ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
Participate in Poem in Your Pocket Day and Read the ACE Poetry Contest Mascot’s Poems
By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot and Alpha Public Schools Mascot; and ACE Poetry Contest Mascots Max from San Francisco International High School, and Bodie from Oakland International High School. Assisted by Martha who is typing fast to keep up with this rowdy team
Arf, arf. Meow, meow. Bark, bark.
Riley here. Enjoying listening to poems from my friend’s pockets.
Riley here. It’s Poem in Your Pocket Day and we ACE Poetry Contest Mascots want to share our poems that we have in our pockets. Well, we really don’t have pockets, but we depend on our human friends to help us share our poems. Plus, we get treats too. And we love treats.
Max here. Ready to listen to poems.
Oh boy do we love treats. Max here, and even though I’m a legend at San Francisco International High School and have to have a regal way about me, a treat can make me jump for joy. Oh, poems too, but treats… Yum.
Bodie here. Herding dogs.
Yes, treats are lovely, although I, Bodie, enjoy mine on a nice plate. No hand given treats for me. Have those hands been washed frequently? What else have they touched? Okay, you two. Quit staring at me. It’s a cat thing. My friends at Oakland International High School totally understand.
As head mascot, Riley, I thought I’d help with some general rules about this Poem in Your Pocket Day. Mostly, do it from a safe distance. Share it on social media and use the #PocketPoem. Record a video of yourself reading a poem and share it on your favorite social media platform. Recite it on Zoom or in your classroom or with a video chat with your family and friends.
Can I butt in? ‘Ol Max here has a great idea. Read your poem out loud from your porch, window, back or front yard, or any outdoor space that lets you be a safe distance from others.
Oh, Bodie cat likes that idea. Better than you two howling with each other. Not that howling is bad, just too much of it can get on a cat’s nerves.
Okay. As head mascot Riley, I think we need to get to our poems that are in our “pockets.” Max, you first since you are the legend.
Max’s Poem in his Pocket:
Oh, I’m so excited to share this poem. It’s about friends. What friends really mean. And we need friends more than ever today.
Word of Honor
By Robert Sexton
Like flowers rising to meet the sky, we unfold
in the presence of a friend. Nothing is withheld, for the
trust we exchange allows us both to be all that we are.
There is no greater freedom and no more natural joy.
Bodie’s Poem in his Pocket:
I’m going with our amazing Poet Laureate of the US. She doesn’t write much about cats, but she writes about spirts, so, as a cat, I understand.
Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit
By Jo Harjo
Don’t bother the earth spirit who lives here. She is working on a story. It is the oldest story in the world and it is delicate, changing. If she sees you watching she will invite you in for coffee, give you warm bread, and you will be obligated to stay and listen. But this is no ordinary story. You will have to endure earthquakes, lightning, the deaths of all those you love, the most blinding beauty. It’s a story so compelling you may never want to leave; this is how she traps you. See that stone finger over there? That is the only one who ever escaped.
Riley’s Poem in his Pocket
My choice is a classic poem, but the last is the best part because we all have to keep striving and not yield. (Actually, it’s a long poem and Martha wouldn’t type the whole thing, so I chose this section.)
From Ulysses
By Alfred Lord Tennyson
Come my friends,
‘Tis not too late to seek a newer world. . .
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are –
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Great poems team, thank you. Riley, Bodie and Max here, hoping everyone has a great Poem in Your Pocket Day.
Arf, arf. Meow, meow. Bark, bark.
We’re Catbombing the ACE Poetry Contest with Bodie ‘Cause One Cat Isn’t Enough
By Bodie, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot for Oakland International High School and past cat bombers Joycat, Graciecat and Sheba, with spelling help by Martha as cats just like to play with keyboards
Hi. Joycat here.
We’re baack. That’s what I say. Me. Joycat.
Sheba hanging out.
And we love poetry. At least I do. That’s me. Sheba
I’m Graciecat,
Mostly I like hanging with my good friend Diane when she reads poetry, or whatever it is that she reads. Martha says Diane belongs to a book club, at least that’s what she tells me. Me. Graciecat.
Bodie here. Herding cats..
And I love having cat buddies helping with the ACE Poetry Contest because it’s lonely being the only cat ACE Poetry Contest Mascot. The dogs, Max and Riley, are great, but I don’t like being outnumbered. Says me. Bodie
We all hope the poetry contests are going well. We hear a rumor that Alpha Public Schools may have some winning poems to share real soon, so we look forward to that. And all the other winning poems too.
Plus, This Thursday is Poem in Your Pocket Day. It’s the day to share your poems with friends, family, even strangers. I suspect the word “pocket” can mean anything nowadays – email, text, meme, TikTok post, however you want to share your poem. Even share with students and teachers in class, although ya gotta be six feet away.
Meooww. Joycat here. I hate being six feet away. No pets or tummy scratches.
As queen of Sheba cat, I like my distance, but it’s nice to hang close. Plus, we cats don’t have an issue with that pesky virus, so the distance rule doesn’t really apply to us. Just humans.
As I said, the hanging with human friends part is nice. Maybe that’s why I’m called Graciecat. I find great grace in humans.
Well, it’s now time to encourage everyone to read and write poetry as it’s needed a lot this year. As Bodie, contest mascot, let’s introduce our catteral poem. It’s about writing poetry …
Meooww again. Joycat butting in. Do you know that almost every great writer has written about cats? From ancient Greek and Roman poetry to classics by T.S. Eliot and Emily Dickinson to modern poets like Katie Peterson.
I’m waiting for Joy Harjo to write a cat poem. She writes about a lot of graceful things so maybe she’ll write about me, Graciecat.
No, no, about me, Sheba.
Okay, okay, cat team. We’re done getting catty. Let’s show off our catteral poem.
Poetry Writing Advice
By Bodie, Joycat, Sheba and Graciecat
Poems sneak up quiet and soft
On little cat feet
Not making any noise
But once they are invading your thoughts
It feels like whiskers
Sweeping your cheek
You have to pay attention and move fast
Catch the idea
With keyboard strokes
And when you’re done telling your tale
Reach out and pet
The cat that inspired
Write Poetry That Reflects Our Times and Your Experience – It’s What Poetry is About
By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot and Alpha Public Schools Mascot, assisted by Martha Sessums who did a lot of cutting and pasting this time
Loving the sign – BLM.
We dogs and cats come in all colors and sizes. Big, small, fuzzy, brown, black, grey, white, tabby and much more. Although we definitely run into abuse issues, it’s rarely our color that makes us loved or unloved. It’s our face, personality, character, how we respond to or owners or potential owners and even our funny quirks.
Not always the same with our owners. They run into issues with what color they are, not the quality of their character. And that can end very badly sometimes. For many bad reasons.
But accountability and justice were served this week in the trial of the police officer who was found guilty of killing George Floyd. Martha says there is a lot of joy out there because of the verdict and she also introduced me to a poem she heard by Kwame Alexander on a recent Morning Edition show on KALW radio, a local NPR station. (KALW is one of the ACE Learning Centers with the Audio Academy, so Martha always listens to that radio station.)
It was written for the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery, Ala., which is a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center and reflects Kwame’s vision for America the beautiful. It was co-read by Rachael Martin, one of the hosts of Morning Edition, but here’s the written poem.
Read it. Feel it. Arf, arf. It’s what poetry is about.
A Civil Community
By Kwame Alexander
Remember our people, the dreamers, the browns and the Blacks, the ones who built bridges from inland to coast, the ones who fought for justice and freedom, the ones who couldn’t be silenced, the hollering of their heartbeat, the hope in their words.
Remember Martin, remember Assata, reaching beyond that plantation haze, sword lilies blossoming during our darkest times, sparrows singing our victory song.
This is for the ones who can no longer sing for themselves, for George Jackson and George Floyd, for Lieutenant Colonel Lemuel Penn and Breonna Taylor, for Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, for Emmett Louis Till and Tamir Rice.
This is for the summer streets that once held our children’s laughs, now turned to gunshots and mourning wails, for the Black lives fired up who can’t take no more. This is for the faithful and the fearless.
For Harriet, following that North Star into possibilities, for Paul Robeson’s soulful, deep, booming bass echoing like a cannon shot in the still winter air, singing the spirit, climbing a mountain, rafting a river, sailing the seas, counting every one of us who was not drowned, who has ever stood up. We are an ocean, some of us ripples, others waves. We carry the boat that heads into the horizon, the moon guiding us to a new dawn.
This is for the Tuskegee Airmen’s heraldry and Amanda Gorman’s yellow coat of arms. This is for Barack Obama’s audacity and Rabbi Heschel’s faith.
Remember, violence is a cycle, but so is peace. That is what we are fighting for, an end to chaos, a new birth of freedom. The ocean is our goal.
Grasp it with your fingers clenched in tight fists of unison, not to strike a brawl, but to tear down the wall of division. Grasp your rights. Grasp America the beautiful.
This country is a house, this world a village. If we are to be a civil community, let us come in unity. Rise up out of the blue. Rise up into the light. Rise up out of the waters. Rise up into the sun. Rise up through the love. Rise up. Reach for freedom. Know that you are good enough to end the rage, to turn the page, to stand up with pride, to stand up with peace, to lift your voice, to open your eyes, to rise.
Hope your poetry lessons are inspiring and you’re writing poems for the ACE Poetry Contest. Remember, April 29 is Poem in Your Pocket Day.