For years, like many U.S. poets, the author felt he knew the work of Pablo Neruda--and taught bits and pieces of his story and his poems in various locations. The author drew on the poems he'd come to love years ago in "Residence on Earth," "The Heights of Machu Picchu," and his "Elemental Odes," along with snippets from his beautiful evocative…

In the late 1970s, poet Lewis MacAdams labeled the many writers beginning to visit schools as "wild cards in the deck of education," bringing fresh possibilities to a somewhat staid curriculum. Now, nearly thirty years later, the authors wonder if it isn't time to renew the metaphor, as everyone strive to name what happens when poets bring their…

People can learn as much from what they do not do right as what they do. This article describes such a failure. The author had gathered six students together for an interview concerning art and their lives--and things became so chaotic, he thought it was all a wash... until he went back and listened to the tape. Only then did he realize that what…