Monday News

PROGRESSIVE POEM

 

WHAT IS POETRY? 

Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket. --Charles Simic

It is finding the truth, no need to lie. 
It's munching on watermelon and letting seeds fly. 

It's a letter that comes with a card in the mail. 
It's the lacy silver threads left by a garden snail. 

It's daffodil trumpets covering the hill. 
It's a deer at the creek, drinking her fill. 

It's giggling and laughing and being absurd. 
It's reading a haiku and feeling each word. 
   

It's a dragon who blows flames, loud and hardy. 
It's fairies in the garden having a tea party. 

It's the sound of a truck shifting its gears. 
It's the feel of two soft puppy ears. 

It's a bright sun rise and glowing moon shine. 
It's a Carolina wren singing in a Lob-lolly pine. 

It's a snowman rolled on a cold winter morn. 
It's crows calling from tall tasseled corn. 

It's the whisper of hummingbird wings in the air.

It's plaits and curls tied with ribbons in my hair.

 

 

      If you haven't noticed, I've been trying to use concrete images to write this poem.  Can you see how each line makes a picture?  Only the first line and perhaps the haiku line would be difficult to illustrate.  I think this poem would work well for a classroom group poem.  

 

Divide the class into five groups. One group for each of the five senses.

I always tell the kids that I have 3 S's and 2 T's.  (Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch and Taste)  Assign one sense to each of the five groups.

 

Each child is to come up with a line for the group poem featuring the group sense.  The kids can work in their groups to brainstorm and come up with ideas.  In this case, the line would be "Poetry is ..."  But you can use any collective noun like:

 

  Hard work

  Our class

  Fun

  Spring  or Winter

  Truth, Justice, Beauty (any of those non-concrete words)  

 

  Have each child write and illustrate her line of the poem.  

  Bring the whole class together to let each child share his line and for the class collectively to write the line that makes the rhyming couplet.  Add this line to the picture.  

  Put all the pictures together in a class poetry book.    

 

  Have fun writing your own poems using your senses.  The way we learn is through using our senses.  If your poems appeal to the senses it is more likely your reader will "feel" your poetry.