Nikki Grimes’ One Last Word Celebrates and Inspires

One Last Word is an excellent introduction to the poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Some of the best known poems of those poets are reprinted here, alongside gems that might be new to readers.  There is a richness to these poems that any child who loves images and emotions built by words can’t help but respond to. And this richness is made even more powerful by Grimes’ own original work, which springboards off the original poems and makes their messages resonate with the experiences of today’s kids.
The technique she uses is known as the “Golden Shovel.”  The words that make up a line from the original poem are used as the words ending the lines of a new poem. So “Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,” the opening line of Jean Toomer’s “Storm Ending,” gives Grimes the ending words to her reminder that  “The truth is, every day we rise is like thunder— / a clap of surprise. Could be echoes of trouble, or blossoms / of blessing.”  It seems like a technique that even poetry-shy young writers might enjoy once they’ve been inspired by the poems here; it’s less scary to write a poem when the sheet of paper isn’t entirely blank to begin with, and you’re building on someone else’s words and thoughts.

The book is made even more lovely by the illustrations. Each pair of poems (the Harlem Renaissance poem and the poem by Grimes that it inspired) is accompanied by a full-color image from a prominent African American illustrator (including this year’s Caldecott Award winning artist Javaka Steptoe). The book is made even more useful for educators and young learners by the inclusion of a brief historical introduction, and by a more extensive section on the biographies of the men and women whose poems and pictures are gathered here, which are pretty inspiring stories in their own right!
Poetry can seem intimidating to kids. But books like this show kids how poems can, in just a few words, convey great feeling and powerful images that they can relate to their own lives, and that they can hold in their minds and hearts for when they need wellsprings of hope.
One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance is on B&N bookshelves now.