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This is my playground for poetry written for children with ideas and inspiration for writing your own poems. Come on in. Sit for a spell, have a cup of words to swirl around and make your own cup of poetry. I'm so glad you are here. I hope you'll find the Kingdom of Poetry a fun place to be.

Friday, September 2, 2011

ACTION POEM

     OK, here we go again.  I'm trying something different again today.  (Isn't poetry all about experimenting with new ways to communicate meaning?)  Today's poem is actually a poem with actions but WITHOUT words.
I'm supplying the description of the action, but it isn't my intent to have the reader say the words but to do the action.  Let's see if this works.


(march,     march,     march)

(blink,     blink,     blink)

(clap,     clap,     clap)

(turn around left)

(shake left fist)

(turn around right)

(shake right fist)

(jump up)

(sit down)


     Now, here is the challenge.  Write your own wordless action poem.  You could nod, look left, right, up, down, skip, hop, sway, kick, stomp.  What other actions can you think of?  Have fun.  This can also work as a chain game where each person gets to add the next line of the poem or action.  For an even greater challenge, have the person adding an action repeat all the other lines of the poem before adding their own.  I wish we were together so we could do this as a group. 

3 comments:

  1. Here's one:

    Mr. Wheeler's Favorite Dance

    (stand with legs slightly apart)

    (hands by your side)

    (look straight ahead)

    (don't sway to the right)

    (don't sway to the left)

    (REPEAT)

    What's the dance?

    The elevator.

    Linda A.

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  2. Oh how funny. Thanks Linda.
    I love the silliness. I can hardly wait to try this out on my young friends. Thank you for posting it. I wonder if Mr. Otis, the inventor of the elevator would work better in the title.

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  3. Hi Joy,

    Good suggestion. I like it! I chose this title because the poem is based on a true event with a teacher I had in 8th grade. All the girls were trying to get him to dance at a school party and this is how he danced. :)

    I hope you'll use some of these in your novel in verse. Have you considered it?

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