WORD-WANDERING: A DAY WITH POETRY

On Friday the 22nd of March we had the honor of having Terry Hermsen, a visiting poet from Ohio, present a very interesting workshop on poetry to our Gr4, Gr7 and Gr5 students. The students were interested, thrilled and had loads of fun exploring the world of words, metaphores and poetry. 

Terry with GR 7DT

Here is a message from Terry Hermsen to the students, which pretty much sums it up! 


Dear Ambrit students,

Thank you for the day I got to spend with you last Friday. With your open responses and creative word-play, you made me believe in poetry all the more... and also in the value of international education. I wish more students all over the world could have a school like yours!

As to our time together, I know it was brief. We had enough time to open up some gates... and see what language emerged. Sure, the poems are "off the top of our heads," but they do not always have to "make sense" to spark a fresh picture or make us laugh... or think! Language is all around us, we hear it on the radio, in advertisements, in the talk of a lunchroom, in the quiet of our own minds. And if a poem can catch just a little bit of those words and start them spinning in new directions, maybe it makes hours such as we spent together worth it. At least I hope so.

Best wishes for the rest of your school year... and beyond. As I mentioned in at least one of the sessions, my hope is not necessarily that you go on to write poems the rest of your lives, but that you find something in poetry that might spark ways of seeing and thinking which can open up whatever you do just a little more, be that in science, art, history or society at large. Poetry, based in the words we all share, can be a lens for revitalizing the world... as I believe the poems in these pages show.

With much gratitude,
Terry Hermsen

Terry with GR 5G

Terry with GR 4B