POEM OF THE WEEK
Nervous, frustrated, confused, anxious, and excited. In "Next Wednesday, 7:30 in the Morning," a young woman, age 15, expresses a mix of emotions about leaving the psychiatric hospital. She writes: "I'm anxious, like a computer trying to turn itself back on."
FEATURED ACTIVITIES
If My Fist Could Speak
Sometimes our bodies contain the anger we feel and the scars of our experience. In this poem you can write about life's emotional and physical effects. [ WRITE ]
This Is What You Meant to Me
In this poem you can celebrate someone who died, and express the important role the person played in your life. Pongo has a few poem activities for "Writing After a Death."
[ WRITE ]
COMING EVENTS
Stay Tuned in 2013!
This spring Pongo will offer a training for counselors and teachers on June 8th. We'll be staging poetry readings, including PoetsWest on May 11th. We will call for new volunteers (for the 2013-14 school year) in late May. And we will be appearing at Northwest Folklife Festival on May 24th-27th. 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!
