With great pride and admiration this issue of our magazine spotlights the work of Wild Writing Woman Pamela Michael. Pam's organization River of Words has trained thousands of classroom teachers, park rangers and youth leaders on how to incorporate nature exploration and the arts into their work with young people.   Below please find some of the children's poetry that has resulted from her work.

Pam has added yet another hat to her growing collection--travel writer, radio host/producer, non-profit director, and now . . . gallery director and curator. River of Words has opened one of the first galleries in the country devoted exclusively to children's art and poetry from around the world.

The Young at Art gallery opened in November with art from Afghan refugee children (featured in the Nov. 30, 2003 issue of Parade Magazine), an exhibit of art from children living 50 miles from Chernobyl (site of the world's worst nuclear disaster) and a retrospective of winning art and poetry from River of Words' extraordinary collection of children's work. River of Words has conducted an international children's art and poetry contest for the last nine years, in affiliation with The Library of Congress. Winners are selected from the tens of thousands of entries by Pamela and judges Robert Hass and Thacher Hurd. Nine of them (and a Teacher of the Year) win a trip to Washington, DC for the award ceremony at The Library of Congress: eight kids from the U.S. in various age categories, four in poetry and four in art, and an international winner.

"I probably read more children's poetry and view more children's art than anyone on earth," Pam says, "and what's remarkable is that a pattern seems to emerge each year--either in the images submitted to the contest, or in the poems, as if all the kids in the world secretly decided that year on a common theme. One year it was tree hollows; it seemed every other painting had a tree hollow, often with a rabbit or squirrel peeking out. Or snow-capped mountains--one year those predominated. Another year, it was a verbal theme: the word 'everlasting.'"

Pamela wasn't prepared for the themes that surfaced in the last couple of years, however. "After September 11, many poems submitted to the contest contained words like 'sorrow, grief, suffering,' or 'tears.' Some poems directly addressed the tragedy in New York, of course, but so many of the others that ostensibly were not about the event were nonetheless full of grieving words. Last year, and the year before, the theme was war. Beetles 'battled.' Crows 'attacked.' Storms 'raged.' The powerful effect of world events on tender psyches is painfully apparent in the art and poetry of young people. We may think they don't know what's going on, but they do. That's one reason giving them avenues and skills to express their deepest feelings and ideas through the arts is so important."

The idea behind River of Words is simple: give kids an informed and heartfelt connection to the place they live, its natural and cultural history, its flora and fauna, landscapes and watersheds and the art, poetry, songs and legends the place has inspired. The organization believes that children who grow up with a sense of belonging to a particular place, who have an intimate connection to that place, will become engaged citizens and effective earth stewards. "People take care of what they love, " Pam offers. "All the dire statistics and finger-wagging in the world won't make people take care of the planet; we've seen that. Only love and education will."

To see more of this remarkable work from the earth's children, visit www.riverofwords.org , or, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, call Pam at the Young at Art Gallery (which shares a space with the River of Words office on 8th and Dwight) in Berkeley at 510-548-7636. Currently, the gallery is open on Thursdays and by appointment. They sell original art, as well as prints, books, calendars and notecards of the children's art and poetry. All proceeds support the organization's educational work around the world.

________________

Children's Poetry from River of Words

Dear Aquarius

Tonight you bend
because the stars are fearless
enough to glow on you
They speak their truths in muted light
If one grain of sand is traced from a
twisting kiss in the North
to this forgiveness draped around my feet
then salvation lies in every loop and thrash
You keep your secrets well
in lengthy, passionate channels,
too gargling and gracefully
knitted to control
But Aquarius, I have
long held this view of you
basking in your semiprecious charm
When I was small, seven or so,
I'd put on brother's dingy jeans
and rill my way through silted grass,
to the steady saplings
blooming at your edge
Toe by toe, foot by dirtied foot
I disappeared
Everything from the mirror down
was me no more

Kt Harmo, Age 16
Vicksburg, Mississippi
2000 Grand Prize, Grades 10-12

___________

The Rain

Dark
Pouring
Scary
Black
Puddle
Night

Maddison Boewe, Age 6
Clarkston, Michigan
2000 Finalist

___________

Festival Day

it started as a good day
the water was moving smooth
it wasn't all crazy with the gleam
of the sun walking along the bridge to Cape Verdian
festival that happens once every two years music
all day to the red water at sunset here it's dark
there it is clear but my grandmother doesn't talk
about it they came after dark twenty of them twenty of us
with more coming because everyone likes a fight
the flood of the fight rushing from near the water
to the street the sunlight just about gone you
can't change this

Leeron Silva, Age 17
Providence, Rhode Island
2003 Grand Prize, Grades 10-12

___________
 
Time Changes Everything

Gritty creeky waterway.
Chilly air wraps the silence.
Bird tracks impress me.
The ancient oak dangles its roots over the water.
Times changes everything.

Dillon York , Age 12
Woodside, California
2003 Finalist

___________

Prayer

Often have I come to you
In the fitful light of evening
Or the constant sheen of morning
And often have I sought your solace,
River.
Show me the secret of your solitude
That thing, that unknown certain thing
Which has brought you through a hundred shifting seasons
And will bring you through at least a thousand more.
Teach me to be alone through summer, autumn, winter, spring
And still to catch the gleaming sunset
And dance in golden eddies in the shadow of the islands.
Tell me all the secrets of those silent seasons
Or one thing only--
When spring comes, show me how to break the ice.

Alexandra Petri , Age 14
Washington, DC
2003 Finalist

___________

The Flame

The flame of orange persimmon collides
with the dark of the pomegranate
as the seeds circle the thing of
change they learn how the inside
is the outside. Within an apple of rust
is a seed that is born and how the hill
is alive and dead at the same time.
As the rattle of the snake is the
fate of the tree and if the mouse
steps here the bird will live and
if it does not the bird will die.
And the wind in the tree is
nothing.

Forrest Ambruster , Age 11
San Francisco, California
2003 Shasta Bioregion Prize

___________

There is a dark river / Hay Un Rio Oscuro

In the gutter of the street
In front of my school.
It was born in the rain
And isn't flowing anymore.
It's sort of sad
With drops of gasoline
And a red wrapper
Some kid tossed
After eating a candy.
But although it's sad and filthy
It carries the shadow of my face
The tattered clouds
And in white and black
The whole sky.

Hay un rio oscuro
En la alcantarilla de la calle
En frente de mi escuela.
Nacio de la lluvia
Y ya no corre mas.
Se queda triste
Con gotas de gasolina
Y un papel rojo
Que tiro un nino
Despues de comer un dulce.
Pero aun triste y sucio
Lleva la sombra de mi cara
Las nubes andrajosas
Y en blanco y negro
Todo el cielo.

Michelle Diaz Garza, Age 9 & Rosa Baum, Age 9
Watsonville, California
2003 Finalists

___________

Oda a la Fresca

O strawberry
Forgive me because
You have so many
Freckles on your face
But I couldn't
Bear it and I ate
You in one bite
And locked you u
In my stomach
So warm and filthy.

O fresca
Perdoname por
Si tienes muchas
Pecas en tu cara
Pero yo no pude
Aguantar y te
Comi en mordisco
Y te encerre
En mi estomago
Caliente y sucio

Cinthia Martinez , Age 10
Oakland, California
2003 Finalist

___________

Twilight

Oh skies
of blue,
Cerulean shades,
Evening's painted beauty made
In artist's eye
flowing dark
Wisping crawl,
Whispering call
Of twilight glories shining

E.A. Blevins , Age 16
Boutte, Louisiana
2000 Finalist

___________

The Storm Is Coming

Wind whistles through
The pine needles twirl
Sawgrass sways
While clouds dash by
Little creatures hide
The pond waters splash
Rain gushes down
And tickles my toes

Kevin Brown, Age 5
Lake Park, Florida
2000 Finalist

___________

River of Words: www.riverofwords.org
Young at Art Gallery
8th and Dwight, Berkeley
510-548-7636