“The Streetcleaner’s Lament”
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dirt and
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clean them clean them clean them
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dirt and
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leave them let them rot
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dirt and stench and
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clean them clean them
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bending at the waist and stabbing—
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papers papers blowing sticking
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never leave them
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clean them clean them
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people put them
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now remove them
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clean streets sidewalks
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quick
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remove them
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dirt and dirt and dirt forever.
“The Streetcleaner’s Lament” from
8 A.M. Shadows
by Patricia Hubbell. Copyright © 1965 by Patricia Hubbell. Used by permission of Atheneum Publishers, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing Company.
The two objectives I hope to address with this poem are incorporating movement into the presentation of a poem, and developing students’ awareness of BRAMS’ theme for the year, THE LIVING EARTH, environment and ecology.
This time we will begin with an activity called “Sound and Movement”. This game is played standing in a circle. The teacher establishes a beat using a tambourine or by clapping her hands. The group picks up the beat clapping along. The teacher passes the tambourine to a student then moves into the center of the circle with a simple, repetitive movement. After a few seconds the first person (the teacher) moves towards someone in the circle to “give” the movement to. That student copies the movement. When they’ve gotten the movement the first person takes the place of the second who moves to the center of the circle and evolves the movement into a new one. After that movement has been established and solidifies into something simple and easy to repeat the same procedure follows with the student moving to a new person to give the movement to. This pattern should be repeated until everyone has had a turn. The group keeps the beat going constantly. Sometimes students need to be cautioned not to speed up the beat.
Next copies of the poem are passed around while students are still standing in a circle. Each student reads two lines aloud, this may result in the poem being read twice. I have divided the poem into 9 parts. I then instruct the students to read the poem aloud in pairs trying to make their two voices sound like one. A beat is established again and the students repeat their lines in pairs to the beat.
We are ready to find movements to go with the lines. At this point I will talk with the class about litter; what kinds of trash you find in a park? Have they ever seen someone cleaning up the New Haven Green after a big concert? I will ask for volunteers to show us the different ways trash can be collected. I encourage them to simplify the movement so that it can go with a beat.
Now students are ready to choose their own movements to go with their lines from the poem. They are encouraged to use the whole classroom to move about. I remind them to choose a simple movement so that they can repeat it many times. I keep the beat going or have one student serve this function so that I can circulate and help those students having difficulty. It may take students a few minutes to agree on a movement for the lines they share. We come together again and the pairs of students show the group their lines and movements.
There are two different activities that would be fun to use with the poem. One is a variation on a game called “Orchestra” found in “Bananas”. The teacher as “conductor” can point to pairs activating them to do their line and movement or “part”. You can have them continue quietly as you add in other parts. You can vary the dynamics by having the students come in loudly or softly, or change the speed with which they say the words and move. After establishing the game, choose a student to be the conductor.
If the activity above sounds too difficult you might try making the poem into a round. Go through it once line by line then begin the poem again layering the parts in. To give focus to the new lines students move down stage center, moving upstage as they repeat it. You may wish to create a sense that they are cleaning the space as they move about repeating their lines and movements.