Street Heart: Love poems to the Mission Murals is a tiny but powerful anthology filled with emotions that span the spectrum from childhood joy and wonder to remnants of scars from civil wars and displacement—all from a child’s perspective. Created as a collaborative project between students at Sanchez Elementary School and WritersCorps, a program where professional writers teach their craft to youth, the idea for the book of poems began with a simple question while on a mural tour: “What do you see?”
WritersCorp teaching artist Annie Rovzar, who has worked at Sanchez for two years, said the question provided an opening for students to take a deeper look at the colorful images that they pass every day and see the stories within them. The result was surprisingly insightful poetry from the young students who ranged in age from nine to 11.
Rovzar wanted to do a project that touched on cultural identity, history and cultural traditions along with exploring gentrification and immigration, but at first the energetic students were not too excited about the idea of reading and writing poetry.
“Poetry is, after all, the fruit of slowing down, paying close attention, and responding sensitively to the world,” wrote Rovzar in the book’s introduction.
Rovzar said the idea to pair love poems with public art blossomed when she noticed the students’ writing response to visual prompts while on a fieldtrip to the Legion of Honor. After attending a Precita Eyes mural tour and writing notes on their favorite artwork, the students gained a deeper understanding of the design, symbolism and messages of the murals. Back in the classroom, students explored community issues past and present.
“I wanted my students to have a platform for their voices to be heard and for them to be able to participate in the dialogue that’s taking place…about whose voices matter, who gets to be here,” Rovzar said. “It became clear that the murals had so much to teach us about all of this.”
The beautiful pocket-sized booklet was published by WritersCorps, which hires published writers and places them in public schools, community centers, detention facilities, low-income housing and many other locations where they facilitate writing workshops for disenfranchised youth ages six through 22. Typically, teaching artists work with a school or institution for three years in order to building trust and become part of the community. The organization’s collaboration with Sanchez Elementary began about five years ago.
Melissa Hung, program manager of WritersCorps, said that the program has not only helped youth improve their writing and language skills, but has also given a needed boost to their confidence.
“Students who are usually shy and who struggle academically, blossom when working with our teaching artists,” Hung said. “We’ve seen shy students become leaders. Learning how to identify and express your thoughts and feelings is a lifelong benefit of our program.”
Featuring 30 poems with titles such as“We are not illegal,” “The Mission Girls,” and “Mother Nature,” the 80-page, softcover 4×6-inch book includes beautiful color photographs from Cole Anetsberger of Mission murals and is available at the WritersCorps online store for $10.