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High school
poem included in anthology of teen writing
By Eileen FitzGerald
The News-Times, Danbury, CT - Nov. 16, 2000
Allison Poole was in third grade when she
attended the funeral of her beloved grandmother, and during her freshman year at
Bethel High School she wrote a poem capturing that memory.
The poem was
published in a teen magazine and now, eight years later, it's included in an
anthology of creative writing by teenagers called, "Teen Ink: Our Voices,
Our Visions."
Poole, 21, who graduated from the University of
Connecticut in May and teaches preschool in Wilton, describes her grandmother,
Barbara, as one of the most influential people in her life. "She got me
interested in reading and took my sister and I to the library every week. We
would spend hours and hours reading," Poole said.
The new book gives
teens a voice they don't often have, Poole said. She's excited to be part of it
and said her grandmother would be excited, too. "She would be very proud
that one of her granddaughters was published in a book. She'd be beside herself.
She'd have, like, 15 autographed copies," Poole said.
Poole wrote
the poem in her English class for the anniversary of her grandmother's death. She
was motivated by her English teacher, Nancy Hasenauer.
When the poem was
published in the magazine, Poole insisted it be listed anonymously because of
self-doubt in her work, but she allowed herself to be credited in the book. She
said the experience has renewed memories of the loss of her grandmother, who had
retired to Florida but was returned to her home in New Canaan for the funeral.
As she went to write the poem, all Poole remembered of the day of the
funeral was the rain, but slowly details and the emotions of a sad third-grader
emerged.
"The whole thing I remember was it that it was misty. The
rain was coming. People kept saying they were sorry, but I was not understanding
why they were sorry," Poole said. "When she passed away, I didn't
understand what was going on. It was more painful after the fact. The realization
of what I lost set in as I got older."
The stories, poems and essays
in the book were culled from more than 300,000 submissions to Teen Ink magazine
over 11 years. Poole's inclusion in the collection was no surprise to Hasenauer,
now dean of the middle school in Wilton.
"Allison is an inspired
writer. She reaches places in writing untouched by many," Hasenauer said.
"Her feet always touch the ground, but in her writing she floats, and that's
the sign of an inspired writer."
Teen Ink is the brainchild of
Stephanie and John Meyer, whose own children were teenagers when they started the
magazine in 1989. The magazine is distributed to 4,000 middle and high schools
nationwide.
To compile the book, Teen Ink editors selected what they saw
as the top 300 works from past submissions and asked seventh through 12th-graders
from around the country to rank them.
Royalties from the book benefit a
foundation that provides publishing opportunities for young adults.
"What makes this book special is that everything was written and
created during the teenage years and encapsulates what they were feeling
then," said a Teen Ink editor, Julie Chen. "They're authentic
voices."
Teen Ink magazine is used in Danbury High School English
classes. Teacher Suzanne Heyd sometimes uses it to give students models of types
of writing and also as a place for students to publish their work.
"It gives them the understanding that writing is a way to speak to
the world and to communicate to a larger audience," Heyd said. "It
teaches them to take their own work very seriously when it's going to go beyond
the four walls of the classroom. It takes their work beyond school and takes the
kids beyond the school."
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About the Teen Ink book
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