Teach This Poem: “Dear Mama” (4) by Wanda Coleman

Listen to the song “Superwoman” by Alicia Keys.

The following activities and questions are designed to help your students use their noticing skills to move through the poem and develop their thinking skills so they understand its meaning with confidence, using what they’ve noticed as evidence for their interpretations. Read more about the framework upon which these activities are based.

1. Warm-up: Look closely at the painting “Mother and Child” by Njideka Akunyili Crosby. What stands out to you about this image? Why? Look again. What else do you see? 

2. Before Reading the Poem: Listen to the song “Superwoman” by Alicia Keys. What stands out to you in the video? Why? 

3. Reading the Poem: Silently read the poem “Dear Mama (4)” by Wanda Coleman. What do you notice about the poem? Note any words or phrases that stand out to you or any questions you might have. 

4. Listening to the Poem: Enlist two volunteers and listen as the poem is read aloud twice. Write down any additional words and phrases that stand out to you. 

5. Small Group Discussion: Share what you noticed about the poem with a small group. How do the painting and song from the beginning of class connect to the poem? How would you describe the relationship between the speaker and the mother? Why? Who are the people in your own life who have been important in helping you become who you are? 

6. Whole Class Discussion: What do you think of the title “Dear Mama (4)”? How does the title function within the poem, especially the first line? Read more about epistolary poems. Does this poem read like an epistolary poem to you? Why or why not? 

7. Extension for Grades 7-8: Read more poems relating to motherhood. Which poems are your favorites? Why? Choose a poem and create a collage that best represents it. 

8. Extension for Grades 9-12: Over the course of a week, write your own series of epistolary poems to anyone important to you. If you feel comfortable, share your poems with a partner or share about how it felt to write an epistolary. What did you learn? How did writing a series affect your poems?

“For more than forty years I’ve been writing poems about my mother. She remains a kind of touchstone for me: If I am writing about her (to her?) I know that I am deeply in my territory, a psychic landscape at once familiar and strange, like a city you love, but which is far away—you go there as often as you can precisely because it overwhelms you, reminds you that your love for it is finally beyond all understanding.” Read from this collection of poets discussing their mothers’ responses to the poems written about them.

Epistolary poem: also known as an epistle, is a poem of direct address that reads as a letter.