Poet shares writing wisdom
Staff photo/Scott Mitchell Johnson
AUSTIN BOUCHARD, right, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, gets his copy of Paul B. Janeczko’s newest book, “Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto,” signed by the author last Thursday.
Janeczko, who resides in Hebron, was at the school last week for two days of poetry workshops.
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Author and poet Paul B. Janeczko has a fan in Austin Bouchard.
Bouchard, a seventh-grader at Presque Isle Middle School, made sure to purchase a copy of Janeczko’s newest book, “Requiem: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto,” before meeting the author last Thursday. Janeczko was at the middle school for two days of workshops.
“I really wanted to get a book autographed by him because he is a published author,” said Bouchard. “I bought his new book about the Holocaust, and he signed it for me. It was actually pretty cool because I have never really met somebody whose published a book or anything.”
Janeczko, who writes mostly for children, spent last week in Aroostook County. In addition to visits in Fort Kent, Hodgdon and Easton, the New Jersey native worked with seventh-graders at PIMS on poetry Thursday and the Holocaust Friday.
“Part of my visit is to give the kids some writing activities with the theme, ‘Who am I?’” he said Thursday. “I’m giving them opportunities to write different kinds of poems where they can write about themselves. Friday I’ll be working in a class that’s studying the Holocaust. My latest book is about a concentration camp and the kids have done research on the Holocaust and have read some of my poems, so I’ll give them strategies for taking their research and writing poems based on the research.”
Janeczko said he hopes the students learned that writing poetry can be both challenging and rewarding.
“It gives them a chance to have some fun and play around with language,” he said. “I spend 35-40 days a year visiting schools, and one of the things I preach to the kids is the possibility of poetry … not to be writing the same old thing all the time. I want them to see some other ways that they can write poems and can express themselves.”
Now residing in Hebron, Janeczko has published nearly 50 books including “The Dark Game,” “Birds on a Wire,” “That Sweet Diamond,” “Top Secret” and “Bridges to Cross.” He received his undergraduate degree from St. Francis College in Biddeford, now the University of New England, and was also a high school teacher for 22 years with the last 12 being in SAD 15 (Gray and New Gloucester).
“About four or five of the books are for teachers about getting kids to write poetry, I’ve written about eight books of my own poems, published two novels and 25 poetry anthologies or collections of other peoples’ poems,” he said.
“I’ve written non-fiction books on spies, codes and ciphers, and all those are for middle-schoolers,” said Janeczko. “It comes down to enthusiasm which they have at this level. In high school, a lot of times they don’t anymore. Plus, poetry has a much bigger role in the curriculum for this age group than it does when they get into high school.”
Janeczko writes both rhyming poems and free verse (non-rhyming poems).
“When I do rhyming poems with kids, they’re usually a light verse. Kids have trouble writing rhyming poems when they try to be serious because they don’t have the vocabulary to write about some serious subject,” he said. “We do a little bit of both and some kids will take to one form more than the other. It really depends on the kids and where they’re at.”
Student John Saucier said that while writing isn’t his forte, the workshop was enjoyable.
“I actually thought it was pretty fun. He gave us a sheet, and we wrote down our likes and dislikes, our personality and things like that. We talked about acrostic poems and tried writing those,” he said. “It was hard to come up with a word that starts with ‘J’ to describe myself. I think I chose ‘justifying.’
“I’m not a big fan of writing,” said Saucier, “but this was pretty fun because he’s a published author so that was pretty cool.”
Social studies/English teacher Kevin Sipe was instrumental in bringing Janeczko to PIMS.
“Last year he wrote an e-mail to me talking about the fact that he was going to be in The County and that he had just completed a book on Holocaust-related poems,” said Sipe. “We were doing a Holocaust unit at the time. I thought it would be a perfect tie-in with a poetry unit we were also doing then, so I invited him to send me more information. He ended up coming last year, and it was very successful. At the end of the unit, the students did a collection of Holocaust poetry, which I thought was very advanced for their age, and I thought a lot of it had to do with Mr. Janeczko’s talk.
“When he said he was coming back again this year I jumped right on it and said, ‘Yes.’ Some of the other teachers asked if I was going to have him come again and if they could piggyback on his visit,” Sipe said. “This year he’s talking to four different classes; last year he did just my class. As I told my students beforehand, not only were they going to hear techniques, but they were also going to talk to somebody who is a writer. Being able to talk to a real poet and get firsthand knowledge about what you do to write a poem and the preparation that he does before he even writes will help them in their future writing endeavors.”
While he enjoys visiting The County, Janeczko said he probably won’t be coming up in the winter.
“In my car — right now — I have what I call my Aroostook bag which has L.L. Bean boots, a pair of gloves and de-icer spray. I used the spray the last two mornings, and I was glad I had it,” he joked. “I do like coming up here. The kids have a great time with it and I feed off the energy that they give me. I think it’s an enjoyable experience for everyone.”
