Tara A. Elliott
@tara-a-elliott.bsky.social
Poet, Teacher, Executive Director of Eastern Shore Writers Association, Host of Thursdays with ESWA Writing Zoomcast, Chair of Bay to Ocean Writers Conference
They also need to have just one teacher in their academic life truly stop and listen to them about what they love to read without judgement, and purely offer suggestions for their next book. Which means teachers need to make time for reading too—time we are never given.
November 15, 2025 at 3:17 AM
They also need to have just one teacher in their academic life truly stop and listen to them about what they love to read without judgement, and purely offer suggestions for their next book. Which means teachers need to make time for reading too—time we are never given.
These teach the kids to read one book until the project is done. Instead they need that accountability through shared experiences and dialogues with other readers while internalizing their own reading process and through understanding author craft through emulation in their own writing.
November 15, 2025 at 3:08 AM
These teach the kids to read one book until the project is done. Instead they need that accountability through shared experiences and dialogues with other readers while internalizing their own reading process and through understanding author craft through emulation in their own writing.
They also need a safe space in which to broaden their scope and share with other students, fostering a deep love of books. This is hard to do with 30-35 kids crammed in a classroom. Accountability for their reading is vital as well, but not through archaic book reports and projects.
November 15, 2025 at 3:00 AM
They also need a safe space in which to broaden their scope and share with other students, fostering a deep love of books. This is hard to do with 30-35 kids crammed in a classroom. Accountability for their reading is vital as well, but not through archaic book reports and projects.
Cramming a curriculum no mortal teacher could possibly get through does nothing for struggling readers. They need modeling and depth of understanding as well as art and creative writing to further foster the brain development of empathy and understanding.
November 15, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Cramming a curriculum no mortal teacher could possibly get through does nothing for struggling readers. They need modeling and depth of understanding as well as art and creative writing to further foster the brain development of empathy and understanding.
Truth. Students need to understand the why as well as the how, and to me, a veteran middle school ELA teacher, have structured time not only for direct and small group instruction, but also to joyously build the neural networks for sitting in silence and independently reading.
November 15, 2025 at 2:53 AM
Truth. Students need to understand the why as well as the how, and to me, a veteran middle school ELA teacher, have structured time not only for direct and small group instruction, but also to joyously build the neural networks for sitting in silence and independently reading.
Terrence Hayes, “I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison”
Shara McCallum, “Madwoman”
John Nieves, “Dissipation”
Nancy Mitchell, “Black Bittern”
Grace Cavaleri, “A Field of Finches Without Sight Still Singing”
Shara McCallum, “Madwoman”
John Nieves, “Dissipation”
Nancy Mitchell, “Black Bittern”
Grace Cavaleri, “A Field of Finches Without Sight Still Singing”
November 3, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Terrence Hayes, “I lock you in an American sonnet that is part prison”
Shara McCallum, “Madwoman”
John Nieves, “Dissipation”
Nancy Mitchell, “Black Bittern”
Grace Cavaleri, “A Field of Finches Without Sight Still Singing”
Shara McCallum, “Madwoman”
John Nieves, “Dissipation”
Nancy Mitchell, “Black Bittern”
Grace Cavaleri, “A Field of Finches Without Sight Still Singing”
More contemporary…
Kevin Prufer, “Churches”
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, “The Goddess of Cleaning”
Christopher Salerno, “Headfirst”
Jane Satterfield, “Radio Clash”
Gerry LaFemina, “Looking for Caravaggio"
James Arthur, “Tyrrhenian Sea”
Maggie Smith, “Good Bones”
Kevin Prufer, “Churches”
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, “The Goddess of Cleaning”
Christopher Salerno, “Headfirst”
Jane Satterfield, “Radio Clash”
Gerry LaFemina, “Looking for Caravaggio"
James Arthur, “Tyrrhenian Sea”
Maggie Smith, “Good Bones”
November 3, 2025 at 12:50 AM
More contemporary…
Kevin Prufer, “Churches”
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, “The Goddess of Cleaning”
Christopher Salerno, “Headfirst”
Jane Satterfield, “Radio Clash”
Gerry LaFemina, “Looking for Caravaggio"
James Arthur, “Tyrrhenian Sea”
Maggie Smith, “Good Bones”
Kevin Prufer, “Churches”
Teri Ellen Cross Davis, “The Goddess of Cleaning”
Christopher Salerno, “Headfirst”
Jane Satterfield, “Radio Clash”
Gerry LaFemina, “Looking for Caravaggio"
James Arthur, “Tyrrhenian Sea”
Maggie Smith, “Good Bones”
I am partially sighted which makes it hard to read your list, but…
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”
Pablo Neruda, “If You Forget Me”
Li Young Lee, “Persimmons”
Carolyn Forche, “The Colonel”
Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937”
Michael Glaser, “The Presence of Trees”
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”
Pablo Neruda, “If You Forget Me”
Li Young Lee, “Persimmons”
Carolyn Forche, “The Colonel”
Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937”
Michael Glaser, “The Presence of Trees”
November 3, 2025 at 12:40 AM
I am partially sighted which makes it hard to read your list, but…
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”
Pablo Neruda, “If You Forget Me”
Li Young Lee, “Persimmons”
Carolyn Forche, “The Colonel”
Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937”
Michael Glaser, “The Presence of Trees”
Lucille Clifton, “won’t you celebrate with me”
Pablo Neruda, “If You Forget Me”
Li Young Lee, “Persimmons”
Carolyn Forche, “The Colonel”
Sharon Olds, “I Go Back to May 1937”
Michael Glaser, “The Presence of Trees”
Hearing Lee read is also valuable as his voice brings so much to his work.
My favorite reading, other than when I was fortunate to see him live many years ago: m.youtube.com/watch?v=uwfx...
My favorite reading, other than when I was fortunate to see him live many years ago: m.youtube.com/watch?v=uwfx...
Li-Young Lee: The 2014 Caesar and Patricia Tabet Poetry Reading
YouTube video by The Creative Media Lab at Dominican University
m.youtube.com
September 14, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Hearing Lee read is also valuable as his voice brings so much to his work.
My favorite reading, other than when I was fortunate to see him live many years ago: m.youtube.com/watch?v=uwfx...
My favorite reading, other than when I was fortunate to see him live many years ago: m.youtube.com/watch?v=uwfx...
Rose was his first book. You can see threads of depth starting to form. As you read further into his body of work, the threads weave more deeply, the images driving metaphor. Poems like “Mnemonic” and “Persimmons” capture universals so well, and they are poems that beg to be read more than once.
September 14, 2025 at 6:13 PM
Rose was his first book. You can see threads of depth starting to form. As you read further into his body of work, the threads weave more deeply, the images driving metaphor. Poems like “Mnemonic” and “Persimmons” capture universals so well, and they are poems that beg to be read more than once.
Let me know what you think. I don’t feel she was given enough credit for her work while she was alive. But I’m biased. She was my Professor.
August 23, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Let me know what you think. I don’t feel she was given enough credit for her work while she was alive. But I’m biased. She was my Professor.
Pick this up next…
Stunning & powerful.
Stunning & powerful.
August 23, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Pick this up next…
Stunning & powerful.
Stunning & powerful.
Love this, Cass!
July 26, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Love this, Cass!
Love it! Perfect for summer!
June 4, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Love it! Perfect for summer!
Sounds facinating!
April 23, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Sounds facinating!
Heard your session was amazing! Thanks for sharing! 💕♥️
March 12, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Heard your session was amazing! Thanks for sharing! 💕♥️