My 10-year-old kid

The Teacher’s View: Aram Saroyan’s Complete Minimal Poems:

“‘Anyone could have written these poems,’ another student said. ‘I could have written these poems.’

‘Yes, you could have,’ I replied, ‘but you didn’t.’ “

Saroyan’s Complete Minimal Poems has just been republished by Ugly Duckling Presse, and there’s been some comment due to the NEA kerfuffle over this poem (presented here in its entirety, though not in its solitary on the page context):

lighght

Cue gov’t hysteria over your tax dollar funding this crap, etc etc. The cited post is about a high-school class discussing the poems prior to Saroyan’s May 18th visit to the class. The exchange above is one of the best responses to the generic and eternal “my not-going-to-be-born-for-20-years-yet kid could have painted that asleep” argument I’ve ever read. But the students raise some interesting points, and this guy sounds like a pretty damn good teacher. Read the whole thing. I’m looking forward to the entry after Saroyan visits the classroom.

Holy crap. Aram Saroyan is 65 years old. Jeebus.

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