, Trickster suddenly picked up a canter.

Sean tried to catch Trickster, but Trickster cantered away again. Sean tried to catch Trickster again, but Trickster cantered away again repeat process 6 times. Finally, after some yelling between Sean and his Dad, they decided to get a bucket of grain to trick Trickster into coming to them. Trickster had his plan and was being a brat. Finally, Sean spanked Trickster a couple times so Trickster did lift up his hoof.

Even I smelled it through the stall door. When Sean tried to get on at the mounting block the pony took two steps forward. Then Sean climbed off the mounting block, dragged it into the new position and tried again, but Trickster did the same thing! Sean moved the mounting block again and just as he lifted one foot over the saddle, Trickster took another 3 steps forward and Sean missed it. By the time Sean finally mounted up he, the pony and the mounting block were halfway across the ring!

Sean did not look happy, but Trickster sure did. On the way to his field after a nice warm bath Trickster grabbed at a bale of hay and instead of taking one bite, he picked up the whole bale to carry with him. Sean laughed and got it out of his mouth. When they finally got to the field Trickster got a Grinchy smile.

Sean got worried and Trickster could tell. Trickster was happy he got Sean upset. However, when Trickster tried to throw his body weight over to get up he found that he was too plump to roll! Sean wins this round? This was a sure way to make Sean cry. Trickster behaved well coming into the field and through tacking up. Sean thought Trickster was back to being good.

Instead, he started bucking Sean wildly. Sean started to get upset and his trainer yelled at him to straighten up and be the boss. Sean got mad and cropped Trickster hard! Trickster started crying and trotting and doing what Sean said. Well today brought two very welcome things! She used to send him the most delectable treats and he was pretty much for sure her number one fan!

Her treats are all handmade and made with LOTS of love!! She pours her heart into everything she makes and it shows…you can taste the love I know- it sounds corny but order some yourself and try them and you will find out what love tastes like! You can find The Treat Barn on Facebook!

I hold my own with the other horses from across the fence but I have lots of great memories and no one can take them away. We are all smart- pretty- useful- talented- or whateverin our own way. It is an online fundraiser issue. People donated to help some of the wildfire victims in California. There was no charge for ad placement. The magazine felt that it was important to try and do something to help- and this was a good way! From what I hear they are going to make this an annual thing. Each year around the holiday they will pick an organization or cause to support and do another fundraiser edition.

There will not be a charge for ad placement- people will just need to make a donation of any. I love being part of an organization that feels it is important to give back…and not just take. Another exciting thing in this issue is the Junior Submissions! We will be continuing this throughout the year, so if you know of, or are, a junior with a talent you would like to share, email us at thepaisleypony aol.

This is not all of her articles, but we included a lot of them and WOW are they fantastic! Thalia is missed by everyone that knew herboth for her kindness and her knowledge. She was one of a kind and we are all so proud to be able to make her articles available to others. That was one of her final requests of us, to be sure her information was shared.

If anyone needs a pasture companion someplace warm- be sure to let me know! Wishful thinking- but who knows- had to put it out there. Looking forward to a wonderful ! Very good mover, sensible, well balanced, not spooky. Due to lack of time, he has not done much. Has done some trail riding as well. Proud Tiger NJ. Turtle Creek - Eligible Green Available for sale or lease lease preferred NJ.

The Paisley Magazine For Juniors It was a hot June day when Jimmy Johnson and his pony, Paisley, were going to check the mail. Paisley opened the mailbox and an envelope decorated with the Presidential Seal fell out. I do hope you can come. She lifted up her feet one by one, showing the guards her horseshoes.

Jimmy and Paisley got off the trailer, and Sasha screamed with excitement. The next week, Jimmy and Paisley headed for the White House in a two-horse trailer. At the front gate two guards stopped them and sent them through a security screening. He then gave her a beautiful blue saddle pad with the Presidential Seal on it. Soon afterwards, Jimmy came back outside, feeling a bit sorry for Paisley. When the chef handed out the food, Paisley eagerly chewed the corn all up. Two weeks later, Jimmy Johnson and his pony, Paisley, were going to check the mail.

Paisley opened the mailbox and an envelope with the Presidential Seal fell out. Later, when everyone went inside to have cake and ice cream, Jimmy told Paisley to stay outside and wait. Paisley was waiting patiently when all of a sudden President Obama walked onto the lawn. We were honored to have the late Thalia Gentzel write for us. We hope you enjoy this look back at many of her incredible articles from years past. From Wednesday through Sunday, August 9 to 13, the arenas were full to bursting from early morning to dusk as hunter ponies performed for judges Ralph Caristo, Robert Crandell, and Julie Winkel.

Sale, medal, and jumper entries further increased the totals. Godiva and Claim To Fame were tied with points but the latter had more points over fences so emerged as champion. There were nearly competitors over the Richard Jeffery course and 25 were called back for a second ride under judges Scott Hofstetter and Frank Madden.

Finally ten were selected and from them, two were called to ride on the flat without stirrups- Olivia Jack and Samantha Schaefer. By that time the suspense was super intense for riders and spectators alike! The arena atmosphere was hushed until 12 year old Samantha emerged as the victor! Winners in this mammoth competition were: Note that all the champions were handled by catch riders.

Pony Hunter Finals Through the years In , 19 smalls and 11 larges had qualified at 11 selected events. The customary model, hack, and over fences were judged, but back then each phase had equal weight in the judging. Modeled after the Prix de States team competition for junior jumpers at Harrisburg, this new event was designed to give pony riders the opportunity to learn new skills and to pull together as teams.

And the Individual Championship required good scores over three separate courses, proving that a rider was consistent and capable, not just lucky. Thirty-two ponies competed in the first round with 17 qualifying for the shortened second round course. Then, in a 14 pony jump-off, Kathleen Scott, topping by 2. The next Scott sister, Kassandra, was third with Mack the Knife. Team Champions were from Zone 5: Reserve team was from Zone And so the Pony Jumpers were off to a flying start!

Not so, the Pony Hunters. April Wehle and Are You Kidding were close behind with Reserve was Serendipity and Keri Guanciale with Bluegrass and Megan Schell were Reserve. Just think how this division has grown in the past five years as competition has now expanded to two days! State Team Champions were from Massachusetts: The first round was really hard with a lot of tight turns and forward lines.

Jill Betuker, 13 of Connecticut, with remember the Laughter was hoping to take home the top award as she had missed it by a few points the year before- and it was looking good after wins in both the model and the hack plus a 9th over fences. There were no clear lines. Straight Talk was the top Virginia Bred pony. It was fun- I was able to see. He had the second highest score of the Finals, an One fence in particular caused problems at the WNC Agricultural Center in Ashville- a teal and tan oxer decorated with bright white flowers. One trainer felt that the jump, set at an outside angle, may have created an optical illusion with the white flowers against the dark jump- looking to the ponies as if they were jumping into the rail.

You really had to ride it well. There were a record number of riders- in all. The jumps in here were more scary. There were flags around the ring and a lot of people. You block out the sounds and concentrate as much as you can. I went along with the course and did what I had to do. He was really good! Danielle Monteleone made her first year of showing pony hunters a memorable one with a win in the Pony Medal. Danielle was one of 23 called back for the flat phase and pulled into ninth position- and rose to the top after the final test, a shortened course that included a trot fence.

The rider of the Small and Grand Champion for set a new record for the Finals- seven year old, 50 pound Hillary Schlusemeyer was the youngest ever to win the overall title! Scores for these talented young ladies and their ponies were and After two tense days of competition. It seemed to be the celebration they deserved.

A record number of ponies- 72 of them- came from 13 states- Texas to Connecticut to Florida. Eighty-three riders contested the Pony Equitation Finals with 15 called back for the test on the flat. Next, for 13 riders, cam a winding six fence course including a trot fence followed by a halt- without stirrups. Jennifer was second and Laura Chapot third.

Swan Song was owned by Marguerite Taylor. For the first time, in at Fairfield County Hunt Club in Westport, Connecticut, there was a split into three divisions with the addition of the Mediums. Up until that time the ponies had shown as Smalls to 13 hands and Larges over that height. The 61 entries were rated by Miss Patricia Heuckeroth, Mrs. Carol Jungherr, and Ralph Peterson- with each phase receiving an equal score. Do you know how the phases are scored today?

Medium Champion was another famous pony, Snowgoose, with Chris Prant. The magazine has seen huge changes from a black and white newsletter to the colorful to page issues! Look for an unusual happening at this Final! Judges for the event were Mrs. Millbrook, NY scoring on a basis of points for each phase, making the greatest possible points Six states were represented by six Small ponies and twelve Large ponies with teams competing from New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Though the entries were light in the Small Pony division, there was great quality and ability evident.

Miss Blair Pinsley rode her pony, complete with a broken foot, a result of a mishap the day before. Second in this division with points was Mr. Anderson and ridden by Mickey Anderson with points. We hope you have enjoyed this stroll down Memory Lane! So too, we find the faces of riders changing as the perennial winners graduate to the junior rings and a new generation of pony riders rises to the fore.

Cuff, who also had bright blue eyes! It seems to be a mystery that Glitter, an While Sparkler was of more robust build, Lustre was refined — and passed this on to his numerous offspring, some of them with of these being purebred Welsh. We were showing against Mrs. She has loads of ability and did well in both the models and performance classes. She was what I call a fine three-way pony: She was also a trifle on the keen side.

These were great siblings bred and shown by a most astute breeder! Blair Pinsley riding Temujin. Pendragon had been a champion in England and won five more championships straight away following importation to the U. She had taken some lessons from me in the s, when I lived in Millbrook, N. Nancy traveled to the shows with her sister and mother, Lorraine. She knew the rules and how to play the game better than most people.

And she made us all pay attention. Nancy was just a very good rider. She won on all her animals, both ponies and horses. She also rode some jumpers very well. Much of what I have learned has come from books and old photos, and this is the case here. Here Nancy is shown riding her exactly 30 years ago! And they certainly have wonderful ponies to ride. With the exception of a stirrup that is a trifle short but too short is much better than too long , this is a nearly flawless photo of form over fences. Start with the placement of the stirrup iron.

The stirrup is on the ball of the foot, near the toe but not on the toe. The leg of the rider, from the knee down is in close contact with the barrel. What a wonderful lower leg she has. Pony Profiles continued on page While her buttocks have cleared the saddle, her crotch remains very close to the saddle. There is no sign of jumping ahead of her horse or of dropping back in the air-that most terrible feeling of the buttocks hitting the horse in mid-air.

Nancy has beautiful posture. Starting with her eyes, they are up and ahead. Her head is up, and her facial expression is that of relaxed concentration, a sign of real poise. Her back is flat and her lower backslightl;y hollow. She is neither roachbacked nor sway-backed, nor is she ducking or throwing herself, as so many of the pony and hunter riders do today. Remember that this photo was taken in a hunter class over an outside course, not in an equitation class… Demonstrating an automatic release, the rider maintains an absolutely straight line from elbow to mouth and light contact throughout the approach, take-off, flight, landing and departure of the jump.

Any tension and stiffness in the arms must be avoided at all cost. The fingers remain closed with the thumbs on the reins. This kind of fence gives the advantage to the better rider, which is how it should be. The real fun of riding is to do it well, so thank you, Nancy Baroody, for sharing with all of us the photo of old. We can and should learn from the past. I used to study my still photos very hard. Sometimes they are better than a video camera. The family was the Houstons pronounced House-ton and they were guided by Christina Schlusemeyer.

Their plan was to conduct a world class pony and horse operation until the Houston children and other youngsters were of college age. How the plan worked out will be evident as we chronicle pony successes during the next decades. The first Florida show was at Brooksville like expression, looking ahead to do his job.

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When it happened a second time, the young The front end is exemplary. The hind end appears just as good. The first year we were fifth The pony is in beautiful condition and in the standings, then fourth, then third, and weight and looks clean as a whistle. Please take note of the full bridle, not often seen today. It is a good bit for better riders to experience.

Being a horseman of the old school, with old-fashioned taste, I very much like the straight up-and-down post-and-rail. What a chapter they had written! By , they were Horse of the Year Champions! The first winner was a colorful mare called Farnley Opal. This mare jumped four fences — really high — and Schlusemeyer loved her! Schlusemeyer said if Mrs. Long story short — Mrs. And after this unequaled performance career, Opal became a distinguished broodmare! We will also tell how the latter two continue to influence the pony world in the new Millennium.

Till then, Thalia heliconsportponies. By Thalia Gentzel Reprint from August Up until , the small pony division included ponies up to 13 hands, so it was revolutionary to have a separate small division at Beginning a run of success through was a Welsh Mountain Pony mare, Upland Puffin, who showed to national honors for two years with Dawn Anderson of New Jersey and then for sister Darcy over the next four.

Puffin was foaled in by a black stallion, Wye Windjammer, which Marianna Avery, daughter of Mrs. Pinchot of Upland, enjoyed driving about the farm. Wye Windjammer had foals from to Yea Ripple, yea Windjammer! I am quite frequently reminded that I repeat myself — so here goes! Mary Drury raised a junior stallion who left an indelible mark on the pony hunter world! Mackay-Smith later Dunning of Farnley Farm had imported for other breeders.

Moving Star carried at least 11 crosses to the very beautiful and typy Dyoll Starlight. Unfortunately illness curtailed Mrs. Hebb had been a founder of the U. Pony Clubs with Louise Bedford in Hebb acquired a group of small Thoroughbred and retired pony hunter mares to breed to Singing Star. Hebb worked out a contract arrangement with various families to purchase her crops of six to eight two year olds.

Zelda Zimmerman was the first to do this as she had a daughter and four sons, Richard, Donnie, Jimmie, and Ira, to train and show the ponies. The Lytles brought along over sixty yearlings during a ten year period with the last group coming in One year at Harrisburg, 29 of the 37 larges were by Singing Star! In , Karey was also sixth in the standings with her other pony, Farnley Love Child.

That was not such an easy road, however. Karey tells how she and her trainer, Eddie Davis, had journeyed to Farnley Farm on a bitterly cold winter day with whipping winds. They were trying ponies in a large empty hay barn and Love Child, accustomed to clearing big coops in the hunt field, jumped about over a cavaletti!

Karey fell off, but they still bought this Upon their return home, Karey was riding in a large jacket and when it flapped and hit Love Child in the butt, she bucked and Karey went flying again. However, they soon became a team and had two fine seasons together. And yes, this is the pony so named as she was the result of an unplanned tryst between Tiny, the Dartmoor, and Dolrhedyn Gossamer, a Welsh! Karey recalls her pony years with great fondness as they were a family time. We kept five head at home and took them to the shows in our own van with a driver. When he quit we drove our gooseneck.

My brother showed too so it was a fun thing. Everybody went to the shows and had a good time. We showed in the infield at Churchill Downs and went to Bloomfield Hunt in Michigan — nobody gets to do that anymore! It was wonderful to be warming up at a show and see a great like Rodney Jenkins on Idle Dice. You can follow his progress at www. In they were third and by were Horse of the Year! How fitting to lead off with the incomparable Snowgoose! Who can tell us for sure? High Noon was a Her lovely step and excellent jump carried her far.

She was also third in the AHSA standings in and fourth in High Noon was a full sister to the famous show. Some new faces started coming up through the ranks during these years. The first year for the new Green division was when Shenandoah Opal showing under the Farnley prefix was the Horse of the Year Champion. Trainer Christina Schlusemeyer of FL said Chardonnay had an even and beautiful way of going - like a horse. He was also blessed by a series of top riders and, since he went like a horse, taught them to ride a horse in return — winwin relationships.

As late as , Chardonnay won the under saddle class at Devon for the Encina Corporation. Well, she just happened to produce a foal named Blue Rain by Farnley Lustre in I am going to quote one of my favorite sources here, Bates Newton, from the hardcover Welsh Pony and Cob Society of American Yearbook page previously published by The Welsh Roundabout magazine. Forest Mars of Mars Candy who had gotten him from California. Not only was his size ideal for this purpose, but so was his temperament. While the Mackay-Smith children were growing up, they used him as a riding horse and even showed him in Arab costume classes!

Anisha not only bred many of the Farnley mares, he also attracted a great number of outside mares. The following year, Tara was Competition in Windsor, England in Showing tuce, had many other well-known offspring during his for Kim, then Marion, and finishing with Robin, this. Championships at Devon for Robin and Washington for Marion were also on her list. She was a great one! Prize winning pedigree stock has been dispersed from the auction ring to countries as far away as Australia and America. The herd is now owned by Mr. There is also a group photo of the family, Dad on a Thoroughbred with Susie and brother , Mac, on Connemara ponies.

Two events in have had an ever growing effect on our pony lives today. One stallion went for 21, guineas, while many foals were sold in the and guineas bracket. The auction marks the end of an era for the world-famous stud of Welsh mountain ponies. Buyers hustled round the auction ring to view the quarter of a million pounds of stock on show. Bidding was fierce as Shem Jones, who for 47 years has worked on the farm, walked the horses round the parade ring. The stud was sold to pay duties due on the death of Lt. Colonel Edwards Williams-Wynn, brother of the owners Mrs.

Joyce Robertson and the Honourable Mrs. He inherited the farm for a lifetime from Miss Daisy Brodrick and needed a heavy overdraft to buy the ponies when she died. He went to Australia. Cheryl Patton of Clovermeade in. Many of us from coast to coast can find these bloodlines in our performance animals today. In a small group of pony breeders felt the need to form an association where the emphasis would be on the Virginia pony breeding programs which had been and were producing the best ponies in the nation.

The idea was enthusiastically received, and several individuals volunteered to organize the group. Led by this board, the purposes were defined as listed above and the process of fulfilling them was begun. The article by Susanna Rowe which appears in this issue will tell all.

Next issue we will begin our exploration of the Eighties — so do send me your stories and photos from that era to thalia heliconsportponies. That is lots of fun! Since then, the two section winners compete for the Grand Championship title. In addition high score awards are offered to VPBA registered ponies by several local circuits within the State. National Awards Ponies who are maintained correctly in the registry and are shown as registered are eligible for two VPBA awards on a national level.

One, begun in , is earned by the pony which scores the highest number of points in one performance division at Recognized USEF shows during its show year. Before the start of VPBA, it was a rare thing to find a crossbred pony hunter with an actual written pedigree. Far too many of them were the result of guesswork or even accident. With the VPBA registration process, pony breeders can identify successful breeding matches and thus continue or improve the quality of ponies bred in the state.

Pony buyers can study the heritage of successful ponies and return to the source. The second national award was initiated in Ribbons are awarded to the top four. Over the years, this Registry has grown into a computer data base which contains the records of over. The early mast-head was made by tracing letters and a Thelwell pony, and the articles were written using a manual typewriter!

The present logo was created and adopted in In this sale was re-established by Professional Auction Services Inc.

A web site, www. When I was little I would run around the yard pretending that I was riding a horse. Wanting a horse, I saved the little bit of money I got from babysitting jobs. It took money to feed the horse I wanted, so I had to just enjoy riding behind my friend, bareback, through the fields.

I grew up, married Ed in , and lo and behold, after a few years and a few kids, we bought a few horses! I fell in love with that beautiful pony! Later we bought Asgard Good Friday from Valerie and her sisters, joined the new Welsh of Wisconsin club, and our children showed him in halter and showmanship. We did lease a pony for one of them to ride, and then decided we needed to buy one or two more riding ponies. It was now and there was an ad in the Milwaukee paper for a Welsh stallion. When the stallion was brought out of his stall, he took my breath away! Vida was stamping his foals with the look I prefer — I like elegance, a broad forehead, a fine pretty throatlatch, a long neck, and a nice topline.

I look at my ponies and I just like them! We went to Gayfields in Arkansas that December looking for more mares but everything we liked was not for sale. But then we saw a two year old colt from a distance — and so liked the way he moved! He has always been such a ham and to this day, at age 31, loves attention and puts on a show when people come to see him.

Edwin Bogucki has sculpted him in bronze and in resin.

We continued to search nationally to bring the best stock to our farm, purchasing a few more mares and leasing some from Farnley Farm. Our breeding intentions were to have Welsh ponies available for our children as well as to sell to other families for their children.

We were very involved with showing our ponies! This was the scene of his first driving championship — what proud moments! Vida sired over foals and we have foaled out about the same number here on the farm. There were as many as ten a year or as little as three, the average being six to eight. Spring has always been my favorite time - with the foals! I love watching them play and working with them in the barn. Then there was the one I had to bring into the house to hand feed as his mom had no milk. As it grew warmer we made him a little stall in the garage. When we finally put him outside I was still bottle feeding him — he would come to the fence for his milk when called.

Wanting to raise a few larger ponies, we purchased six month old GlanNant Dock with Thalia and Molly Rinedollar in as we felt he would mature to nearly 14 hands — which he did. As the years passed, we also discovered that breeding Vida to bigger mares such as Thoroughbreds also worked to produce some really nice up to height large crossbred ponies. Interest grew — more and more customers were attracted by the beauty and versatility of the Welsh and Half Welsh.

More ponies found their way into the Pony Hunter World via trainers who bought many as weanlings to two year olds. In our younger years, it was nothing to manage 45 to 50 animals between our ponies and keeping boarders here on the farm, but now 23 seems like a lot of work. I know when the last pony is sold, I am really going to miss them!

I always thought that I would be doing this forever but aches, pains, health problems, and low energy as one grows older seem to stand in the way. The farm is up for sale and Ed is building us a house near Wisconsin Dells. His best Christmas present was learning from stress test results that he does NOT need a new heart! All the fun we had at the Welsh shows. All our kids out there showing. Those were the days! Looking in the Chronicle every week to see how well the Hillcrest ponies are doing — to see the Ch..

I am not a good writer although I said I would like to write a book — on boarders!!!! Maybe it could be in cartoon form! Marilyn topped the Leading Breeders list for with 26 ponies scoring an amazing total of 43, It is sad to realize that there will no longer be fields of beautiful and talented foals at Hillcrest Acres in Franksville, Wisconsin. We wish to honor Ed and Marilyn and wish them a relaxing and restful time as they move into their retirement years. What a wonderful stallion you became. You were the heart of our program of breeding ponies.

You always seemed to know when visitors came to see you and you always put on a fantastic show that they left the farm in awe of your beauty, movement and presence. Along your lifetime journey, you touched many hearts and made life long friends. We were so privileged to own and have you all these years that not only were you a Champion in the show ring, but you were our Champion as well.

You truly have graced our lives and have left your hoofprints forever on our hearts. May your incredible legacy live on through your children and grandchildren. Ed, Marilyn Checki and family. You will recognize her as the cantering grey Breyer pony model. Woodlands Velvet Rain, another Rain Beau son, is in fifth position for , his sixth year to appear in the top seven sires! These standings are from a roster of stallions of many breeds although the Welsh and Welsh crossbreds are dominant.

You can check this long list out at www. Can you help us out? If you have information on these or other ponies, do let me know! McGregor, with his two Horse of the Year titles, was the first big winner by GlanNant Epic whose career at stud spanned 32 years! Just an example of the versatility of ponies! Athletic feats seem to pass on naturally from a pony who was himself most versatile - in his youth Epic was a Welsh National Champion Section B Stallion for Dr.

Now we have several daughters who are proving to be fine producers, as well as a posthumous son, Helicon Epilogue, at stud - and the beat goes on! Of her 14 foals, three were fine breeding stallions. When Mollie Butler was negotiating purchase of the mare from Daisy Brodrick, the famed mistress of Coed Coch Stud in North Wales, naturally she wanted to import a mare in foal. At Coed Coch back in , they did not palpate or scan, and the rabbit test proved negative for pregnancy.

You must get her for Linda anyway! Hey, they say one should write about familiar subjects! Reserve Champion was Ainsty Pastime for Mrs. All these offspring had Star in their names and began with the same initial as the dam, in this case, Cygnet. Two or three months later, after investigation proved the top winner had not been eligible green, the awards were mailed and I received a trophy and ribbon for CHAMPION! When you get a good mare, you get a GOOD mare! I just loved her and still have the blanket from the day I bought her. Sweet Sue had to grow into her show name, however.

In England I went from showing a Again I had a top trainer - for jumpers there it was the late Carmen Lanni. He taught me perfection in the hunters. Back in the States, Lauren went on to the University of Virginia and did horses there her first year. She went on to work for Ernest and Betty Oare and then for Don Stewart and Bibby Farmer, but took ten years off from riding to help her dad with his business. Karen Williams has brought her back into training and Lauren feels most blessed - to be with ponies again and to have such wonderful customers.

I just enjoy seeing the advances and getting them happy. Permission is a mission. Poetry is magic talk. Teaching and learning are, in part, opening gifts. And the nonprofit is about brown kids, mostly, and poetry, mostly. Which everyone assures you there is no support for. And wait, they ask, what is it that you do exactly? You do that full-time? Right now, all across the United States, young people are picking up pens, filling blank pages, grabbing microphones, and stepping proudly onto stages to declare themselves poets. These young writers come from all over the nation: This is quite literally the voice of twenty-first-cen- tury America.

Sixteen years ago I started a poetry organization. Or, more accurately, I set up a few opportunities for young people to take free poetry-writ- ing workshops in San Francisco. In other words, something that would keep me busy before I moved on to my real career. And it would most certainly be a career. This organization—Youth Speaks—has become a landing place for hun- gry young poets. Youth Speaks has been featured in media across the country, including two PBS documentaries and two seasons of original programming on HBO. Our poets have performed at the White House, the Sundance Film Festival, and pretty much every city in the country and every continent on the globe.

The organization has created countless opportunities for teenagers to share poetry with many of our national lit- erary, entertainment, political, and educational luminaries—from Robert Redford and Arne Duncan to Dave Eggers, James Earl Jones, Nancy Pelosi, Al Gore, Amiri Baraka, Bill Clinton, Nikki Giovanni, and seventy mayors from cities large and small. The young people proclaim that it has helped inspire a new generation to embrace and redefine poetry as a written and performative activity that speaks to them and through them.

The art form is helping to create structure around provocative discussions and via innovations of form. Spoken-word events unveil deeper levels of civic and cultural engagement among young peo- ple while increasing literacy and providing incredibly dynamic evenings that celebrate the creativity and passion of young people. But before all this, it was , and I was in grad school pursuing my MFA. I loved teaching, although I found the frustrations of the bureaucracy of classroom teaching uninspiring. Kids listen to everything you say, whether it seems like it or not.

It started with a name: I found some donated community spaces, wrote down my ideas, gathered up a few of my peers, and talked some public high schools into letting me visit their campuses with some poet friends. We performed poems to recruit kids to our first series of free afterschool writing workshops at the San Francisco Public Library and at two community-based nonprofit art centers.

That meant, essen- tially, that my friends and I would have to do the work, and get all the spaces and materials donated, to keep it all free. And we vowed to keep it fun, too. Yes, my writing was crucial to my sense of who I was. I was seeing—at least through the narrow prism of my MFA program— just who was being groomed to have a voice in this world.

Those of us in graduate-level workshops were all trying to be professional writers, in one manifestation or the other. But our programs were not represen- tative of the demographics of the late-twentieth-century Bay Area. So part of launching Youth Speaks was about creating a free and safe space where young people outside the sphere of other writing and arts pro- grams could have the opportunities to be nurtured and supported in the development of their artistic voices.

Around that same time, I went to my first poetry slam. ESSAYS how much I loved to hear poetry out loud, but I had grown increasingly frustrated by just how poorly some poets read their work. I had been to dozens upon dozens of boring poetry readings San Francisco is a terrific place to hear poetry read, boring and otherwise , and they were driving me crazy.

I loved the work, but some of these poets were so insular in their sharing of their poems that I preferred reading them on my own, rather than hearing them ruin it for me. But at the poetry slam, I saw something different. And it was not boring. The poets were youngish, very engaging, passionate about their work, and unafraid to share themselves with the crowd, to open themselves up to both positive and negative critique. The poetry slam was the first place I saw an unadulterated celebration of language and writing and poetry that was raucous and fun and diverse.

I figured that it would give me some good experience for the many other things I wanted to do. But as it turned out, fifty young people showed up in the first two months. So I changed my thinking.

Spanking Chronicles: Compendium No 2

I started reading books about fund-raising. I took free courses on how to run a nonprofit organization. The population of young people coming out to the workshops continued to grow. The poetry slams I was attending were exciting, and I began to see that the slam made fun of the idea of competitive poetry and at the same time challenged the writers to reach new heights in their writing and performance. Meanwhile, the young writers in the workshops were all responding positively to the videos and tapes I brought in of poets read- ing their work, so why not give them an opportunity to be celebrated in public in a fun, competitive way?

Again, I thought it would be great if ten kids came, but for that inaugural Youth Speaks Teen Poetry Slam, more than one hundred poets partici- pated, drawing close to six hundred audience members over three weeks, selling out the small Mission District theater and getting a front-page article in the arts section of the San Francisco Chronicle. And, it turned out, this was the first teen poetry slam in the country. So then we had more events, and more kids started showing up. And they kept showing up, saying incredibly provocative, thoughtful, and creative things in the workshops and from the stages.

These young poets were writing poems about the environment, about education, about love, life, death. They were writing poems about abuse and power and lack of power—it was really an amazing array of voices. Then schools started calling me—instead of me calling them—because teachers were begin- ning to see their students grab on to the possibilities of poetry. Then people wanted to publish the poems, and to hear them again. Some foundations and companies even wanted to start giving us money.

And while the successes have been tremendous, I often measure them by looking back at the very first public Youth Speaks program. One of the teachers had set us up in a one-hundred-seat auditorium. I introduced my friends—we were a diverse group in our mid-twenties—and said we were poets. I asked if anyone in the room wrote poetry. Two hands crept up slowly. Everyone else in the room stared at us.

Kids, they said, had no interest at all. Recently, I went back to Washington High to observe how the school- visit program was doing. This was fifteen years after the first one. The one-hundred-seat auditorium was the same, but this time, when the Poet Mentor asked how many of the students wrote poetry, about half the kids in the room raised their hands. The teacher had been trying to get us to their school for months, but we had been all booked up, because now poetry is a hot thing on high-school campuses.

Over the years, our numbers have continued to grow. We are now in more than fifty public middle and high schools each year in the Bay Area alone. Thousands of teenagers come out to our writing workshops, our monthly open mics, and our poetry slams. We have audiences in the thousands for our bigger events, and the work has spread nationwide.

Both opened up programs based on the model in the Bay, and both programs are still thriving. Each year so far, more than six hundred young writers from close to sixty cities have deeply engaged with the power of poetry. These six hundred young poets are selected through local events featuring tens of thousands of poets who want to go, all of whom are part of a generation hungry for the experience that spoken word can offer.

These young writers are talking about critical issues in their lives, and they are doing so from every cor- ner of the country. They are writing in the styles and sounds that make sense to them. They are tapping into the continuum of poetry but do not feel bound by it. Poetry has become a liberating force in their lives, and it allows them to put their identities, voices, power, and imaginations cen- ter stage. The way young people approach the word is a thing of real consequence to them, and this is what inspires me and, I imagine, the thousands of adults who keep coming out to support these emerging writers.

The teens who are putting pen to paper and stepping onto stages take the opportu- nity to be heard seriously. They are telling real stories, sharing real joy, exposing real pain. To them, poetry is not a luxury. We believed that anyone could be a poet, that poets can write about any- thing they want to write about. Poetry is for everyone. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing and have been a student in dozens of writ- ing workshops at two major universities. Through the years, I developed my own thoughts on how workshops should happen, who should be in them, and what they should be for.

Where else can young people define themselves, using the simplest of technologies: Not in reaction to anything, just in a space where they could say who they are. What matters to them. How they think they are living their lives. What they love and what they want to change. And to take it seriously. Our approach to this is pretty simple: We offer a lot of programs.

Teenagers just need to show up, and they do. And they keep showing up. It is now typical for us to sell out three-thousand-seat venues for poetry readings by teenagers on a Saturday night in downtown San Francisco. This kind of thing is happening all across the country. I knew some things about teaching adults to write, for I had taught writing classes for a number of years at Columbia and the New School.

Adult writers had read a lot, wanted to be writers, and were driven by all the usual forces writers are driven by. I knew how to talk to them, how to inspire them, how to criticize their work. What to say to an eight-year-old with no commitment to literature? They said true things in fresh and surprising ways.

Another was how much they enjoyed making works of art—draw- ings, paintings, and collages. I was aware of the breakthrough in teaching children art some forty years ago. I had seen how my daughter and other 1. Kenneth Koch, excerpts from Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Chelsea House, and HarperCollins, I wanted to find, if I could, a way for children to get as much from poetry as they did from painting.

The object was to give them experiences which would teach them something new and indicate new possibilities for their writing. This system also made for good class discussions of student work: I thought this would also work with children, though because of their age, lack of writing experience, and different motivation, I would have to find other assignments. Finding the right ideas for poems would help, as would working out the best way to proceed in class.

I also needed poems to read to them that would give them ideas, inspire them, make them want to write. It was a mixed group of fifth and sixth graders. I felt the main thing I had to do was to get them started writing, writing anything, in a way that would be pleas- ant and exciting for them. Once that happened, I thought, other good things might follow. I asked the class to write a poem together, everybody contributing one line. The way I conceived of the poem, it was easy to write, had rules like a game, and included the pleasures without the anxieties of competi- tiveness.

No one had to worry about failing to write a good poem because everyone was only writing one line; and I specifically asked the children not to put their names on their line. Everyone was to write the line on a sheet of paper and turn it in; then I would read them all as a poem. I gave an example, putting a color in every line, then asked them for others.

I wish that I were Veronica in South America. They were talking, waving, blush- ing, laughing, and bouncing up and down. I had trouble finding my next good assignment. I tried a few ideas that worked well with adults, such as writing in the style of other poets, but they were too difficult and in other ways inappropriate. Fortunately for me, Mrs. Wiener, the fourth grade teacher, asked me to suggest some poetry ideas for her to give her class.

A few days later she brought me their poems, and I was very happy. The poems were beautiful, imaginative, lyrical, funny, touching. They reminded me of my own childhood and of how much I had forgotten about it. They were all innocence, elation, and intelligence. They were unified poems: And they had a lovely music— I wish I had a pony with a tail like hair I wish I had a boyfriend with blue eyes and black hair I would be so glad… —Milagros Diaz, 42 Sometimes I wish I had my own kitten Sometimes I wish I owned a puppy 2.

Sometimes I wish for a room of my own. And I wish all my sisters would disappear. And I wish my little sister would find her nightgown. I realized its qualities as I read over their work. The idea helped them to find that they could do it, by giving them a form that would give their poem unity and that was easy and natural for them to use: One of the main problems children have as writers is not knowing what to write about. Once they have a subject they like, but may have temporarily forgotten about, like wishing, they find a great deal to say.

The subject was good, too, because it encouraged them to be imaginative and free. There are no limits to what one can wish: And wishes, more- over, are a part of what poetry is always about. This could be new subject matter, new sense awareness, new experience of language or poetic form. I looked for other techniques or themes that were, like wishes, a natural and customary part of poetry. As in the Wish Poems, I suggested a repetitive form to help give their poems unity: Devoting whole poems to comparisons and sounds gave the children a chance to try out all kinds, and to be as free and as extravagant as they liked.

There was no theme or argument with which the sounds or comparisons had to be in accord: In teaching painting an equivalent might be having children paint pictures which were only contrasting stripes or gobs of color. In presenting these poetry ideas to the children I encouraged them to take chances. But I asked them specifically to look for strange comparisons—if the grass seemed to them like an Easter egg they should say so.

I suggested they compare something big to some- thing small, something in school to something out of school, something unreal to something real, something human to something not human. Examples can give them courage. I asked my fourth graders to look at the sky it was overcast and to tell me what thing in the schoolroom it most resembled.

Such question games make for an excited atmosphere and start the children thinking like poets. For the Noise Poem I used another kind of classroom example. I made some noises and asked the children what they sounded like. I crumpled up a piece of paper. Their writing quickly became richer and more colorful.

They wrote freely and crazily and they liked what they were doing because they were writing beautiful and vivid things. It is the same when one writes as when one reads: Teaching Children to Write Poetry Some things about teaching children to write poetry I knew in advance, instinctively or from having taught adults, and others I found out in the classroom. Most important, I believe, is taking children seriously as poets. Children have a natural talent for writing poetry and anyone who teaches them should know that. Teaching really is not the right word for what takes place: At first I was amazed at how well the children wrote, because there was obviously not enough in what I had told them even to begin to account for it.

But she had done no more than what I had suggested she do: There was one other thing: I thought I might have some success with sixth graders, but even there I felt it would be best to begin with a small group who volunteered for a poetry workshop. After the fourth-grade Wish Poems, however, and after the Wish and Comparison Poems from the other grades, I realized my mis- take.

The children in all the grades, primary through sixth, wrote poems which they enjoyed and I enjoyed. Treating them like poets was not a case of humorous but effective diplomacy, as I had first thought; it was the right way to treat them because it corresponded to the truth. A little humor, of course, I left in. Poetry was serious, but we joked and laughed a good deal; it was serious because it was such a pleasure to write. Treating them as poets enabled me to encourage them and egg them on in a non- teacherish way—as an admirer and a fellow worker rather than as a boss.

There are other barriers besides rhyme and meter that can keep children from writing freely and enjoying it. One is feeling they have to spell everything correctly. Stopping to worry about spelling a word can cut off a fine flow of ideas. Punctuation can also be an interference, as can neatness. All these matters can be attended to after the poem is written. Poetry should be talked about in as simple a way as possible and certainly without such bewildering rhetorical terms as alliteration, sim- ile, and onomatopoeia. There are easy, colloquial ways to say all these: Again on the subject of language, the various poetry ideas should be presented in words children actually use.

One bar to free feeling and writing is the fear of writing a bad poem and of being criticized or ridiculed for it. If I praised a line or an image I put the stress on the kind of line or image it was and how exciting it might be for others to try something like that too. Aside from the scientific folly of so doing, it is sure to make children inhibited about what they write.

The educational advantages of a creative intellectual and emotional activity which children enjoy are clear. Writing poetry makes children feel happy, capable, and creative. It makes them feel more open to under- standing and appreciating what others have written literature. It even makes them want to know how to spell and say things correctly gram- mar. Learning becomes part of an activ- ity they enjoy—when my fifth graders were writing their Poems Using Spanish Words they were eager to know more words than I had written on the board; one girl left the room to borrow a dictionary.

Of all these advantages, the main one is how writing poetry makes children feel: One thing is for a poet from outside to come and teach in the schools as I did. Another is for teachers already there to try teaching poetry. A lot of children there are writ- ing poetry now who would not have been otherwise, and their feelings about it are different too. They may have had a distant respect for poetry before, but now it belongs to them. They really like it. Some have written twenty or thirty poems and are still raring to go. It is not our mysterious charm for which Ron Padgett and I are wildly applauded when we go into the fifth grade classroom and for which shrieks of joy have greeted us in other classrooms too.

It is the subject we bring, and along with that, our enthusiasm for what the students do with it. It occurred to me some time ago that I was as popular and beloved a figure at P. And that I was doing more or less what they had done, though in a form of art that, for all its prestige, has been relatively ignored in the schools. The change in the children is the most evident, but the teachers have changed too. Once they saw what the children were doing, they became interested themselves. Before, I think, poetry was kind of a dead subject at the school dormant, anyway.

But now they have seen the connection, which is that children have a great talent for writing poetry and love to do it. However, as I worked with many different children, I became impressed with the beneficial effects poetry writing was having on their private 1. Although the piece is a hymn to the pleasures of imaginative writing, it takes a negative turn at the very end, an unfortunate attempt on my part to make the piece acceptable to what I imagined to be the Ms.

Writings on Poetry and Poets Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, I felt I was being given a rare opportunity for a poet in the twentieth century—to be directly useful to society without compromising myself. Padgett, the poet who is visiting us today…. Most people think this part is the whole story. But when you lie down and go to sleep at night, your mind keeps on working, just differently, and sometimes very odd things happen in it. Fifteen minutes ago we were total strangers. Now they are really excited about their own personal mysterious, imaginative experiences. This is not a test.

Suddenly the room is filled with a sampling of the classroom unconscious. The anonymity adds to the fascination. Dream Poem I dreamed I was in a gigantic room. Everything was made of tiles, the walls, floors, everything. The only piece of fur- niture was a gold throne. I could see beams of light coming in the corners. Very strong light and I could hear cheering. I stood up and a big dinosaur ran through the corner of light. I screamed and ran out the opposite beam of light and fell on a cloud that had sand particles on it.

Then I dreamed I fell asleep. Christine Riblett I suggest they keep a diary of their dream lives that they can use as a basis for short stories, fantasy tales, or science fiction. Because my basic interest is in creative writing, I encourage kids to say whatever they want, no matter how wacky, weird, or unconventional, and to forgo, if they wish, rules of spelling, grammar, rhyme, and meter.

Kids who have a terrible time spelling simple words naturally dislike writing but are often good storytellers. I discourage personal viciousness and constant use of obscenity in writing. Doubtless thera- peutic for some, they disconnect most children from their larger, more interesting selves. I also discourage the kind of competitiveness that makes most kids feel anxious, unloved, and defeated, or vainly victorious: Creativity should not be turned into a contest. A crucial moment for emphasizing this comes when I read the poems aloud.

I pause to comment on things I like, as much with my tone of voice as with outright remarks. In fact I praise the poems like mad. Gradually they gain the self-confidence to write as well as they always could have, with greater ease, pleasure, and satisfaction. They come to appreciate their imaginations, and from there the imaginative lives of others. One poetry idea called variously Here and Now, Right Now, or Poem of the Senses has the kids focus their attention on the immediate present.

In order to present the Right Now idea I secretly study the walls, ceil- ing, desks, view outside, details of clothes, and gestures that stand out a little, while the teacher introduces me. The reflection on the clock face forms a bent shiny rectangle. A yellow pencil is lying on the floor pointing to a red tennis shoe that goes up and down. Do you hear that humming?

I feel a little cool breeze on my face as I walk back and forth, and I feel my heart beating in my chest. Do you feel yours? I feel my throat vibrating as I talk. Make yourself one big receiver of impressions: This can be outside your body and mind, like the light powder on the chalkboard; or inside, such as feeling your lungs fill with air or sensing an idea happening in your mind.

Make a list—in sentences—of things you never noticed before or things you think no one else will notice. The kids start craning their necks. Consciously focusing on details in the room is peculiar for them but exhilarating. I see the dark mouth of a cave. I think I am getting drunk off this class. I smell a blue sea. I imagine I am flying. I know I am mad. Todd Robeson This type of poem also shows how repetition is a good substitute for rhyme and meter in teaching poetry to children because it creates a poetic structure without inhibiting their freedom of expression.

Actual events become dreamlike when they sink into the past. Or into the future. What would we look like? Would we live in plastic bubbles? If only we could remember how it was before we were born! Finally I say that today I want everyone to get into their own time machines and travel back to something they remember from long ago.

There are other poetry ideas that are more mechanical but no less fun, such as acrostics. I ask the kids to volunteer a word or a name, the first one that comes to mind. In any case they are learning how to do an acrostic. We finish the example at the board, and I read it aloud: This is also a good way to start with a class that hates writing, like one fourth grade group I taught. Here is their class collaboration: These fourth-graders had a lot of experience writing poetry, which can be seen in this sample that still makes me dizzy with envy: It was made out of white snow.

If you cut the sun open what would you see? But if a person was crazy the answer would be yes. Where is the end of the universe? In back of the swimming pool. How old is adventure? It is 60,00 years old. Which color is older, black or white? Black because you can outline me. Vivien Tuft and Fontessa Moore, P. They rushed over to dictate: At first, kindergartners were hard to teach because of their inability to write words or to concentrate very long, but I found them so much fun to be with that I usually let them look in my pockets, pull my beard, put toys on my shoes, etc. Then one day I enlisted the aid of five sixth- graders, good poets who had been writing for several years.

I gave them some ideas for poems the kindergartners might like: What do they say at your house? If your dog or cat or fish could talk English, what would they say? If a tree or a leaf or a mountain could talk, what would they say? Imagine a talking table! A glass of milk! They worked much better with the sixth-graders than they had with me. Here are two poems dictated that day. One boy, San Lum Wong, newly arrived from China and just beginning to learn English, wrote the following poem when I asked his class to write Love Poems: The Funny World The world is funny.

The earth is funny. The people is funny. Somebody in funny life. Somebody given a life change the funny. The magic is funny. The funny is magic. Oh, boy a funny funny money happy. I defy you to write something in Chinese half as beautiful about love after three months of studying that language. Sometimes a student will hand me a manuscript, something written at home in private. Such a poem was that of Liz Wolf, a seventh-grader.

By getting in touch with their creative imaginations—which is sometimes a scary business, not a cutesy-pie world of daffodils and little hills—they see more clearly into themselves, and this clarity gives them a sense of personal value. By having kids indulge themselves in the wild and wacky world of the imagination, presto: First Class 1 Theodore Roethke Stick out your can, here comes a lesson-plan. What pearls are there to cast to colleagues? Selected notebook entries , first published in The Antioch Review , then in Straw for the Fire.

Anthologies are often inert. There are dangers every time I open my mouth, hence at times when I keep it shut, I try to teach by grunts, sighs, shrugs. That way lies madness and death. As it is, you work harder than most psychiatrists—and get much further faster, more humanly, painlessly. Leave your neuroses at home, and while there, make them work for you, or exorcise them from your best being. I feel strangely dif- fident. I assure you that is astonishingly easy to do. A soft-boiled egg wobbling on one leg, looking for the edge of a cup or saucer… You roar, not from a true disquietude of the heart, but from growing-pains…spiritual teeth- ing.

Dwell on them lovingly. Sometimes the possession of the first without the second may be tragic. But the applications, the variations are infinite. Everything else scares the hell out of me. One can talk away certain themes, spoil them. If he had not written at such length, he might not have been heard. Usually it seems defensive, a form of fear or even a kind of jealousy. The true provincial wit, he never reads Except the thing his little spirit needs: I find it comic that he speaks of voice Who never made a rhythm without noise.

What a burden he bears, carrying the weight of criticism for us all. How fiercely he guards his few nuggets of wisdom. In the perpetual hunt for merit, he is content to scavenge. To hell, I say, with the conference. Come up before or after class. None of this breast-feeding. I call the light out of someone else.

Sing up, sing all, a Socrates of fury. It was a little soft-edged for me. Yet there are lines some kid wrote that are still a part of my head: How to get in on it. Would know I was bad. I made a few vague passes—mailing those applications in—and nothing ever came back. Word was that the woman who ran it mostly liked to hire men.

So it never happened. The little bit of substitute teaching I did right out of college was largely a painful and humiliating experience that dis- suaded me from wanting to teach for a long while. Cause kids just look at you with those big eyes—and I instantly feel like a fraud. As a child I had instinctively recognized that poetry disseminated val- ues. It was rolled out in school right next to prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance as part of the larger tapestry of things we supposedly belonged to—but I knew also that those poems were corny.

The pleasure of these early poetry experiences was not the dull one of moving my mouth to make these treacly lines with fifty other sets of lips in grade school after lunch, standing with our bellies stuck out, heads swarming with other things. What I liked was being home in the afternoon after dinner with my family and seeing how quickly I could memorize the poem. Poetry proved my mind was strong. Not only could I remember everything on the list of things my mother sent me to the store to buy, jingling the list in my mind as I walked, but also I could commit a page of poetry to memory in half an hour.

Next came the allure of funny poetry I could spout for my friends outside of school. Mostly it was that stupid poetry from Mad Magazine: ESSAYS Poetry became the exemplar of private vindictiveness and funniness and personal mourning—flipping that space into the world. I knew it, I grew it, it was there. And sadly, those free programs—the ones I went to at the Poetry Project in the seventies now cost money—and the ones in public schools have been largely cut out of budgets, and when they do exist the tales of cen- sorship are legion.

So even when the money was a little bit there, it could easily be cut, silencing poetry. All of this was just part of the cultural wars of the eighties and nineties. Which only further demonstrated to my mind that poetry is powerful. The need is radiantly there. Do you like poetry.

Well there were always poets in my school when I was a kid. Not just reciting poetry, but writing it—this was taught in school! I will tell you why. Language in the hands of poets is a squalling baby and an old man. And presupposing that you learned it somewhere illit- eracy is a related but entirely other subject , the point is that language is free and it is the medium that gives us the knowledge that other people think too, and it offers us a way to transmit our thoughts. Language is the ultimate human tool. Portable, invisible, and it zips around the world at no cost. While so many languages are dying right now, people continue chanting its poetry.

Each and every one of them. I do have one story specifically about teaching the children. They were charming thugs, high-school students, at-risk kids in an at-risk town, Provincetown, Mass. Really, are there schools here? My friend Kathe Izzo was single-handedly doing the cool thing: She found kids in the streets, she went into classrooms at Provincetown High, she went to gigs where kids with guitars played out. Some liked poetry, reading, a few already wrote songs because they were in bands and imagined that writing poetry would stoke the output of their songwriting.

However she did it Kathe had corralled twelve awkward radiant teens to meet in the public library one evening a week to write. It went on for three or four years. So bringing poetry to the kids for me was not a gig. It was a favor. I liked Kathe, I liked her work. I thought it was cool she was doing her Shadow thing. And she had created a job for herself. What should I do? Read, just read your work, she smiled. Though I happened to live in New York. I knew one kid in school who was a poet and we would pass notes in class and our notes were poems.

We actually got in trouble for these notes so my first work was incendiary, I explained. I was thinking out loud. And weirdly I was digging a really big hole for myself , the next poet I met, a guy in college, Brian Rattigan, lived in P-town in the summer. He was from Watertown. He came down here to work in restaurants and write poems. He drowned at Cape Cod Light. I looked around nervously. The poetry reading generally as we understand it today is constructed around a little bit of distance, or even a whole lot. I think I probably told them this because to sit at the same table sharing my work made me feel both very connected to them and full of shame too—for having a body, for being alive, for want- ing them to like my work, for making something invisible visible, and then for being the evidence of that bleeding, by being there.

That whole trashy dancing cave scene in my head…stepping out. The place where art and poetry begins. Do you want to talk at all? One kid said did you write those all at the same time. No, this one, I said, shaking a page, I wrote last week, and some of these are really old. I think of a poem as something that does what nothing else can.

Not a movie, I guess a song can do this too, but a song has to make it simple. A poem can be a really quiet show, but very complex. It goes inside and out. It reflects the pattern. Usually at this point, said Kathe, smiling, we do some writing. They all pulled out their notebooks. They may have liked me but this is what they were waiting for. So what would you like us to do, she asked. It was like she was flirting. And I wanted to be helpful.

They were so young. Seventeen at most, I think. I wonder what they think about their lives right now. I thought of one of my favorite poems, which is almost noth- ing at all. By the eighth-century Chinese poet Tu Fu. Supposedly it was his first poem. I love the idea that you write a poem your whole life. You preserve that culture. Six was my favorite birthday too.

Some of them were in bands. People think these kids are no good. This is like a little jail. One of the things I like to do is always to think of the thing, the worst thing, and make it good. Even just in my head walking down the street. And go down the drain with it. Go down the drain one kid laughed. What does that mean asked the smart girl.

Just make it up. Just go, just fall. I felt so happy. I loved being six. I was six, I had lost my snake… I mean, I think that meant a plumber. A plumber uses a snake. It was quiet in the library. You could hear cars on the street, the librarians were picking up their papers and putting books on the shelves.

People look up when they write. They are look- ing into an abstract space. It was amazing to bump into her. Where are those kids today, I asked. When I go to Provincetown I always see Shadow kids in the street, she said. That was the best time in my life, they say. They say to Kathe you saved my life. One girl who still lives there keeps saying I should start a Shadow group. Shawn Kelley, do you remember her, she was on that artist boat that went down the Mississippi. And Carmine is in a band. But no they really mean it. They would do it right now.

Just to want it. Poets, theater directors, multimedia artists, jugglers, dancers, philosophers were suddenly asked to bring new life to the routine of the classroom. What would result from this chemistry no one was willing to guess. How sincere the invitation was differed from school to school. The almost religious hopes which creativity excites religious in spirit as well as in approaching the Infinite may stem from the fact that 1.

Doubleday, and Poseidon Press, A teacher who is not much impressed with the manner of a poet visiting his or her classroom may still feel that the children have gained something merely by being exposed to a person who lives by his self-expression. I am talking now of a desperate situation.

Only desperate people would throw open their school doors and welcome shaggy poets to mingle with their young. Americans traditionally distrust poetry and think it the most frivolous of arts.

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But the poet has certain practical advantages. He is portable, he is inexpensive, and in some mysterious way he may excite children into writing, which may awaken a taste for reading, which may lead to higher reading scores and happier school boards. Nevertheless, it was understood by schools requesting visiting writers that the poet should not be pressured or consciously programmed toward that end but should be allowed to steer his or her own course.

The very innocence of artists about educational matters was considered a potential asset, in that they might be less inclined to duplicate the standard curriculum. Naturally, misunderstandings resulted; and they resulted quite logi- cally from the initial paradox of wanting strangers to visit a classroom and stir things up and, on the other hand, resenting the turbulence which the passing experts left behind.

The errors surrounding these programs were analyzed with rare honesty by Martin Kushner, an arts administra- tor, who confessed: Artists have been dropped into the school like paratroop- ers onto a strange terrain. Few instructions were given. They had to scout teachers, seek allies, and do the best they could without a great deal of experience.

We had many meetings early in the year with the teachers, but these talks were perfunctory. Each artist was simply pres- ent in the school to turn kids on, to do his thing, to involve teachers. But how much more we could have achieved with more knowledge of school life and ade- quately prepared welcome mats manned by school and community people who knew a lot more about what was dropping out of the sky into their laps! We had objectives but they were abstractions. We must state clearly what we are attempting to do—what we believe in.

Nevertheless, the writer-in-the-schools pro- gram has suggested at least an embryonic hope of a model for writers to regain a useful role in the daily productive world without relinquishing their identity as artists. Even with the risks attached to such collabo- rations, no more fruitful experiment could be imagined, since writers need, in addition to a steady income, the emotional nourishment of a workplace, while schools need more poetry, in the largest sense of the term.

The importation of writers into the schools may be seen as part of a larger pattern—the era of the consultant, in which the disinterested expert, who is not engaged in the political intrigues and promotional ladder within the institution, enters the institution, presumably free to 2.

Necessary to the identity of the change agent was that at a certain point he leave. For how else could he maintain his objectivity and his specialness? It would dissolve in the bath of the institution; he would be sucked into the petty murk and become just another grumpy, backbit- ing employee. The change-agent concept seems to me the most odiously imper- sonal and presumptuous imaginable. Yet it sums up the dilemma in which many writers working in the schools are placed. They have been assigned a role of eternally Different, and they can either exploit that, resist it, evade it, submit to it, or subvert it, depending on the particular circumstances and temperament of the writer.

In any case, it remains a frame for their actions that they can never ignore. I joined the Collaborative in , a year that marked the height of discontent with American educational institutions. The school-reform movement had been gathering steam; the first wave of muckraking books by Holt, Kozol, Kohl, Herndon, Dennison, and Conroy had appeared or was soon to appear; and many people seemed to be coming to the conclu- sion that the American school system was on the point of collapse. I considered myself part of a second line of reformers, who had inher- ited the new atmosphere brought about by the impact of the first group on the schools, profiting from the wedge they had made, at the same time as walking into the confusion and mistrust which that initial wave of attack had left behind.

ESSAYS not necessarily mean that they would transform themselves, only that we were in for a period of much more self-conscious, ambiguous behavior.

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Teachers dis- trusted themselves, checked their intuitions, became tentative, easily manipulated by children, and, finally, irritated at having to live up to an impossible standard. They had tried; they had bought all the books and taken notes and gone in to transform their classrooms, and their class- rooms had stayed essentially the same.

In fact, they had always cared: Most teachers do care about their children and want good lives for them. A perplexed mood began to develop among certain teachers, which rose to anger at these freedom experts: Arousers of hope should not be expected to deliver as well, or no one would take on that function. On the other hand, the critical map of the schools which they had handed down was incomplete. If it showed very truthfully how some children were being squashed by their teachers, it failed to show enough the other instances, the normal everyday resourcefulness with which many classroom teachers meet challenge after challenge and which has to be seen to be believed—a selflessness that is accepted by them as part of their job, like firemen entering a burning building.

I was appalled by the monot- ony and chained expression that I saw everywhere, and impatient to change all that as rapidly as possible. Naturally I kept getting into trou- ble. First I was asked to leave a commercial high school for encouraging the students to put out their own not faculty-censored literary maga- zine.