Poetry Friday is hosted today by Elizabeth Steinglass. Make sure you stop by and read her amazing poem about the word “and.” It’s truly brilliant!
It’s getting closer to Christmas. I’ve been knitting rather furiously.
However, this gives me an excuse to watch the impeachment hearings and ignore all else. Though everyone says that most citizens are bored, I have found it fascinating.
I’ve especially enjoyed hearing the many very smart, reasonable, women representatives doing their duty.
So I listen and knit and use the mute button if there is too much yelling.
When I was a student at Vermont College I began to experiment with writing poetry on non-fiction topics. One project was to write a haiku about each American president. I wanted to find a “snapshot” of each life, something about them that interested me. Some snapshots were about small things, like John Quincy Adams’ skinny dipping. Other facts were about momentous things. Each haiku would be accompanied with a few factoids. What I ended up with was a mini-American history, of sorts, in snapshots, in haiku.
I will share the one I wrote about Andrew Johnson, the 17th president (1865-1869), who was the first President to be impeached.
Andrew Johnson As a nation mourned A proud tailor took the oath-- cranking back the clock.
Andrew Johnson, who was Abraham Lincoln’s Vice President, would lead the reconstruction, or rebuilding of the South. He was a tailor. Unfortunately, he was Lincoln’s opposite. As if looking backward from the man he followed, Johnson called slaves “savages” and believed they should not be citizens. The House drafted eleven articles of impeachment against him, based on differences he had with the Congress, but he was acquitted by the Senate.
I loved this project. I read about each president, watched videos about them, found a focus and wrote a haiku. Degregorio’s The Complete Book of the U.S. Presidents informed me. The presidents from the distant past were much easier to write haikus about than the ones I knew in real time.
I might as well finish this post with two others :
Richard Nixon He strove to befriend Mao Tse Tung--but his real foes dwelled inside his head. William Clinton An embarrassing public debate--we explored our lesser angels.
Both men were better known to us than Andrew Johnson. Here’s to the holidays and our all too human presidents.
Oh, wow! What a great idea for a haiku collection. It captures my love of history, politics and haiku all in one. I too enjoy the hearings….also muting when the shouting becomes annoying. I like the legal language and the arguments laid out. It’s rich language. I think my favorite haik is Nixon’s. It’s tragic that he defeated himself.
You go with the knitting! And yes to muting the TV when there’s too much yelling. 🙂 I wonder: do you have a haiku for our 9th president? I ask for a very specific reason, and I’d love to share it if you’ll email me irene (at) irenelatham (dot) com. Thank you!
I love this idea for a collection. You should consider updating it with all of the presidents we’ve had since and publishing it. In the meantime, let’s hope for a new president in 2020 that will lead and bring hope instead of an impeachment trial.
These are fascinating. I especially like the one about Nixon and his real foes.
Thanks for reading. I just read your soccer poems. My kids both played soccer and you captured that world.
Wonderful project — I love learning about the Presidents, and I imagine you thoroughly enjoyed researching and then trying to focus on the essence of each for your haiku. Though the impeachment hearings have been hard to watch, it has been an enlightening lesson about the Constitution and how our government works. And I now know the names and faces of so many more elected officials than I ever did in my life . . .
Me too! It was inspiring for me to see many doing a very good job. The issues became clearer as the debate continued, as it is supposed to.
Wonderful project Janice, and it seems you connected to their vulnerabilities. It would make a marvelous book for kids to learn about the presidents but also how to use poetry in non-fiction.
I love your project. I don’t know as much about your presidents (obviously!) but I would found your haiku a mini-mystery to provoke research, if I didn’t already know the answer. Your last sentence is so true; your presidents, our prime ministers, are human. And with social media, I think they’ve become thicker-skinned. I often think, if people want kinder people to take on leadership roles, they need to be kinder commentators.
I named this collection Guess Who Haiku. Students might guess the president from the clues in the poem which might provoke curiosity. Then read the factoid. We do need kinder people in leadership roles. I have enjoyed watching the hearings because I saw congress people, men and women, who were kind people who seemed to care about more than money.
Hi Janice,
What an intriguing project. Made me think of the book Rutherford B., Who Was He? Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer, though capturing a president in a haiku is much more challenging. I hope you find a publisher for the collection!
I love the idea of capturing history through the snapshots of haiku. The ones you shared are quite telling. I can just imagine what snapshots might capture from our current president.
It would be hard to choose. Thank you, Kay.
I think your haiku poems on the presidents would be marvelous for any age, especially teens and adults–I’d love to see them published. I also like the subtle and revealing bites you have in each of these haikus–thanks Janice!
Janice, your research project is an enormous one with interesting outcomes. Your haikus are mini-capsules of times gone by that pack a punch. Good luck with creating one for our current president.
It was great meeting you, too, at NCTE. What a fun meeting! I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a productive, happy and healthy new year!