World Class: Poems Inspired by the E.S.L. Classroom. J.C. Elkin

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      Advance Praise

      “You will never think the same about immigrant workers and their children after you read these poems. And you will better appreciate the passion, frustration, pain and joy of those who teach English as a second language. A remarkable achievement in a few words.”

      — Newt Gingrich, 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

      “Meet Hala, Alma, Fazilah, and Fernan – just a few of the ESL students who populate the poems of World Class – and you will find yourself in a world as full of surprises as English itself. Elkin manages to capture the amusing without poking fun and to embody the heartbreaking without resorting to pity. Instead she employs the strong rhythms of accentual verse to explore what it is like to teach and to learn from students whose stories span the globe.”

      —Sue Ellen Thompson, author of The Golden Hour and winner of the 2010 Maryland Author Award

      “This short collection of brave and honest poems is a powerful “poetry of witness” to a segment of America often overlooked and occasionally reviled. Elkin’s accentual rhythms give insistent voice to the haunting stories of her hardworking and determined students, many of whom have fled horrors in their countries of origin in search of an elusive American dream. These poems will move you and stay with you.”

      — Anna M. Evans, editor, Barefoot Muse Press

      “Elkin has given us a glorious gift by transforming beautifully written words into a moving yet mystical journey. This stellar compilation of poems takes us inside the secret world of strangers to our land while allowing us to pause for tea then find a comfortable quilt before reading each one over and over again! Not since Langston Hughes’ “I Too, Am America” has there been such a deep emotional bond with those planted so firmly on the ‘outside’.”

      — M.D Johnson, author of The ISIS Project book series

      World Class

      Poems Inspired by the E.S.L. Classroom

      J. C. Elkin

      \

      Apprentice House

      Baltimore, Maryland

      Copyright © 2013 By J.C. Elkin

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission from the publisher (except by reviewers who may quote brief passages).

      First Edition

      Printed in the United States of America

      ISBN: 978-1-62720-002-8

      Ebook ISBN: 978-1-62720-003-5

      Design by Gina Brandon

      Cover photo by Gina Brandon

      Published by Apprentice House

      Apprentice House

      Loyola University Maryland

      4501 N. Charles Street

      Baltimore, MD 21210

      410.617.5265 • 410.617.2198 (fax)

      www.apprenticehouse.com [email protected]

      Contents

      1 Introduction & Acknowledgments

      5 Foreign Soil

      6 World Class

      8 Hala

      10 Adios Fernan

      11 Greeting Card Lesson

      12 JoySong

      13 Verdad Confronts the Truth

      15 Young Means “Forever Unchanging”

      17 Alma Works It Out

      19 Abdalia

      21 Fazilah Succumbs

      23 The ABCs of Abeel Chinar

      25 Françoise In Exile

      27 PazMaya Under Pressure

      29 About the Author

      Introduction & Acknowledgments

      I dedicate this work to my students, past and present, at Anne Arundel Community College. Their names, nationalities, and some occupations have been changed, but their circumstances as portrayed in these narratives are real. The quotations are as exact as memory permits.

      Most of the poems are composed in accentual verse, a traditional form that stresses the rhythm of language, just as I do in the classroom. It dates back to the roots of English poetry, from Beowulf to folk ballads, and endures in the verses of children’s rhymes and rap.

      This collection would not have been possible without many sharp eyes and sympathetic ears. Thanks to the Broadneck Writers’ Workshop – Simon Ward, Crystal Walker, Jeanne Slawson, Hank Pugh, Jessica Paret, Patsy Helmetag, John Clark, Shaun Bevins, and Iain Baird – for their helpful critiques throughout the writing and editing process. Thanks also to my coworkers for their encouragement, and to my husband for his unflagging patience and support, technical and otherwise.

      In E.S.L. class

      where new friends can’t converse, they

      hold hands, beaming joy.

      First published in Serving House Journal (Fall 2011). http://servinghousejournal.com/AmSenIssue4.aspx. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

      Foreign Soil

      My students arrive in dust storms of change.

      Denims, saris, suits. All ages

      from Persia’s Gulf to Ganges’ banks,

      desert sands, Andes’ peaks.

      Blood red, rank, poor lands,

      carrying seeds of rich loam,

      through arid, rocky, barren years,

      acclimating, blooming in time,

      soaking up language’s Miracle Gro.

      They till the words until the words

      that prick their ears at last make sense

      sprouting from their tongues in accents

      lush as rustling crop leaves.

      World Class

      “They should speak our language or just go back home.”