POEM OF THE WEEK
In "What If Mothers and Fathers," a young woman, age 17, asks important questions about parents and caring. She ends her poem by asking us to consider - "What if your family hated you?"
FEATURED ACTIVITIES
Addicted
In this poem you can write about the things that compel you. They might make you unhappy sometimes. These things might be drugs or people or hobbies or ways of being. [ WRITE ]
Strength
In this poem you can write about some of the ways in which you're strong. Your strengths might be unexpected, fierce, or gentle. [WRITE ]
COMING EVENTS
Stay Tuned!
Pongo Teen Writing is now accepting applications to VOLUNTEER during the 2013-14 school year (deadline June 30th)... We'll be giving a poetry reading at Elliott Bay Book Company on Saturday, August 24th... And we'll be appearing at Bumbershoot Arts Festival (our 18th year!) on August 31st to September 1st... More info to come!
PONGO MAKES NEWS
Video about Pongo in Juvie:
This video was filmed inside King County Juvenile Detention, where Richard explains Pongo's mission.
MORE Video: KING5 News on Pongo Working Inside Juvie:
A dramatic, in-depth STORY about Pongo's work in juvie, from KING5 (NBC) in Seattle. Creative and sensitive production. Extraordinary!
HI, TEENS! Hello, counselors and teachers! The Pongo Teen Writing Project is a volunteer, nonprofit program for teens who are on the streets, in jail, or in other ways leading difficult lives. We love to help young people express themselves through poetry, especially teens who have never written before. (And we want to share our teaching techniques with caring adults.) This site is dedicated to our authors!
PROJECT JOURNAL
Read Pongo's blog
Sharing stories of our work with teens
Pongo's blog is about the significance of expressing deeply felt pain in poetry - including the resilience that this writing represents, the healing that it allows, and the joy that it inspires. Some recent blog topics are Where I Come From, The Benefits of Writing Poetry, and Colors of Our Lives. [READ]
TEEN WRITING
Welcome, Teens!
Pongo is place to express yourself
Teens, here you can WRITE FROM THE HEART about who you are as a person. You don’t have to be an experienced writer to create Pongo poetry. We appreciate the importance of what you have to say. Honesty is the quality we value most. Check out the Pongo writing activities, choose a topic, and give it a try. You might win Pongo's quarterly $50 Pongo Prize! For inspiration, check out all the serious poetry by other teens!
TEACHING RESOURCES
For Counselors and Teachers
How to use the Pongo website
Counselors and teachers, we want this web site to be a resource for you, as well as the teens. The many writing activities can be downloaded. The teen poems can be shared, as encouragement to new writers and as topics for meaningful discussion. The site gives an overview of Pongo’s methods and offers trainings. We'd like to hear from you and offer our support!
