Daniel Darling

“A Story About the Body” Pedagogy Response

I would use “A Story About the Body” to teach the key concepts from chapter five: story as power struggle, story as connection and disconnection, and story as a journey. Throughout, I'd emphasize the potent final image of the piece in carrying the weight of the poem.

I'd start by breaking the class into small groups. I'd assign the groups the following tasks: identify the conflict, crisis, and resolution; identify the protagonist and antagonist; mark each connection and disconnection in the text; and note how such connections and disconnections are established concretely. Because some of these concepts are not readily identifiable in the poem, the students would, hopefully, be pushed into discussion within their small groups about who or what exactly is the antagonist, what's the nature of the resolution, are there multiple conflicts or just one, etc. Once the groups had identified these elements of the poem's story, I'd bring the class back together and lead a conversation about each element. I'd spend a little extra time on the final image of the poem, leading a discussion on how this image encapsulates the entire story, and how it serves as a concrete resolution to the conflict. Finally, I'd write four quotes from page 163 on the board: “someone went on a journey;” “a stranger came to town;” “two worlds collide; a love story;” “the Insider encounters the Other.” I'd then call for a vote on which story as a journey concept best fit Hass's poem, using the results of the vote as a segue into how the journey occurs in “A Story About the Body,” tying it, again, into the image of the bowl of rose petals and bees.

Homework: Sit down and think about a major conflict you've had with another person, in which they were furious at you or vice versa. Conceptualize an image to represent that conflict. Bring the image to the class on a slip of paper without your name on it; we'll use them for a writing exercise.