14. Discovering the Power of Audience
Becoming a Teacher Who Writes - Let Teaching be your Writing Muse - Nancy S. Gorrell
Nancy S. Gorrell [+]
English teacher and poet
Description
Chapter 14 centers on the author’s signature poem, “Blueberry Pie,” and her discovering the power of audience. The author introduces the concept that every poem has a creator – the poem’s first audience. That is why she introduces the poem as a dialogue between herself (creator) and her poem (creation). In the process, the author relates the publishing history of “Blueberry Pie” emerging from the dark of creation to the light of multiple audiences. In “What I have Learned” the author discusses how “Blueberry Pie” taught her the power of audience: “I was blind to the accessibility and appeal of my poem.” Chapter 14 presents “Blueberry Pie as Window,” a lesson created by the author demonstrating multiple audiences. The author applies the psychological model, the “Johari Window,” to poetic understanding of her poem. Drawing on communication theory, the “Johari Window” posits four perspectives, or quadrants: Open (known to poet, known to others); Blind (unknown to poet, known to others); Hidden (known to poet, unknown to others); Dark (unknown to poet, unknown to others). Chapter 14 concludes with Arthur J. Stewart’s signature poem, “Ladoga Lake and Nyos”; Interdisciplinary Applications for Teachers and Students; and a “Poetry as Window” writing prompt.