You were
water to me
deep and bold and fathoming\
You were
moon鈥檚 eye to me
pull and grained and mantling\
You were
sunrise to me
rise and warm and streaming\
You were
the fishes鈥 red gill to me
the flame tree鈥檚 spread to me
the crab鈥檚 leg/the fried plantain smell
replenishing replenishing\
Go to your wide futures, you said
A performance of the poem, 'Praise Song for My Mother', by the poet Grace Nichols, in a beach setting.
This is from the 大象传媒 series, Poets in Person.
Teacher Notes
This short film can be used to develop understanding of the use of the present participle in the poem.
Students can trawl the poem for 'ing' words.
What effect do these words have on the poem and the image of the mother in the poem?
Students could experiment with what happens when these words are removed and replaced with past tense forms.
Curriculum Notes
This short film will be relevant for teaching English literature at KS3 and KS4/GCSE in England and Northern Ireland. Also English language at KS3 and English literature at GCSE in Wales.
This topic appears in OCR, Edexcel, AQA, WJEC in England and Wales and CCEA GCSE in Northern Ireland.
More from the series: Poets in Person
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Praise Song for My Mother' by Grace Nichols (analysis) video
Grace Nichols reads and explores the writing of her poem, 'Praise Song For My Mother'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Singh Song' by Daljit Nagra (analysis) video
Daljit Nagra explores and performs his poem 'Singh Song'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'The Right Word' by Imtiaz Dharker (analysis) video
Imtiaz Dharker reads and explores the background to her poem, 'The Right Word'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'The Right Word' by Imtiaz Dharker (poem only) video
A performance of the poem 'The Right Word' by the poet, Imtiaz Dharker.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Ghazal' by Mimi Khalvati (poem only) video
A reading of 'Ghazal' by the author, Mimi Khalvati.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard (analysis) video
Poet John Agard describes the process of writing his poem 'Checking Out Me History'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Singh Song' by Daljit Nagra (poem only) video
Daljit Nagra performs his poem 'Singh Song'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Ghazal' by Mimi Khalvati (analysis) video
Mimi Khalvati reads and explores the writing of her poem 'Ghazal'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Flag' by John Agard (analysis) video
John Agard discusses his poem 'Flag', the symbolism of flags and poetry writing.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Checking Out Me History' by John Agard (poem only) video
John Agard performs his poem 'Checking Out Me History'.
English Literature KS3 / GCSE: 'Flag' by John Agard (poem only) video
A performance of the poem 'Flag' by the poet, John Agard.
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