Kids typically arrived at detention weighed down by a myriad of issues.  In addition to their arrest charges, they often faced challenges stemming from poverty, unstable home lives, problems at school, and limited knowledge of or access to available resources.

BY NANCY KIDD
gatherthegoodblog@gmail.com

While they were in detention, we tried to provide a positive environment.  Although we knew we couldn’t “fix them,” we hoped they might learn something to take with them when they left—academic or otherwise.  We tried to nurture them and make them aware of more optimistic choices.

I liked to use humor whenever I could.

I considered it good medicine if I could encourage laughter or a smile.  Seeing them settle in a moment where they could relax and focus on something other than their worries was one of my intentions. Sometimes that required me to do things outside my comfort zone.  But in doing so, I found I could sometimes get them to stretch a bit also.   

Some years, poetry at JDC infused the classroom with a much-welcomed shot of cheerfulness.  We generally started the poetry unit in January, and it seemed to offer the lift we needed amid the cold, gray lingering winter.  
We read a variety of poems, and we learned a bit about some famous poets—from Robert Burns to Etheridge Knight.  And, we tried our hands writing all kinds of poems.  There were limericks, acrostics, cinquains, and free verse.

Popular prose

When we studied and wrote haikus, several of the staff joined in.  Some years it became a sort of competition, staff members trying to one-up each other with the haikus they shared in class and even posted  for one another in the break room.

The year I wrote my “Blest” poem was the first time I had noticed how much poetry resonated with the students.  Once I realized it, it seemed most years followed with a similar vibrancy.  
(Hmmm —I had to wonder.  Was it the students on their own, or did my improved attitude contribute to the positivity?)
In all those years, however, I only wrote one more memorable poem.  And it came shortly after “Blest.” 

Focused on my desire to offer the students a little levity, I enlisted help from one of the kids.  Rob, a pleasant 15-year-old agreed to help by creating for me an ebonics dictionary of sorts.  In just a couple days he put together a mini-dictionary, listing the words and their definitions.  I suppose he was aware of my limited knowledge because, for every entry, he provided an original sentence with the word to help me understand more clearly.

Ebonics dictionary

cheddar, dust, or paper—money

crackalacking—What’s up?
Example:  What’s crackalacking?

fosho or fashizle—ok

ghost—leave
Example:  I’m finna get ghost.

hit a lick—to cheat someone out of something or to get something cheap
Example:  I hit a lick on some shoes.

properchop—a lot of money
          Example:  Kobe Bryant is getting his properchop.

rub—Can I get that?Example:  Let me rub that pencil.

serious—cool
Example:  That truck is serious.

spit—to rap
Example:  I’m spitting to get rich.

What an absolutely wonderful gift!

Just-right reaction

One day, as I was becoming more familiar with the new vocabulary, Rob entered the classroom.  Accompanied by a detention officer, he was the only student in the room at the time.  I happened to be searching for something in the closet.  When I heard him, I poked my head around the door and offered as nonchalantly as I could,  “Hey Rob!  What’s crackalackin’?”

He reacted immediately with a hearty belly laugh!

“Priceless!” I thought to myself, grateful for the opportunity to deliver the dose of humor.  And, his reaction gave me the confidence to follow up with more of the same.

I treasured that “dictionary” and referred to it as I created my next literary “work.”

We were studying limericks at the time, so my poem took that form.  
Open mic time the next Friday brought the same charged atmosphere we’d experienced before.  My personal goal this time was merely to provide some amusement.  I hoped my poem would be well received and get some laughs—nothing more.  There was no cause to get emotional or to make myself vulnerable this time.

So, why was I feeling nervous again?

Limerick love

When my turn came, I stepped up to deliver.  I prayed that I could keep a straight face and not to stumble over lines that felt so awkward and unfamiliar rolling off my tongue.

In the end, there was no need to worry.  When I was finished, the kids’ responses ranged from polite chuckles to howls and cackles.  It felt like I’d hit another home run!  Laughter is indeed, I believe, often the best medicine!

LIM-E-RAP

 I’m finna’ go get my proper chop

By spittin’ and flowin’ until I drop.

But I think that I’d better

Go ’n’ find me some cheddar     

Doin’ sumpin’ I know more’n hiphop!