Resources

by Kristin Prevallet

Kristin Prevallet is the author of Perturbation, My Sister, a study of Max Ernst’s “The Hundred-Headless Woman, and the chapbook Selections from The Parasite Poems. Prevallet is the co-editor, with Tonya Foster, of Third Mind: Creative Writing through Visual Art from Teachers & Writers Collaborative.

Magic Spells and the Gateway God

One fall I taught three third-grade Project-Read residencies: one at Brooklyn’s PS 18, and two at Queens’ PS 150. One of the classes consisted primarily of ESL students. I do not speak Spanish, but with the help of some of T&W’s publications, I designed exercises that incorporated Spanish words, as well as Central and South American myths and poetry. I ended up using many of these exercises for other classes as well, with very good results.

One particularly successful exercise was a “magic spellbook” I invented. This exercise was inspired by two examples in the T&W book Luna, Luna: Creative Writing Ideas from Spanish, Latin American, & Latino Literature. The first is from the chapter “Sound, Rhythm, Music” by William Bryant Logan, which introduces the poem “Sensemayá” by the Cuban poet Nicolás Guillén. The second is derived from the exercise “Lies to Quetzalcoatl” in the chapter “The Flowered Song” by John Oliver Simon. The spellbook exercise also incorporates Kenneth Koch’s “I used to be / but now” exercise from Wishes, Lies, and Dreams.

I began the class by asking students what they knew about magic. The most common response was “It is not real,” or “Magic is when a rabbit comes out of a hat.” I told the class that thousands and thousands of years ago, native peoples believed that rituals and magic spells had the power to bring rain, make crops grow, or cure illnesses. Many of the students knew about rain dances, masks, and other Native American or indigenous customs, either from documentaries or other classes. They were very eager to share their knowledge.

I then told them about the Gateway God which stands above the Gateway of the Sun in the ancient city of Tiwanaku, in Peru. According to Michael Moseley in his book The Incas and their Ancestors, those who passed underneath the Gateway of the Sun “were expected to change their attitudes and behavior.” I told the students that Gateways in Inca mythology divide the real world from the world of the gods. I told them that for us, Gateways divided the real world—the classroom right now—from the world of the imagination.

I then went into an illustration of rhythm, and read out loud to them the first three stanzas of Nicolás Guillén’s poem “Sensemayá (Song to Kill a Snake).” I read this with an emphasis on the rhythm, and drummed slow steady beats on the desk for effect:

Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé

The snake has eyes of glass;
the snake comes and wraps around a stick;
with its eyes of glass, on a stick,
with its eyes of glass.
The snake walks without feet;
the snake hides in the grass;
walking, it hides in the grass,
walking without feet.

Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé

I then invited the whole class to read the remainder of the English version of the poem out loud together. The students really enjoyed this, particularly the ending:

Mayombé—bombe—mayombé!
Sensemayá, the snake, the snake. . .
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé!
Sensemayá doesn’t move. . .
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé!
Sensemayá, the snake, the snake
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé!
Sensemayá is dead!

We then read a poem by a fifth-grader named Marwan Younis:

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
bom bom bom bom

The horse is black.
His neck is blue.
He jumps like a train.
He jumps like a rabbit.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
bom bom bom bom

The students in one class liked this poem so much that they insisted on memorizing it, and then making it into a rap.

I then told them that we were going to make a magic spellbook. I passed out a piece of construction paper, along with an image of the Gateway God and the two pillars. I showed them that they could make their own Gateway to the Sun by pasting the Gateway God in the middle, and positioning the two pillars on either side of him. I told them to imagine that when they passed underneath the Gateway to the Sun they would change or be transformed—maybe even into an animal.

I asked them to write a magic spell in their Gateway God spellbook. I explained that a magic spell can be a phrase that gets repeated over and over like:

Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé
Mayombé—bombe—mayombé

I told them that in between each spell phrase, they should write about something that changed after going through the Gateway to the Sun. I told them that they could use the phrase “I used to be / but now” (see Kenneth Koch’s Wishes, Lies, and Dreams) as a way to get started. The students were very inspired by this exercise, and most wrote very long poems. After they were finished writing, I let them color their spellbooks. For the final day of the residency, students chose to pair up and read their spellbooks out loud together. Some of them made up dances to go with them.

Here are two examples:

Ring abow bagel ringa bow.
Ring abow bagel ringa bow.
Ring abow bagel ringa bow.
I used to be a rose
but now I am a dog
Now I am a bee
before I was a pencil
Now I am a girl
before I was a boy
Now I am a boy
before I was a fox
Ring abow bagel ringa bow
The monkey has paper eyes
The monkey has one foot
The monkey walks on knives
it has three arms.
The monkey has a metal finger.
Ring abow bagel ringa bow.
Ring abow bagel ringa bow.
Ring abow bagel ringa bow.

—Rodrigo Huertas

buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom
I used to be a jaguar
but now I am a wolf
I change into a tiger
and I got into a cat
I am now in a dragon.
buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom
I’m a ghost hitting the door
helping people
the ghost is scaring people
his eyes are like a hole
buuu bom bom bom
scaring people now
the ghost dies
buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom
buuu bom bom bom

—Erik Rodriguez