BLOSSOM BLOG - THE RICE FIELDS

Poem of the Month - The Rice Fields by Zilka Joseph

I find that poetry is a wonderful way to explore perspectives and life experiences in a very personal way. It allows for a deeply intimate peek into a writer's identity.

I like to start with a cold reading. Just read the poem once through with no background information. For older students, they can read it to you. After that, read a biography of the poet. Talk a little about the poem, allow for questions, do some Google searching for any new words or unfamiliar concepts.

Then, read the poem again. Now you will see flashes of recognition as  your child personally identifies with that poet's life and inner voice. More layers of meaning will be uncovered.

Once your student knows who the poet is, where they were born, what time period they lived in, they will start to identify with the poem in a new way. Now they can place themselves into the life of that poet and see through their eyes just a moment... just long enough to glimpse into their world.

Try it with this Poem of the Month by Zilka Joseph!

The Rice Fields
By Zilka Joseph
                                                   Miles of them grow in my carry-on

and travel with me across continents

but the customs officers are suspicious

they eye my old suitcase and ask me to open it

                                                   Pickles? they ask sniffing deeply

prodding a packet or two

say Sure ma’am you’ve got no jeera or chilies?

(now they’ve learned the Hindi word for cumin

so the new trick is to joke with us) And one time

                                                  I saw three burly officers question

an elderly couple disheveled

as I was from 20-plus hours

of travel from Kolkata

and as disoriented (and yes

as usual all the usual “foreign” suspects

are sent along to “Agriculture”) and

they poked around in their overstuffed bags

(where some rice fields appeared but

they couldn’t see them of course) and

                                                      one officer said Duck? Bombay Duck?

It’s a fish?? Dried fish your son

wanted? Sorry no fish allowed

or birds (The officers looked

at each other again and again:

expressions priceless) So another time I land

                                                     at Detroit airport and I shake my head

at the silver-haired officer

say Sir, no, no pickles meat or cheese

I buy them here at Bombay Grocers

and Patel’s (give them a sweet Colgate smile)

Yes, yes, sweets, only made of lentil No dairy, no dairy

The red-gold cardboard boxes of sweets he can see

but not the rice sprouting beneath

the young green shoots
                                                 No our rice fields he will never see

                                                 we carry them wherever we go


P.S. for more homeschooling ideas, go to Blossom Learning. ​