Disguised as a Poem: My Years Teaching Poetry at San Quentin

by Judith Tannenbaum

Book Overview

When Judith Tannenbaum last met with her poetry writing class at San Quentin prison, one of the students commented, "Now I'm going to give you an assignment: write about these past four years from your point of view; tell your story; let us know what you learned." This beautifully crafted memoir is the fulfillment of that assignment.

In stirring and intimate prose, Tannenbaum details the challenges, rewards, and paradoxes of teaching poetry...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155553452X
• ISBN13: 9781555534523
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Northeastern University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

If I could give 6 stars, I would...

This book was introduced to me by Judith herself ( I was looking for material for a research paper ) ...Since I am a "starving" student, my mom bought me the book for x-mas, it sat for a few months since I was burnt out on prisons after my major report was done. But two days ago I picked up the book again, and I could no put it down. I have fallen in love with Spoon, Elmo and Judith's words many times over. I am in awe of her writing and her experience. I would hope that someday I could inspire others as she has inspired me. I have written a poem, I will share it with you all in hopes that you will buy this book..."I feel as though I am reading a novel...Everyonce in a while I stop and remind myself the words I have readare real."Molly R>

Sharing poetry and so much more

This book takes readers inside a world most of us have never entered: a maximum security prison. But instead of showing the aspects of this world that we're familiar with from movies and TV, we see something different. By telling her own story -- the story of a poet sharing poetry with a particular group of prisoners -- Tannenbaum allows readers to look at our own assumptions about prison, prisoners and what it is to be human.This is a very important, and very moving, book.

Poetry frees

In "Disguised as a Poem," Judith Tannenbaum narrates her experience teaching poetry for four years in the maximum-security prison, San Quentin. The prisoners she taught are fiercely human, use poetry as a shout: "I am here!" Tannenbaum comes to San Quentin with California 60s-radical ideas of universal brotherhood, and is forced to confront not only the prisoners' ambiguous past, but also the humanity of the police guards she has always associated with authority and oppression.Needless to say, the experience changed more than a few lives.Most of the men found themselves in San Quentin for their involvement in violent crime. During "lockup," in their cells, the men must restrain their emotions, their dreams, their expression of humanity for fear of exposing weakness in the violent environment in which they live. Poetry offers the men a chance to reach out beyond the walls of San Quentin. Through Tannenbaum and the other arts' teachers, the men meet Nobel Prize winners, perform "Waiting for Godot" under the auspices of Beckett himself, and publish their poems for children at risk.Tannenbaum must struggle with the men's past actions while reveling in providing an outlet for the men using an art form she adores. She also finds herself in some moments allying herself with the prison administration, with authority, against the prisoners who are dependant on her for emotional release and artistic expression.The book shines when relating the poetry of the men, when we witness the blossoming of a caged man on paper. It is then that we connect to these men from our own ambiguous cages-no doubt less confining than iron and steel-and take heart from their actions that we, too, can still soar free.

Genuine, humanistic, important

This is an exceptional account, movingly honest and beautifully written. As someone who has also taught in prison, I can attest to the fact that the author has gotten it "right" - the cultural logic by which inmates understand and navigate their world; the ways in which relationships are built and tested; the circulating currency of ideas in prison. And she is one of the very few who have gone inside, empowering inmates to acquire the powerful tools to express their truths. It is a political act of the most genuine, humanistic kind. Bravo!

Disguised as a Poem

This book is great. Ms. Tannenbaum successfully takes the reader beyond the archaic mindset that society still holds of that of a "criminal" and exposes the "human being" that exists within. Giving a voice to those that society has deemed not worthy to be heard.And what worthy voices they are! You really must read this book! It was truly a great experience for me. Serving to remind this reader of that age-old question posed by Hillel, "If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself, then what am I? If not now, when?"