Review: Poetry by Kids

Title: Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls

Editor: Betsy Franco

Photographer: Nina Nickles

ISBN: 0-7636-0905-6 Citation: Franco, Betsy. Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2001.

Review: In Things I Have to Tell You Betsy Franco compiles a collection of poems written by teenage girls aged fourteen to nineteen. Dealing with intensely heavy and serious subject matter including body image, sexuality, and drugs, the poems in this collection represent the real-life issues that face today's teenagers from their unique perspective. Readers will be amazed at the literary quality of the poems written by these young women; there is no shortage of figurative language, varying formats, and especially voice. The accompanying photographs by Nina Nickles show realistic images of teenagers, not the glamorous, touched-up Hollywood versions, which serves to enhance the poetry and reinforce the realistic perspective of the book. Though fraught with controversial topics and swear words, teenage girls will especially relate to these poems that validate their every day struggles.

Potential Use: Things I Have to Tell You would be a great way to encourage students, especially teenage girls, to try their hand at writing poetry or to begin a poetry journal. The emotions expressed through poetry can provide an escape for teenagers and serve as an outlet for expressing feelings in a proactive manner. By reading poetry written by girls their own age, this book will show teenagers that they are not alone in their circumstances. See the selection below for an example from the Things I Have to Tell You.

Finding Joy by Marissa Korbel, age 16

I found myself a place

to be, to play

a day went by or maybe two

no thoughts of you to crowd my empty mind

I find my body is to me

as lovely as

a budding tree

a cat with grace

and emerald eyes

so unconcerned with shapely thighs

just me

Invisibly

a girl

inside this shape

a woman's hips and breasts

so much wider, softer than the rest

I found myself a crystal blue

like nymphs or faeries do

I never thought of you

or what you'd think of me

I found my body was

a mass of ground

the earth inside of me

behind my vinyl walls of

picture perfection

I was the earth, the sky

it made me want to cry

to shout the softness

I have never dared let out

my curves, my hair

a part of who I was

a blonde in a clear glass pond

myself a flow of nature

alone

finding joy