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Connecting Chord: Port Townsend 2003 WHAT IS IT?
A week-long program in Port Townsend that bridges gaps between cops and teens through the writing of (yes!) poetry. In five days of talking and writing, officers and young people find voice in their community and in their lives.
WHO IS INVOLVED?
Jefferson County Juvenile Justice System teens and Port Townsend Police Officers. This year, one of the teens from PT Connecting Chord I, Sarah McDonough, will help lead the group.
View the Port Townsend Connecting Chord Photo Gallery
The following article appeared in the Port Townsend Leader:
Poetry offers truths for cops, teens
By Christine Hemp
creator and facilitator
Connecting ChordIn a time when so much is uncertain – orange alerts, a seemingly inevitable war whose purpose evades us, and the economy collapsing around our ears – to witness transformation on a local level renders me hopeful. Last week three Port Townsend police officers, one Jefferson County Juvenile Services officer, and six teenagers who have wrangled with the juvenile justice system met for five days to write poetry.
Each time I lead this "Connecting Chord" program I am humbled by the courage and honesty of the participants. Not only did the officers and teens address difficult subjects such as substance abuse, family crisis and death, they also found common ground, a place where their voices became one. On Friday night they shared their poems with the public. I am proud to live in a community where such a thing can take place and honored that our police chief believes in its validity.
Poetry does not pass judgment; it merely offers a truth. Last week, our group looked head-on at the death of Shane Luther, the Chimacum teenager who died from alcohol poisoning. The following poem is dedicated to Shane, a boy I did not know, and to the brave officers and teens who inspired it.
For a High School Boy Drowned by Drink
I saw red when I heard
about Shane, dead from his own intake
of breath the night his friends poured him
into the junipers. I'm no shiny trophy,but I saw red when I read
that he'd been buzzed beyond return,
the pitch of that party louder than a Ford
engine, its idle on high.I saw red when I saw
1,000 flames that could have been
Shane, while his shamed friends sulk
like deserters from Troy, leaving the wounded
behind to crawl their way to heaven alone.
Feeling
I want to quit smoking dope
so that every night I'm not sitting in a cell
crying and rotting my life away.
When I sit in the cell all that is around me is cement.
I want to see more than that, what's happening
in the world.I want to quit feeling like I'm taking
the long dirt path and dust digging my life into a hole.
When I get dropped off at the jail I feel like a white
car is just leaving me to waste my life away.
I don't want to feel like that anymore.I want to quit feeling like I need to smoke
pot so I can deal with my parents.
Sometimes I wish I had a hammer so that
I can use it to bust down the cement wall to escape.I want to just live my life without probation.
I want to live my life without feeling solitude
while I'm sitting in a cell.Dustin Leaf
Feb. 19, 2003
To Johnny S.
The church burns by accident.
A boat project ends with a laugh followed by death.
A move to a different family member and state.
The drugs help you feel for the death and losses.
You hang with friends that are hiding sadness, fear and pain.
Cars, music, video, computer – fill a void and are a passion.
You filter your loneliness and pain with bullshit.
You smoke from a bong that you found by the road edge.
You drink until you are dull.
You have a heart, but it's buried under pain and fear
that won't let you cry or feel.
Like a line from a movie, "Don't mistake kindness
for weakness."
I see that you can feel, you are deeper than you think.Officer Troy Surber
View the Connecting Chord Photo Gallery
Peninsula Daily New article, February 2003
"The point is to bridge the gaps between the teens and the officers,
helping them both find a voice."The Port Townsend Leader article, February 2003:
"The kids were scared, but so were the cops."Seattle Times article:
"Port Townsend workshop has rhyme and reason"The Port Townsend Leader article Oct. 2001:
"The muse makes a difference in police/youth relations"
home · resume · recent publications · schedule · technical writing · course offerings
list of clients · connecting chord · programs · poetry pages · bardic performances · contactChristine Hemp
P.O. Box 674 Port Townsend, WA 98368
tel: 360-385-9005
