Guerilla Poetry Attacks Spark Los Angeles School, Students

Sloane Wales
Special to the Mirror

   “Guerilla Poetry Attacks” are transforming inner-city teenage students. The teenagers are “infiltrating” Los Angeles classrooms with peaceful, guerilla-style operations that use words instead of bullets, and, in the process, turn young people on to the power of poetry instead of the power of violence. 
   Imagine ten teenage students storming a classroom — marching, stomping and clapping in a synchronized line. The attackers suddenly move into a football huddle. After a short silence, to the astonishment of the classroom, the attackers suddenly yell, “It’s a guerilla poetry attack.” The guerilla poets then disperse throughout the classroom, and, one by one, read out lines of their own poetry, written on index cards. 
   At the end, they scatter the cards like confetti or propaganda dropped from helicopters across the desks of the speechless victims of literature and march out of the classroom in the same synchronized formation. 
   “It was really tight,” said one of the ninth grade guerilla poets. In teenage lingo, “tight” means it’s as good as it gets. 
   Some of the guerilla’s so-called victims were mesmorized. “It was so cool. Can our class do some guerilla poetry attacks too?” asked a seventh grade student.
   Westside Leadership Magnet School teachers and administrators see the attacks as an interesting new method for dealing with adolescent energy constructively. 
   “The poetry attacks reach the very kids you’d hope to reach: at-risk students needing a fresh way to express their feelings,” said teacher Christine Madsen, who witnessed one of the first attacks. 
   “It unlocked something emotionally powerful and physical and visceral, all at the same time,” added school counselor Marisa Miller, another ‘poetry attack’ witness.
   The concept originated with poet Shelley Berger, who is currently a poet-in-residence for six different grades at Westside Leadership Magnet School in Marina del Rey. Many of the students at Westside Leadership are bused in from inner city neighborhoods like South Central Los Angeles.
   While working with ninth graders at the school, Berger developed the concept of “guerilla poetry attacks.” in part, in response to the recent spate of teen violence. “I realized that teenagers sometimes struggle with anger-related and other issues that affect their ability to function at school. Many of these teenagers are screaming for an opportunity to express themselves. I thought the easiest way to reach these teens was not to hook into negative classroom behavior, but to channel their physical energy in a positive way, and help them create an impact with words. Teenagers love the element of subversion. So why not give them the tools to use subversion constructively?”
   Owing to widespread interest, more guerilla poetry attacks will be staged for Young People’s Poetry Week, which is the third week of April, the National Poetry Month.
   Berger’s teaching emphasizes academics by focusing on learning vocabulary, literary analysis, and editing techniques. But she has captured the attention of kids normally turned off by academics, by creating special projects at Westside Leadership Magnet such as poetry walls, poetry postcards, poetry quilts, and poems written and performed in two voices. 
   She offers high school students the chance to write positive rap lyrics on the condition they first learn to write Shakespearean sonnets. “Learning to write sonnets requires learning to rhyme, and count syllables and beats.” said Berger. “These are the same skills required for successful songwriting.”
   Madsen, an award-winning twelfth grade English teacher at the school, said, “My students have not only written sonnets in Ms. Berger’s class, but the words have flooded out in a profound way. We’re all surprised that students who normally avoid writing or participating in my English class have become suddenly prolific and are participatory. It’s astonishing.”
   Published in journals such as The Paris Review, Berger is a Venice poet, a former lawyer, and a puppeteer with a history of involvement in performance art. She teaches poetry to adults and young people throughout Los Angeles at Barnsdall Art Center, Art Center College of Design, the Armory Center for the Arts, Cal. State Northridge and dozens of elementary, middle and high schools.    She was chosen by the L.A. Weekly as a “Venice poet to watch for,” and she has given readings at the Downtown Los Angeles Public Library, on KXLU, for the Poetry Society of America and at Beyond Baroque with poet Wanda Coleman.
   Her poetry residency is funded by a grant from UPS. Many Westside Leadership teachers are themselves artists and writers. Berger thinks her residency has been successful “because the school has such an innovative principal, Rodger Salkeld, incredibly dedicated teachers, and unusually enthusiastic students.” 
   But Marisa Miller notes that “some of our students have had tragic personal experiences or difficult home lives, and a lot to overcome. Ms. Berger has a gift for opening up the hearts and souls of these kids. She’s demanding, but she engages kids in a way that makes them feel safe to express themselves. It’s almost like a kind of therapy.”
   Anyone who would like to see or film a Guerilla Poetry Attack should contact Berger at 246 4th Ave.Venice, CA 90291 (310) 392-0926, or poetry-in-action@gmx.net before April 16.