This is Just To Say - Book Review

This post was written as a Master's course assignment for Texas Woman's University.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sidman, Joyce. 2007. THIS IS JUST TO SAY: POEMS OF APOLOGY AND FORGIVENESS. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 9780618616800.

2. BOOK SUMMARY

This individual compilation of Sidman's work began with an interesting concept, which was, to write a set of poems from the point of view of several apologetic "students," and then in turn, to have a set of response poems. The first poem is a humorous nod to the book's namesake (and opening poem), THIS IS JUST TO SAY (pg. 6), by William Carlos Williams. Sidman's echo tribute to this poem is a nice reminder and sets a fabulous tone for the book, especially since it's an apology for stealing jelly donuts from the teachers' lounge. 

The author's poems utilize excellent wordplay and poem forms (such as the pantoum, in SPELLING BOMB, pg. 22) to fit the rhythm and essence of the students' natural language. The illustrations by Pamela Zagarenski are beautifully tailored to the mood of each poem. The paintings add depth of meaning to the lovely poems and are strikingly memorable, even to the most familiar of stanzas: "Roses are red,/ violets are blue" (pg. 33). In this case, the roses look eerily similar to a curlicue doodle rose that has probably lined many bound school notebooks, and yet, they have a potency all their own.

Sidman visits several topics that are familiar to school children, such as dodge ball, practical jokes, and sibling rivalries. In THE BLACK SPOT (pg. 15), we can all identify with the accidental (or not) piece of lead that gets lodged into our skin with a pencil stab. We have probably all experienced at least one remembrance of unrequited love, as seen in A WASTE OF HEART (pg. 23): "I'm sorry for loving you/because you never notice me."

And we can't help but feel sorry for the teacher's feelings in FASHION SENSE (pg.12). Even though she encourages the students with this statement: "words can help or hurt, the choice is ours," this apology letter is written as a result of Carmen's rude comment about Mrs. Murz's dress (pg. 12). In the RESPONSES section, Mrs. Merz replies with a genuinely kind poem, HAIKU FOR CARMEN: "Just these few warm words/and spring sunlight fills the room;/my dress turns to sky" (pg. 31). The reader can only imagine the terrors that teachers must live with sometimes, and is amazed at how gracious they may choose to be in return.

Sidman touches some on deep subjects, such as an absentee parent, the loss of a pet, and the dread of disappointing a parent. Through several interesting twists in the response section, we receive many comforting replies directed to the apology-writers in the first section, whether from the letter recipients, or from another caring observer in the student's life. LOSING EINSTEIN (pg. 38), is a comforting reply to Tenzin's poem about the loss of a beloved dog in the first section, and is written by Mr. Johnson (Custodian): "You were loving him, and he was loving you back."

3. POEM HIGHLIGHT

The poem I would like to highlight from this collection is BALANCE (pg. 16). This is a difficult subject to broach, and as an educational follow-up, I would ask the students to write a private letter to one of their own parents in a similar style, about a time that they had done something they were ashamed of. The students could then have the option to share with the class, or with their parents, if they desired.

BALANCE

Dad, I'm sorry for smashing
the garage window when I was a kid.
Felipe and I were messing around
and saw the cracked pane.
One had a crack,
so they should all have a crack, right?
That's what Felipe said.
We hefted some rocks.

...I remember the weight of the gritty rocks,
the shiver of tinkling glass,
the wild joy blooming in my chest, 
the fear, the running away.
For a while, it seemed like
the bravest thing I'd ever done.

*Excerpt from BALANCE, by Joyce Sidman.