George Rodrigue was born in New Iberia, LA and is famous for the Blue Dog. I never met him, but our town celebrates him with a pocket park on Main Street. The Bayou Teche Museum acquired a display of his studio.
Our students will be touring an exhibit of George Rodrigue’s work today at the Hilliard Museum in Lafayette, LA. To prepare my students for this field trip, I shared the story of the Blue Dog and let them choose a work of his art to write about.
John-Robert chose a painting with a gravestone for Tiffany. We googled the words “Tiffany + George Rodrigue” and found out that Tiffany was Rodrigue’s pet whom he based the Blue Dog on.
Oh Tiffany
where have you gone
after all you’re right here
under That Lovely Cyprus tree
Why are you still hiding from me
I’m just A Blue dog
I go to the village
THEY SHUN ME AWAY
“Leave evil spirit!”
They see me and run
why
even when I adore the limbs of humans they run
So I have left to roam near only friend
to protect her in the stone box from them
all I want is to see her again no matter whenOh Tiffany
John-Robert, 6th grade
where have you gone
after all I’m back from the hunt
so when is when
As a teacher of this bard, I hesitate to criticize at all. This is JR’s first and only year in my class. He has been writing poems every day in his notebook. None of them have capital letters or punctuation. When it comes to essays, I talk to him about the grammar choices he makes (or doesn’t make), but I still leave his poems alone.
I wish you could hear him recite them. He sounds like he’s reading from his very soul. I’m often left speechless. In my opinion, and I’m hoping it’s the right one, his creativity is a delicate thing. I want him to keep writing long after he’s been with me.
JR is my Emily Dickinson, writing far above my level of understanding. I think I will continue to leave him alone with his poems. He tells me he “knows” the grammar rules. He doesn’t know why he doesn’t use them. It’s as though his thoughts won’t allow for the crowding of periods and commas, capital letters, etc.
What’s an ELA teacher to do with that?
Reflections on the Teche 