Summary
A new poetry anthology called “Dear Vaccine: Global Voices Speak to the Pandemic” illuminates how people around the world have experienced COVID-19. Jeffrey Brown sits down with Naomi Shihab Nye, an author, editor and current Young People’s Poet Laureate, to talk about shaping the book and the outpouring of interest from people who don’t necessarily identify as poets.
Discussion Questions: 'Dear Vaccine' and Pandemic Poetry
- Who contributed to this collection?
- Where are the contributors based?
- What form does each poem take in this collection?
- Why did the editors choose to solicit poems from people who aren’t professional poets?
- How do people submit poems to this project?
Focus Questions
Why do you think the editors of this collection intentionally chose work from people who don’t necessarily consider themselves poets?
Media literacy: Why did the editors choose to have all contributors follow the same model of poem, involving addressing the vaccine itself? What does this rule add to the collection as a whole?
Additional Resources
- To learn more about the Global Vaccine Poem and watch recordings of contributors reading their poems, click here. If there’s time, you can write and contribute your own poem!
- Visit our Poetry Month collection for more free resources.
- Also check this pandemic poetry lesson featuring poet Jasmine Gardosi. You can watch her recite her poem from a roller-coaster below.
Republished with permission from PBS NewsHour Extra.
PBS NewsHour Classroom helps teachers and students identify the who, what, where and why-it-matters of the major national and international news stories.
