The Many Voices Word Karaoke

In celebration of World Poetry Day 2022

Contributors: Carolina C., Cassandra Bousquet, Chloe Chou, Lauren Lin, Rachel Cronin, Ronit Das, Sheridan Stewart

It’s like I’m standing on the edge with just a telephone wire
Trying to get to you first to say the world’s on fire

Holding my breath until I know you’re alright
Because the water will only rise 

So I walk down to the river
Where the troubles, they can't find me

Let the waters there remind me
The sun will be there when we wake

And you call me up again just to break me like a promise
So casually cruel in the name of being honest

I knew you’d linger like a tattoo kiss. 
I knew you’d haunt all of my what ifs.

I’m just a girl in the world,
That’s all you’ll ever let me be! 

If I could go back and change the past 
Be a little braver than I had 

And bet against the odds 
Would I still be lost?

I walk down to the river
Though I might not understand it

It's not always as we planned it
But we grow stronger when we break

Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street
Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly

It’s born from just one single glance
But it dies, and it dies, and it dies a million little times

Well you do enough talk
My little hawk, why do you cry?

Tell me what did you learn from the Tillamook burn?
Or the Fourth of July? 

And he said, ‘I wonder if this is what heaven is like?’
‘What if it means I’m more dead than alive?’

I don’t believe in Destiny, I just do what’s best for me, 
don't listen to my enemies, they’re just full of jealousy

Far, we’ve been traveling far 
Without a home but not without a star 

Free, only want to be free 
We huddle close, hang on to a dream

In the light you will find the road
Dream until your dreams come true.

Inspired by Aerosmith, Sara Bareilles, Neil Diamond, Matt the Electrician, Josh Groban, NEFFEX, No Doubt, Olivia Rodrigo & Julia Lester, Sufjan Stevens, Taylor Swift, Led Zeppelin 

*Word Karaoke is a found poetry exercise where students contributed their favorite lines from a song. This exercise was facilitated by San Mateo County Poet Laureate Aileen Cassinetto during the 2022 World Poetry Day Youth Open Mic hosted by Martin Piñol and the South San Francisco Public Library.

“Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. As an intimate form of expression that opens doors to others, poetry enriches the dialogue that catalyses all human progress, and is more necessary than ever in turbulent times.”

Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, on the occasion of 2022 World Poetry Day

Bill Burns

Bill Burns was born and raised in Burlingame, California. He has been a teacher for Redwood City Library’s PROJECT READ since 1997, teaching parenting skills and poetry to the men and women in San Mateo County’s jails. 

Poems on Belonging

I AM FROM

I am from Erector Sets, adventure books, and asthma medicines.

I am from climbing trees, schoolyard basketball games, and a creek

I am from St. Catherine’s School, the Burlingame Fire Department, Burlingame Library, & The Burlingame Advance-Star Newspaper.

I am from William R. Burns, Sr., Semi-Pro Baseball Catcher.

I am from my mother saying, “Someday I hope you have children of your own.”

I am from rye bread toast and split pea soup.

I am from a place where a 15-year-old boy with no Driver’s License won a 1932 Chevy Coupe by selling the most magazine orders in July of 1957.
To Burlingame Public Library                
April 27th, 2019

You were my library 70 years ago in 1949.                                                                                                                                                   You were the place I’d go                                                                                                                                                                                         to escape into the pictures I found in the larger books                                                                                                                                  when I was having trouble with those bothersome words.

You see, I grew up in Burlingame & lived at 765 Farringdon Lane.                                                                                                       I attended McKinley School from Kindergarten through 2ndgrade,                                                                                                      and then transferred to St. Catherine’s for grades 3 through 8. I went from the casual “ Look Say” method of teaching reading used in public schools to the more strict phonics approach of a Catholic School complete with bi-weekly readings to assess student levels. Rather than learn how to read better, I learned how to be a good test taker as my test scores were always higher than my actual reading level. This is why I hungered for the stories I could make up by looking through the mostly pictures that were in this Burlingame library.

When I got my library card at age eight I would ride my 20 inch Schwinn Bicycle to this library almost daily. I finally finished my first chapter book when I was 8 and 1/2— it was Pecos Bill, the story of a cowboy who was so good with a rope that he could lasso cyclones and tame them.

After that book I started reading biographies of famous Americans, such as, Kit Carson, Davey Crockett, Daniel Boone, and Abe Lincoln. I grew to love books and reading and decided to read all the books in the entire Burlingame Library. But this dream was dashed when I realized that my Children’s Library was only a small part of a huge adult library with an unconquerable number of books.

Still I kept visiting my library, reading books, and participating in the neat summer activities they offered. I remember the one where I was given a small 8 inch tall Indian Teepee, and I could earn stickers of Native American symbols to add to my teepee— I would receive one symbol for every two books I would read. This challenge carried me through a summer that otherwise would have been quite boring for me.

My early Burlingame Library experiences grounded me for a future of essays, tests, reports, and term projects through grammar school up to my mid-Sophomore year of high school when we moved to San Jose and another library.

I’m still proud of reading that Pecos Bill Biography, and I still had trouble lassoing some words. But things seemed to get easier through my years at Campbell Union High School and San Jose State College both from which I graduated. My early reading successes helped me with the reading and writing demands of becoming a teacher, Coordinator, Principal, Director,  School Administrator, and eventually a published Poet.

Thank you Burlingame Public Library for pointing me in the right direction at an early age.

Copyright © 2022 by Bill Burns. Used with permission of the author.

Sheridan Stewart

Sheridan Stewart is 13 years old and has lived on the coastside her entire life. She is honored to be featured in this web archive after being on her school’s literary magazine editorial board for the past two years and publishing two literary magazines, vyris and FYR. Sheridan is also a musical theatre actress, plays piano and trombone, and loves reading. She enjoys debate, Shakespeare, and helping others with writing and editing their work.

Poem on Belonging 

AMERICA, OH LAND OF THE FREE

America, oh land of the free, 
You’ve seen our struggles, joy, and hope.
You’ve seen the ways we dust ourselves off and cope.
You’ve seen how we unite to confront our challenges.

America, oh land of the free,
Day after day we battle for equality,
Day after day we represent our democracy’s quality. 
Day after day we will make change. 

America, oh land of the free,
Together we are stranded in our houses, trying to make the best.
Together we wonder; shut down our borders, let our economy rest?
Together we find ways to be far apart but together at heart. 

America, oh land of the free,
The time for change has come, with a new president at its head.
The time for change has come, better days are ahead.
The time for change has come, joining our people together under our new leaders.

America, oh land of the free, 
We stand up to abusers, women stand out with pride,
We stand up to prejudice, to be led by a woman in the second-highest position nationwide,
We stand up for the rights of the women of America. 

America, oh land of the free, 
Once again, our loyalty to our people is shown with peaceful protests to promote acceptance. 
Once again, our determination is shown fighting wildfires, researching vaccines, and pushing away repentance.
Once again, our sense of unity is shown helping our fellow citizens during times of uncertainty. 

America, oh land of the free, 
The times ahead are hazy jumbles that we must plow through.
The times ahead remain hopeful, optimistic, and new. 
The times ahead will show America in its best light, doing what’s right. 

America, oh land of the free, 
No matter what happens, the rivers still flow,
No matter what happens, the stars still glow,
No matter what happens, our nation continues to be strong.

Copyright © 2022 Sheridan Stewart. Used with permission of the author.

Watch Sheridan perform her poem, “America, Oh Land of the Free”.
Sheridan is a contributor to the collaborative poem, “The Many Voices Word Karaoke”.

World Poetry Day

Why World Poetry Day?

Each year on 21 March, we celebrate World Poetry Day. 

“One of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity, poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming the simplest of poems into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace. First adopted by UNESCO during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, World Poetry Day is an occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.”

—UNESCO

“Arranged in words, coloured with images, struck with the right meter, the power of poetry has no match. As an  intimate form of expression  that  opens doors to others, poetry enriches the dialogue that catalyses  all  human progress, and is more necessary than ever in turbulent times.”

—Audrey Azoulay, Director-General, on the occasion of 2022 World Poetry Day

world-poetry-day-2022Download
Read “The Many Voices Word Karaoke,” a San Mateo County youth World Poetry Day poem

Michael Warr

Michael Warr‘s books include Of Poetry and Protest: From Emmet Till to Trayvon Martin (W.W. Norton), and from Tia Chucha Press, The Armageddon of Funk, and We Are All The Black Boy. He is the recipient of the 2020 Berkeley Lifetime Achievement Award and is a San Francisco Public Library Laureate. Other honors include a Creative Work Fund Award, PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature, Black Caucus of the American Library Association Award, Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poets Award, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. His poems are translated into Chinese by poet Chun Yu in their “Two Languages / One Community” project. Michael is the former Deputy Director of the Museum of the African Diaspora and is a board member of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. 

Read Michael’s poems, “Appalling Bearers” and “To Your Assailant / 致攻擊你們的⼈”.

Kathleen McClung

Kathleen McClung is the author of four poetry collections: Temporary Kin, The Typists Play Monopoly, Almost the Rowboat, and A Juror Must Fold in on Herself, winner of the 2020 Rattle Chapbook Prize.  Her work appears widely in journals and anthologies including Southwest Review, Naugatuck River Review, Mezzo Cammin, Ekphrasis, Atlanta Review, Spillway, California Quarterly, Forgotten Women, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California, and elsewhere. Winner of the Rita Dove, Morton Marr, Shirley McClure, and Maria W. Faust national poetry prizes, she is a Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. Kathleen teaches at Skyline College, The Writing Salon, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in San Francisco. For ten years she directed Women on Writing: WOW! Voices Now on the Skyline campus, celebrating creativity in writers of all ages.  In 2018-2019 she was a writer-in-residence at Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Currently she serves as guest editor for The MacGuffin and associate director of the Soul-Making Keats literary competition. 

Poem on Belonging

ACROSS AND DOWN

He smoked a pipe and read the Mercury

but saved the crossword page for her. At dawn
she wrestled with small, numbered squares. Her poetry—

her home, three sons, two daughters, a family
she made with George. She could depend upon
him, smoking pipes and reading.  Mercury

winked out beside the moon each day as she
put water on to boil and wept for her son John.
She wrestled with small, numbered squares half-heartedly

in a half-dark bungalow until, hungry,
four children woke.  One flipped the light switch on.
George smoked a pipe and read.  Both Mercury

and scarlet fever—gods of thieves and trickery—
had flown through every house, and paused, then gone.
She wrestled with small, numbered squares.  No poetry

they read in church, no hymns they sang off-key
could bring full light. They kept the curtains drawn.
He smoked a pipe and read the Mercury,
she wrestled with small, empty squares—her poetry.

			     for John Calvin McClung, 1946-1949

Copyright © 2022 by Kathleen McClung. Used with permission of the author.

Purvi Kunwar 

“I have been a resident of San Mateo County for more than 20 years and a Bay Area resident for more than 40 years. I have a professional background in public health and education and a passion to help young people thrive. Poems and essays are often how I make sense of the world and myself. I find peace in nature and am a Certified Forest Therapy Guide and am earning my Educational Doctorate in Learning Design and Leadership at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign.”

Poems on Belonging

LAST TIME I CHECKED

Last time I checked
I was an immigrant child of nine, of non-white color

Last time I checked
Some kids made fun of my name and even said “Go Back to where you came from”

Last time I checked
So many more invited me to play four-square & hop-scotch

Last time I checked
I had trouble aligning my two worlds – neither felt like home to me

Last time I checked
Adults from both worlds encouraged me to celebrate both, take the best of both and give back to both

Last time I checked
There were always people who had more than me and me, who had more than many

Last time I checked
The world wasn’t perfectly fair, but people in general were good and most willing to help me

Last time I checked
I wasn’t afraid of voicing my opinions even if they were contrary to the majority

Last time I checked
I must have crossed an invisible line where my privilege was in moral contradiction to the lives of the needy and my opinions verging on un-acceptable

Last time I checked
I still believe most people want the same thing – a purpose, a livelihood, love, family & friends

Last time I checked
The United States of America, founded imperfectly not only on the shoulders of the enslaved and on the lands of the Native Americans, but on the backs of immigrants from around the world – still offers us All, her children a chance to live better lives together

Last time I checked
I still am that immigrant child believing we, Americans, of every skin color, ethnicity, immigration status, religious affiliation, gender preference, political leaning & socio-economic access will continue to uphold “Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness” for All.

WHERE HAS OUR GRACE AND COURAGE GONE? 

Hyper connectivity yet detached humanity

Gone is our Grace for God, Grace for All Humans on Earth

Courage is no longer visible in Western Mirrors

Not in our leaders, not in our elites, not in ourselves 

Each and everyone of us too greedy and fearful to really get involved

A Million reasons why we shouldn’t

Only one why we should… it is the right thing to do 

We tell ourselves — we don’t have an option

When we all know we do and we choose not to 

We have collectively forgotten the lessons of history

And history has shown — lessons forgotten will have to be learned again 

Appeasement of Evil, Fear of the repercussions won’t stop the brutality being unleashed upon the innocent 

Only a matter of time before our lack of grace and courage comes knocking on our doors.

Copyright © 2022 by Purvi Kunwar. Used with permission of the author.

Civic Engagement

Purvi Kunwar served as a member of the Board of Trustees of Menlo School from 2011 to 2017. Causes she supports include education, disaster and humanitarian relief, economic empowerment, health, and science and technology, among others.

Clara Hsu

Clara Hsu is a Chinese American poet born in Hong Kong. She is a mother, piano teacher, traveler, actor, translator, poet, playwright, purveyor of Clarion Music Center (1982-2005) and Executive Director of Clarion Performing Arts Center (2016 to present). Clara received the Jefferson Award for public service in 2021. She is the current recipient of San Francisco Arts Commission’s Arts Impact Endowment Grant and San Francisco Artist Grant (2023-2024).

Read Clara’s poem, “Caridad Ameran del Barrio de Chino“.

Portola Valley First Graders II

First graders in Ms. Ivana Hansen and Ms. Monica Gojcaj’s class wrote these poems in celebration of National Poetry Month.

Poems on Belonging

Inside my heart lives…
3 baby chikes
Rainbows
Butterflys
Pony rides
In green pastures
The smell of fresh rosemarry
—L. K.


I saw a bird today
I whached it fly
So high
It went west
—M. M.


O Birds O Birds
As you flli
thro the scki
you twet and you twet and
flli throu the 
nit and you flli
thro the bay
O Bird O Bird
Your byotlf
wing are as
prity as silk
O Bird O Bird.
—A. K.


Tigers are big and strong.
A type of cat.
They hunt and eat.
They sleep a lot.
Bone appetit.
—R. M.


Puppys like to play
Puppys like to hid from you
And thay eat all day
—L. M.


A Daffodil 
is like a lion
Roreen so
hard. Its peatls
are like the 
mane of a 
lion and it is so yelloe.
—E. W.


I like sunflowers 
Because they look
Like the sun
Hie in the sky
—T. F.


Rainbows are all colers
red, oring, yellow
green, blue, purple, viyliet.
Rainbows are butefule.
They come on rainy days.
—J. R.


Clawds are big and white
flufy as cotencndy
thae has meny sapes.
—H. D.


The tree sways
Around from side to side
The wind howls, 
Leaves rustle.
—S. B.

Copyright © 2022 by Ms. Ivana Hansen and Ms. Monica Gojcaj for their first grade students. Used with permission of the authors.