This anthology, Bright stars, is the cumulative product of a creative writing course, focused on poetry and designed specifically for a group of homeschooled students (and one dedicated mother who participated with her daughters) in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. Our time together spanned an entire two semesters, although, for various reasons (including art and math classes), we only began seriously engaging poetry slightly before the winter break (as several poems in this anthology will suggest). We generally met once a week for an hour. This course was the first formal exposure to poetry for almost everybody.
This course was also designed and intended to serve as exposure to the English language, as English is a second (or third) language to all the students-it is remarkable how outstanding they did, writing in a second language! Writing in Spanish (their first language) was encouraged and actively pursued for numerous reasons as well. The reader can look forward to a bilingual experience and appreciate the effort these students exerted while composing poetry in a second language.
Throughout the course, we read poetry, considered historical and literary contexts, and traced the trajectories of poetic movements. We considered poetry and poets from many cultures and locations-spanning the ancient world, classical antiquity, the Middle Ages, Modernity, and our contemporary age; we considered formal poets-staples of literary canons- and their magnanimous works that have endured millennia, centuries, and decades, as well as an eclectic number of lesser-known or local poets and contemporary songwriters of diverse backgrounds and styles. Naturally, we only approached the tips of (too) few icebergs-but the journey, as brief and selective as it was, was insightful and intriguing as we engaged in listening to voices from those living in contexts with corresponding experiences and worldviews different from our own.
Mostly, we wrote, wrote, and wrote! We engaged in a generalized writing process consisting broadly of pre-writing, drafting, editing, and publishing/presenting-and inevitably, much looping and interplay between the various stages. We considered some elementary forms, styles, and techniques; we learned structures and then learned to bend them or to construct our own.
This anthology genuinely is the students' product. They wrote their poems. They maintained their poems as their poems throughout the editorial process. They selected the works they wanted to include and not include within the anthology. They chose the name of the anthology. They designed the covers and visuals. They did everything. This is theirs.
In one of our classes, we were discussing imagery and different rhetorical tools we have as poets, and the conversation arrived at stars and lights. We discussed light and how each star (in a naturalistic sense) is unique; we ultimately likened it all to us collectively as a group of individuals and saw some connections to what our poetry is and does. I won't spell out the details of our long and winding, evolving metaphor or discussion, but in short, we spiraled toward the idea of accepting and celebrating our unique being and shining our unique light, without giving in to the pressure or expectation of being someone else's version of a star and its respective light. And consequently, and of equal importance, to not force or pressure someone else to be our version of a star; rather, to shine together in all our unique and individual brilliance-and perhaps, the collective light may turn out to be breathtaking! This is the origin of the title of this anthology, Bright stars.