Ten-year-old Jessica Jacobs is a poet. And she knows it.

âÂÂWhen I grow up, I want to be a famous writer,â she said last week.

SheâÂÂs well on her way. Jacobs, a Riverside School student, is one of the students in a new poetry class for American Indian youth at Pelathe Community Resource Center – and the class is working hard to compile enough poems to publish its own book this spring.

The class is taught for free by Tom Mach, a writer from California who recently retired to Lawrence. Classes, which usually have between three and seven students, started in October.

âÂÂIt was kind of a fluke,â Mach said. âÂÂI was looking for a tutoring job, but I couldnâÂÂt find one. Somebody at the volunteer center said, âÂÂ’Why donâÂÂt you look at Pelathe?â Here I am.âÂÂ

Caroline Hicks, PelatheâÂÂs assistant director, hopes the lessons learned with Mach are carried into the youngstersâ other classrooms.

âÂÂThis is not just about the kidsâ writing; itâÂÂs about them learning,â Hicks said. âÂÂA lot of native kids have a lot they want to express, especially about their culture. What TomâÂÂs doing is giving them the tools to express that.âÂÂ

Chamisa Edmo, 11-year-old Pinckney student, agrees.

âÂÂYou get to express yourself, and you can let people see it,â she said. âÂÂItâÂÂll be cool to see my poems in a book.âÂÂ

Jacobs is learning that there are different methods of expressing her ideas in poetry.

âÂÂIâÂÂm not really a rhymer,â she said. âÂÂI just write poems that are real or that I have in my head.âÂÂ

ThatâÂÂs the point, Mach said.

âÂÂThe benefit is to make writing fun, so the kids can learn to love words,â he said. âÂÂIf they can learn to use words like a paint brush, theyâÂÂll paint real good pictures.âÂÂ

The class is free, starting at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The book is made possible by a $500 grant from the Lawrence Arts Guild.

MachâÂÂs volunteering and the guildâÂÂs grant have been a stroke of good fortune for Pelathe, which has struggled to raise enough cash for operations since former director Dave Cade left last year.

âÂÂThis has been a real no-cost program for us,â Hick said. âÂÂWith our fiscal difficulties, thatâÂÂs been great.âÂÂ

Hicks said the program may be expanded to include non-American Indian children.

âÂÂCan you imagine being 9 years old and being a published author?â she asked. âÂÂHow cool is that?âÂÂ