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In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all been extremely generous with their time.
Today I'm sharing the thoughts of Joan Bransfield Graham, author of the books Splish Splash (2001), Flicker Flash (2003), and The Poem That Will Not End (2014). In addition to these books, Joan's poetry for children has been published in numerous anthologies, textbooks, and children's magazines.
How do you begin a poem? OR How does a poem begin for you — with an idea, a form, an image, or something else?
Joan: There are so many ways that poems tempt me to write them. Sometimes it starts with "a rhythm, a rhythm and a rhyme" and, then just like Ryan O'Brian, I'm off and writing. After we went on a family camping trip to Yosemite and hiked up Vernal Falls on the Cold Shower Trail, I wrote a "Waterfall" poem. When I thought about how it might look on the page, I decided to experiment with shaping it like a waterfall. Whole stanzas solidified into "Ice Cubes," I froze words into a "Popsicle," and took a "Shower" in words . . . Splish Splashevolved. Having an ongoing interest in photography, I often think of poems as wide-angle (the big picture) or telephoto (zoom in for the details) poems. With poetry, as with my camera, I can capture a moment in time, an emotion, a new perspective. I like to play with the shape of language and the language of shape. Also, if you rub words together, how can you not ignite a spark?
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Joan: Perhaps the poems choose their own forms, the one that fits best. It helps to try out various forms for the same idea to see which is the most effective. Musicians jazz our world with soul, rock, classical. Artists amaze with oil paints, watercolor, collage. Poets surprise our senses and shake us awake with delicious forms and voices to best express what they want to say. It is exciting to have so many options. It's fun to experiment until it clicks, and you know you've found the perfect fit. Former U.S. Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz said, "A common fallacy is to think that a poem begins with a meaning which then gets dressed up in words. On the contrary, a poem is language surprised in the act of changing into meaning."
Are there any forms you haven't tried but would like to? Why or why not?
Joan: I'm always eager to try something new. I have information in my files about the Arabic ghazal and might have to give that a try. An example is Patricia Smith's "Hip-Hop Ghazal." I just got home from the gym where I stretched my way through yoga with peaceful music in the background and then danced through a loud Zumba class with hip-hop, Middle Eastern, and salsa rhythms. A woman said to me, "My brain is ready, but my body's not." I don't think she actually spoke in iambic pentameter, but that's how I remembered it. Music and dance can have repetitive movements and moves, and I am thinking maybe I need to write a Zumba/exercise/dance villanelle.
I'm quite fond of the villanelle. Here's "Fever," compliments of Ryan O'Brain, from THE POEM THAT WILL NOT END. When I wrote this, I had visions of Amadeus at his creative crescendo and could hear Peggy Lee singing and snapping her fingers. I've color-coded the repeating lines. When I'm working on a villanelle, I fill in the repeating lines I've chosen and then work backwards, forward, around—it's an intriguing challenge. I'm planning to use this for a choral reading sometime with one side of the room reading the red lines and the other side reading the blue lines. I have written those lines on large strips of oaktag. Then students can see and feel this form before they encounter Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" and Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art." I dedicate this to all poets, artists, actors, and musicians who have a fever to create.
FEVER
I cannot stop this fever in my brain, I feel compelled to write, and write, and write. Day in, day out, the words just fall like rain.
Is there some way that I can plug the drain— To rescue me, to save me from this plight? I cannot stop this fever in my brain.
I’ve stepped on board a rhythm kind of train, That’s traveling, zooming at the speed of light. Day in, day out, the words just fall like rain.
What made this happen no one can explain, I toss and turn and twist each sleepless night. I cannot stop this fever in my brain.
What’s that? You say that I should not complain? I’m tired and hungry, but you might be right. Day in, day out, the words just fall like rain.
Now, I just wrote this villanelle refrain. Hey . . . maybe I should NOT put up a fight. I cannot stop this fever in my brain. Day in, day out, the words just fall like rain.
What tools (rhyming dictionary, book of forms, etc.) do you use in writing poetry (if any)?
Joan: My senses are the most important tools. (A Natural History of the Sensesby Diane Ackerman is a terrific book.) I don't own a rhyming dictionary. If I'm looking for a rhyme, I go through the alphabet in my head for possibilities. Myra Cohn Livingston'sPoem Making, Mary Oliver'sA Poetry Handbook, and Edward Hirsch'sHow to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry are all resources I enjoy using. And, of course, reading lots of stimulating poetry. What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Joan: My I'd like them to know that poetry is fun, useful, and a great adventure. Each poem is an act of discovery; you can learn more about yourself and more about the world around you; it helps us widen our vision and our hearts. Poetry is a bridge that connects us and allows us to step into another's experiences, ideas, life. We are all connected, and nowhere is that connection stronger than in poetry. C. S. Lewis said "We read to know we are not alone." When someone responds to what we have written, then we are singing a duet.
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
To refer back to question #1, when I was attempting to write this poem, I put candles on a cake, lit them, and sat alone at the dining room table in the dark. I thought about all the celebrations we had experienced around that table . . . and the glowing faces, which made all those occasions so special.
A million thanks to Joan for participating in my Jumping Into Form project this month.
0 Comments on NPM Project: Jumping Into Form - Interview with Joan Bransfield Graham as of 1/1/1900
In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all been extremely generous with their time.
How does a poem begin for you--with an idea, a form, an image, or something else?
Joyce: For me, a poem begins with a need to express something I have noticed or felt about the world. But often I cannot start writing until I hear a line, or capture a voice, or experiment with a format. Once I have some structural direction, the need and the emotion and the language begin to come together in a kind of dance.
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Joyce: Hmmm . . . depends on subject matter, maybe? More playful poems might demand rhyme (although not always). I think it is a mysterious process. Sometimes I choose the wrong form, and have to start over again when nothing is working. I'll try another structure, which will give me a different tone.
What surprising things have you learned by accepting the challenge of fitting meaning into a structured form? What are the benefits of accepting these disciplined restrictions?
Joyce: Structure can lead you in unexpected ways. The poem sometimes becomes something it did not start out to be—which can be thrilling but also confusing. You have to constantly monitor meaning vs. impact. I weigh each word, asking myself: Does this add to the meaning, or is it merely a concession to the form? A formal structure can fail miserably, but if it works, it can be a knockout! Helen Frost is a master at this: her poems convey emotion and meaning, but often have some sort of fascinating structure to them as well, that adds a double punch.
What tools (rhyming dictionary, book of forms, etc.) do you use in writing poetry (if any)?
Joyce: I always have my thesaurus and rhyming dictionary at hand, plus several literary manuals I picked up in college and still use. Also, my bookshelves are full of lots and lots of excellent poetry books, which I use for reference and inspiration.
What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Joyce: That it is as much fun to write as it is to read. That everyone has poems inside them: interesting thoughts, secret observations, unexpected emotions. And there are many, many ways to write poems. Here are some ideas--try them out!
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
Joyce: Tricia, here is a pantoum that has not yet been published, though I use it as a model poem on my website. A pantoum is one of my favorite poem forms, because it repeats lines, shedding new light on them.
Poets.org has a great explanation of the pantoum form. My favorite quote from this explanation is: "An incantation is created by a pantoum’s interlocking pattern of rhyme and repetition; as lines reverberate between stanzas, they fill the poem with echoes."
Spring is the Time
Spring is the time for eggs: soft air and sprigs of green. Bright lemon sun, wet nights singing.
Soft air and sprigs of green, snug nests and puddles. Wet nights singing, feathery days.
Snug nests and puddles— new life, new hope. Feathery days, yellow as yolk.
New life, new hope! Bright lemon sun, yellow as yolk. Spring is the time for eggs.
There are some who call this "the dreaded plum poem." I happen to like "This is Just to Say". Was the speaker truly remorseful? It's hard to say. Would I have forgiven the writer? Eventually, but I would have been really aggravated to find and read that note. I can just imagine it today, scribbled on a Post-It note stuck to the refrigerator.
The books that follow contain poems in the style of Williams, and are written as apologies.
Introduction written by Anthony K., a "student" in Mrs. Merz's class
This Is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams
Part 1: Apologies
Part 2: Responses
This book is a direct result of Sidman's work as a writer-in-residence at schools, where she uses the poem as a model. There is a wealth of material here, with seventeen apology and seventeen response poems. Here's a sample pair of poems.
The Black Spot
(written by Alyssa for her sister Carrie)
That black spot on your palm.
It never goes away.
So long ago
I can hardly remember,
I stabbed you with a pencil.
Part of the lead, there,
still inside you.
And inside me, too,
something small and black.
Hidden away.
I don't know what to call it,
the nugget of darkness,
that made me stab you.
It never goes away.
Both marks, still there. Small black reminders.
Roses Are Red (written by Carrie in response to Alyssa)
Roses are red, violets are blue. I’m still really pissed off at you.
The topics and emotions related in these poems are those that any child today might deal with. There are apologies for making fun of the dress a teacher is wearing, breaking a mother's precious glass deer, not winning a spelling bee, hitting a friend too hard with a dodge ball, and more. Some of the poems reveal the writer to be truly remorseful, while others are only slightly apologetic.
To learn more you should check out the particularly useful reader's guide at Sidman's web site. You may also want to take a moment to watch and listen to her read from the book.
Forgive me.
This next book
is anything
but remorseful.
Since it borrows
Williams' form,
I had to include it.
Please read on
and chastise me
later.
Forgive Me, I Meant To Do It: False Apology Poems, written by Gail Carson Levine and illustrated by Matthew Cordell, is a collection of poems connected with nursery rhyme or fairy tale themes and characters that borrow Williams' form but include apologies that are conditional or utterly insincere. Some of these poems are dark, but they're all entertaining and some are downright funny. Here's one of my favorites.
If you are interested in writing poems of apology with your students, check out some of these resources.
Guy Noir: Saturday, November 30, 2002 - In this Prairie Home Companion episode, private eye Guy Noir investigates a poetic catastrophe with the help of Billy Collins, who shares parodies of Williams' "This Is Just to Say."
Today is Day 24 of the 2015 Progressive Poem created and nurtured by the lovely Irene Latham. This project is a community writing experience where a poem travels daily from blog to blog, with each host adding a line. It began on April 1st and is nearing its end. I am happy to be participating for the very first time this year, though am bit intimidated by the form and subject. I'm really not a narrative poem kind of girl, or a free verse girl (not often anyway), so adding a line was a daunting task for me.
As the poem has moved from one poet to another, it has occasionally been reformatted. To date, no one has done the kind of work that my predecessor did, however! Tamera Wissinger's transformation of the line breaks is a thing of beauty. I've kept Tamera's version for those who want to see it carried on in this fashion. For those who need to see it in its "original" couplet form, I've got that too.
So, without further ado, here are both forms of the poem (same words, different breaks), with my line added to the end of each.
Version 1
She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta. Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica. Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows,
snows
in wild wind
as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag, pulls out her grandmother’s oval cuffed bracelet, strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.
Tripping
on
her
tail
she
slips
hair first down the slide… splash! She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad, listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp
an echo
of Grandmother’s words, still fresh in her windswept memory;
“Born from the oyster,
expect the pearl.
Reach for the rainbow
reflection on the smallest dewdrop.”
The surface glistens, a shadow
slips
above her head, a paddle
dips
she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy and turquoise eyes. Lifted high, she gulps strange air – stares clearly into Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled fisherman with turquoise eyes, twins of her own, riveted on her wrist– She’s swifter than a dolphin,
slipping away,
leaving him only
a handful
of memories
of his own
grandmother’s counsel:
“Watch for her.
You’ll have but one chance
to determine—
to decide. Garner wisdom from the water
and from the pearl
of the past.”
In a quicksilver flash, an arc of resolution, he
leaps
into the shimmering water where hidden sentries restrain any pursuit and the bitter taste of impulse rushes into his lungs. Her flipper flutters his weathered toes – Pearl’s signal – Stop struggling. The Sentinels will escort you He stills, closes his eyes, takes an uncharacteristic breath of ... water! Released, he swims Version 2 (Couplet Version)
She lives without a net, walking along the alluvium of the delta. Shoes swing over her shoulder, on her bare feet stick jeweled flecks of dark mica.
Hands faster than fish swing at the ends of bare brown arms. Her hair flows, snows in wild wind as she digs in the indigo varnished handbag,
pulls out her grandmother’s oval cuffed bracelet, strokes the turquoise stones, and steps through the curved doorway.
Tripping on her tail she slips hair first down the slide… splash! She glides past glossy water hyacinth to shimmer with a school of shad,
listens to the ibises roosting in the trees of the cypress swamp an echo of Grandmother’s words, still fresh in her windswept memory.
Born from the oyster, expect the pearl. Reach for the rainbow reflection on the smallest dewdrop.
The surface glistens, a shadow slips above her head, a paddle dips she reaches, seizes. She’s electric energy and turquoise eyes.
Lifted high, she gulps strange air – stares clearly into Green pirogue, crawfish trap, startled fisherman
with turquoise eyes, twins of her own, riveted on her wrist– She’s swifter than a dolphin, slipping away, leaving him only a handful of
memories of his own grandmother’s counsel: Watch for her. You’ll have but one chance to determine—to decide. Garner wisdom from the water and from the pearl of the past.
In a quicksilver flash, an arc of resolution, he leaps into the shimmering water Where hidden sentries restrain any pursuit and the bitter taste of impulse rushes into his lungs
Her flipper flutters his weathered toes –Pearl’s signal–Stop struggling. The Sentinels will escort you
He stills, closes his eyes, takes an uncharacteristic breath of ... water! Released, he swims
Tabatha Yeatts is up next. I can't wait to see where she'll take us (and them!)
If you want to see how this poem has come together, you may want to begin at Day 1 and follow its evolution. Here is list of this year's participants with links to their posts.
Thanks to Irene for organizing this event and for including me.
I do hope you'll take some time to check out all the wonderful poetic things being shared and collected today by Renee LaTulippe at No Water River. Happy poetry Friday friends!
0 Comments on Poetry Friday - 2015 Progressive Poem: Day/Line 24 as of 4/24/2015 1:57:00 AM
Parody is the imitation of the style of another work, writer or genre, which relies on deliberate exaggeration to achieve comic or satirical effect. It is usually necessary to be familiar with the original in order to appreciate the parody, though some parodies have become better known than the poems they imitate.
I've heard folks complain about parody, suggesting that this form is responsible for "dumbing-down" poems. I find this argument irritating. To write a successful parody, the author must have extensive knowledge of the original work. I believe that kids can find their way into poetry when they are hooked by a parody. Parody poems can help students make connections so that when they encounter a poet or classic poem later on, they will have some knowledge and background information to enhance their reading of it.
Science Verse (2004), written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith, is a collection of science poems that parody poems by Joyce Kilmer, Lewis Carroll, Ann Taylor, Robert Frost and others, as well as nursery rhymes and childhood songs. It begins:
On Wednesday in science class, Mr. Newton says, "You know, if you listen closely enough, you can hear the poetry of science in everything."
I listen closely. On Thursday, I start hearing the poetry. In fact, I start hearing everything as a science poem.
Mr. Newton has zapped me with a curse of SCIENCE VERSE.
Poems parodied include "Trees" by Joyce Kilmer, "The Star" by Ann and Jane Taylor, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll, "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Lawrence Thayer, "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "Paul Revere’s Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "A Visit From St. Nicholars" by Clement C. Moore, and "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" by Robert Frost. Here's an excerpt.
Lovely by Jon Scieszka
I think that I ain't never seen A poem ugly as a spleen.
A poem that could mke you shiver, Like 3.5 . . . pounds of liver.
A poem to make you lose your lunch, Tie your intestines in a bunch.
A poem all gray, wet, and swollen, Like a stomach or a colon.
Something like your kidney, lung, Pancreas, bladder, even tongue.
Why you turning green, good buddy? It's just human body study.
Classic Poetry for Dogs: Why Do I Chase Thee (2014), written by Jessica Swaim and illustrated by Chet Phillips, is a collection of parodies of classic poems told by a group of cultured hounds like William Shakespaw, Elizabeth Basset Browning, Edgar Allan Pug, and many others. You'll find poems like "Shall I Compare Thee to a Steak Fillet?," "Why Do I Chase Thee?," "The Maven," "Song of Me," "Sizing Up Shoes on a Soulful Evening," and many others. Each new section begins with an introduction to the hound-author.
Here is what Swaim writes about Emily Doginson.
Emily Doginson, a skittish saluki mix, loved to spy on passersby from the front window of her family's luxurious digs in Scramherst, Massachusetts. When visitors rang the doorbell, shy Emily retreated to her crate, refusing to emerge except for choice bits of chopped liver. Paper-trained from an early age, she wrote copious letters to the world, most of which were returned for insufficient postage. Ultimately, she selected her own society, then shut the doggy door.
And here is one of Emily's poems.
Skunk is the Thing With Stink Bombs
Skunk is the thing with stink bombs That leads a merry chase, Then turns around and flicks its tail And squirts me in the face.
Bath is the thing with soapsuds And water cold as ice. I wonder as I'm shivering, Why was I hoodwinked twice?
Edgar Allan Poe's Pie: Math Puzzlers In Classic Poems (2012), written by J. Patrick Lewis and illustrated by Michael Slack is a collection of cleverly disguised math problems in the form of parodies of classic poems. Can you guess the classic that inspired this poem?
Once upon a midnight rotten, Cold, and rainy, I'd forgotten All about the apple pie Still cooling from the hour before. I ignored the frightful stranger Knocking, knocking . . . I, sleepwalking, Pitter-pattered toward the pantry, Took a knife from the kitchen drawer, And screamed aloud, "How many cuts Give me ten pieces?" through the door, The stranger bellowed, "Never four!"
Go ahead, draw a circle and give it a try! The answer can be found upside-down on the opposing page. (Look it up or figure it out because I'm not telling!) Mathematically you could use four cuts, however, the pieces would not be equal in size.
Here's one more to whet your appetite. Yes, it contains fractions, but be brave!
Edward Lear's Elephant with Hot Dog
Inspired by "There Was An Old Man With a Beard" by Edward Lear
Since I'm highlighting J. Patrick Lewis at the end here, let me follow up with a few more poems. Pat was kind enough to share some parody poems he is working on for a new collection. The original is presented first, then Pat's parody.
Happy Thought
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
Robert Louis Stevenson ___________
Sleepy Thought
The world is so full of a number of dreams, I’m sure all our pillows should burst at the seams.
J. Patrick Lewis
“Hope” is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson ____________
Grief is the thing with tissues For mopping up the tears, So that when you’re in bed at night, They won’t fill up your ears.
An apostrophe is a poem which directly addresses a person or thing that is generally absent, hence the more common name of poem of address. There are many days when I want to talk to someone who isn't here, to ask questions, to wonder. Poems of address require poets not to write about something, but to imagine what they would say if they could speak to the person, place, or thing being addresses.
The word apostrophe comes from the Greek for "turning back." Apostrophe has been a part of storytelling since Greek drama. Because there is a clear speaker and change of addressee, apostrophe is often found in plays. However, it also occurs in prose and poetry. Here are some beginning lines from classic poems that use this form.
Edgar Allen Poe - To Science Science! true daughter of Old Time thou art! Who alterest all things with thy peering eyes. Why preyest thou thus upon the poet's heart, Vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
Percy Bysshe Shelley - Ode to the West Wind O Wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being Thou from whose unseen presence the leaves dead Are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
John Pierpont - The Fugitive Slave’s Apostrophe to the North Star Star of the North! though night winds drift The fleecy drapery of the sky Between thy lamp and me, I lift, Yea, lift with hope, my sleepless eye To the blue heights wherein thou dwellest, And of a land of freedom tellest.
William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 1 O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man That ever lived in the tide of times.
You can learn more about apostrophe at literary devices. This apostrophe is not the same as the punctuation mark. For more on that, read this poem.
Apostrophe to the Apostrophe by Eric Nelson
Small floater, you stay above the fray, a wink at nothing's nod, a raised brow watching p's and q's, a selfless mote between I and m, a little horn of plenty spilling plurals, disdaining the bottom line.
Hey You!: Poems to Skyscrapers, Mosquitoes, and Other Fun Things (2007), selected by Paul B. Janeczko and illustrated by Robert Rayesky, is an anthology entirely filled with poems of address. Here is how it begins in the section entitled Imagination on the Loose.
Have you ever spoken to your sneakers? Or talked to your mailbox? Sounds wacky, doesn't it? Well, this book is filled with poems that were written to things. What kinds of things? How about poems to a fork or an octopus? They're in here. So are poems to mosquitoes and a skyscraper. There's even a poem in this book to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Why would anyone write a poem to a thing? Because it's fun! And it can also be a challenge. You need to really observe the thing and discover what you might say to it. Then, of course, you'll need to find the right words to make it come alive.
Here are two examples.
To An Astronaut by Beverly McLoughland
When you're in space So far away With darkness all around,
And you see the little Earth Beyone, Do you miss its windy sound?
Do you feel alone With endless space The neighbor at your door?
Do you miss the Earth So far away? Do you love it even more?
Look, Bee Fair is fair. I don't burst into Your honeycomb Willy-nilly Or interrupt you While you feed on Rose and Lily So leave me alone, drone Show yourself the door And don't come Buzzing round here Anymore
You'll find poems of address sprinkled throughout many a poetry collection. Here are a few I particularly like.
Dear Hot Dog (2011), written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein, is a collection of poems that show the joy of childhood over the course of a day. The poems follow three friends from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. Many of the poems are written as poems of address. Here is an example.
Light
Where do you go when it's dark? Back into lightbulbs when I turn them off? Do you hide in closets, under the covers, or in refrigerators? Why can't I fill a bag with you? Where do you go at night? You have to be somewhere! Maybe tonight I won't sleep. I'll just stay up, searching the darkness, till I find you.
Eric Carle's Animals Animals (1989), is a collection of poems by various authors, illustrated by Eric Carle. From classics to modern poems, there are a number of poems of address here. Here are two classics.
The Octopus by Ogden Nash
Tell me, O Octopus, I begs, Is those things arms or is they legs? I marvel at thee, Octopus: If I were thou, I'd call me Us.
Bee! I'm Expecting You by Emily Dickinson
Bee! I'm expecting you! Was saying Yesterday To Somebody you know That you were due—
The Frogs got Home last Week— And settled, and at work— Birds, mostly back— The Clover warm and thick—
You'll get my Letter by The seventeenth: Reply, Or better, be with me— Yours, Fly.
Now that you've read a few examples for inspiration, here are some useful resources for reading and writing poems of address.
Mask or persona poems are poems in which the subject of the poem is the speaker. In creating the poem the writer takes on a "mask" or personality and speaks in the voice of an animal, element of nature, or inanimate object.
The following five poems do not have titles. As you read each poem you will figure out what it is describing. Each one tells how it would feel to be something other than yourself.
I've read a lot of definitions and descriptions of mask poems. I think I like this one best for kids. Here's one of the poems she shared.
If you, Like me, Were made of fur And sun warmed you, Like me, You'd purr.
In a form or mode of poetry called the persona poem or "mask poem," the poet takes on the voice of someone else--puts on a mask. In these poems, the poet takes over the persona of someone other than himself or herself and speaks in the first person. In the 1800s Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote persona poems, among other forms. These poets and their contemporaries usually took on the voice of a historical or mythological character. This is also done in modern persona poems, but nowadays, poets also speak as if they were such things as an object, a place, an animal, an abstract idea, or a fantasy character.
There are many, many good books of poetry written entirely as mask poems. Mask poems can also be found in numerous children's poetry collections. Here are just a few of my favorites.
Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices (2001), selected by Paul Janeczko and illustrated by Melissa Sweet, is a collection of poems in the voices of a broom, kites, gloves, crayons, and more. In the introduction Paul writes:
I collected the poems in this book because I love reading poems written in the voice of an object or an animal, as if that thing or creature were speaking to me. In these persona or mask poems, as they are called, the poets let their imaginations fly and feel what it might be like to be a mosquito, a crayon, a kite, a turtle. It's something like wearing a Halloween costume or playing a part in a school play. Great fun, don't you think? As you read these poems, if you find yourself wondering what it would feel like to be a caterpillar, a soccer ball, or a honeybee, grab a pencil and let your imagination fly in a poem. Let that new voice sing!
In this book you'll find poems like "The Vacuum Cleaner's Revenge," "Scarecrow's Dream," and "Prayer of a Snowflake." This book is a terrific mentor text for using with kids learning to write mask poems. Here is an example.
Shell by Deborah Chandra
Come, press my mouth against your ear, I hold a message just for you. Deep inside my throat is where It curls, waiting for you to hear.
Put there by the sea itself, Who whispered something you should know In shadowy sounds wound round my shell, And with my hidden tongue, I'll tell.
in the swim (2001), poems and paintings by Douglas Florian, is a collection of humorous poems about underwater creatures. Many of the poems in this volume are written in the voice of the animal. Here's one of my favorites.
The Starfish by Douglas Florian
Although it seems That I'm all arms, Some other organs Give me charm. I have a mouth With which to feed. A tiny stomach Is all I need. And though it's true I have no brain, I'm still a star-- I can't complain.
Two titles by Marilyn Singer, Turtle in July (1989, OP), illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, and Fireflies at Midnight (2003), illustrated by Ken Robbins, are both collections of mask poems. Turtle in July is a collection of poems that pairs animals with the months of the year. It also includes four seasonal poems focused on the bullhead (a type of catfish). Fireflies at Midnight is a collection of poems about animals at different hours of the day on a summer day.
Here's a favorite poem from each book.
Canada Goose (from Turtle in July)
Did I tell you? I should tell you Going home We're going home Are you coming? Yes, you're coming Going home We're going home How the sun will warm each feather How the wind will make us fly Follow me -- I'll be your leader As we flap across the sky Are you ready? I am ready Going home We're going home Is it time now? It is time now October's happened And we're going home
Crayfish (from Fireflies at Midnight)
I, crayfish, no day fish no way fish at all Nosy otter, watch its jaws Careless wader, watch my claws Spend each morning lying soundless under stones Spend each evening shredding stems picking bones
Volcano! Wakes Up, written by Lisa Westberg Peters and illustrated by Steve Jenkins, is a collection of mask poems that describe a day in the life of an imaginary Hawaiian volcano. Ferns, lava flow crickets, a small black road, and the volcano itself all speak in these poems. Here's how it opens.
Volcano
I'm the baby.
I'm much smaller than my
big sister volcanoes. I'm a little sleepy
now, but when I wake up, watch out! I throw
nasty tantrums. It always works--I get the most attention!
Here's what the ferns have to say when they realize the volcano is awake.
Button Up!: Wrinkled Rhymes, written by Alice Schertle and illustrated by Petra Mathers, is a collection of 15 mask poems in which the author speaks in the voices of shoes, galoshes, undies, a bicycle helmet, and more. Here's an excerpt.
Bertie's Shoelaces by Alice Schertle
Good old Bertie, he lets us hang around. It doesn't bother Bertie when we drag along the ground. We're not up tight as our Bertie Buddy knows. We're hang loose laces and we don't do bows!
Earth Day, April 22nd is right around the corner, and we at Lee & Low are some pretty big fans of this blue planet we live on. So, whether you choose to plant a tree or pledge to better uphold the 3 R’s -reduce, reuse, recycle- we are celebrating and promoting awareness the best way we know how- with books!
Here are 5 environmentally friendly collections to bring nature indoors & encourage “thinking green”:
Save the Planet: Environmental Action Earth Day Collection: Be inspired to be an advocate for planet Earth through the true stories of threatened ecosystems, environmental recovery efforts and restorations plans, and heroic actions. Like the individuals and communities explored in these stories, children everywhere will realize the difference they can make in protecting our planet and preserving its natural resources.
Earth Day Poetry Collection: Through rhythm and verse, float down the cool river, reach as high as the tallest tree, and search for all of the vibrant colors of the rainbow in the natural world. This collection of poetry books are inspired by the joy and wonder of being outdoors and brings the sight and sounds of nature and all of its wildlife to life.
Seasonal Poems Earth Day Collection: Travel through winter, spring, summer, & fall through a series of bilingual seasonal poems by renowned poet and educator, Francisco Alarcón. Learn about family, community, and caring for each other and the natural environment we live in.
Adventures Around the World Collection: Explore Africa while traversing Botswana’s lush grasslands and Uganda’s Impenetrable Forest, celebrate the deep-seeded respect for wildlife in India, Mongolia and on an island off the coast of Iceland, and journey to Australia to explore animals found nowhere else on Earth.
Vanishing Cultures Collection: The 7-book series introduces readers to the Yanomama of the Amazon Basin, Aborigines of Australia, Sami of the European Arctic, Inuit of the North American Arctic, Tibetans and Sherpas from the Himalaya, Mongolians of Asia, and Tuareg of the Sahara.
Lesson Plans & Ideas:
What fun is Earth Day if you don’t get your hands a little dirty? Bring some of the outdoors into your classroom-or vice versa- by engaging students in various hands-on and project-based Earth Day lessons and activities:
I Want to Be Recycled from Keep America Beautiful. Find out how different kinds of materials are recycled, transforming trash into new things. Students can play a super sorter game and start a recycling movement in their community.
Veronicahas a degree from Mount Saint Mary College and joined LEE & LOW in the fall of 2014. She has a background in education and holds a New York State childhood education (1-6) and students with disabilities (1-6) certification. When she’s not wandering around New York City, you can find her hiking with her dog Milo in her hometown in the Hudson Valley, NY.
1 Comments on Reading for the Earth: Ultimate Earth Day Resource Roundup, last added: 4/20/2015
Readers might be interested to know that almost every book we manufacture is printed on FSC certified paper, meaning the sources can be traced to ensure it is not old growth product. Those that do not carry the FSC logo are printed on stock that is also certified but exempt from the logo as they contain an element that cannot by sourced – typically, for example, recycled board that the hardcovers are bound with. We also take steps to use wherever possible soy and/or vegetable based inks rather than petroleum.
The reverso is actually two poems in one. Read it down (in the normal fashion) and it has one meaning. Read it again from the bottom up, this time with changes only in punctuation and capitalization, and you have a different poem. Generally these poems are written as a pair so that the inversion (reversal, hence revserso) is easy to see and appreciate.
Invented by Marilyn Singer, her author's note gives readers some insight into the form and her process. Here's what she says.
We read most poems down the page. But what if we read them up? That's the question I asked myself when I created the reverso. When you read a reverso down, it is one poem. When you read it up, with changes allowed only in punctuation and capitalization it is a different poem.
The first reverso I wrote was inspired by my cat, August:
A cat without a chair: incomplete
Incomplete: a chair without a cat.
Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reverso Poems (2010), written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse, is a collection of fairy tale inspired poems written in the reverso form. This means that each poem is presented twice, once read in the traditional manner (down), and once read from the bottom up (though presented in a traditional top to bottom form). Confused? Don't be. Presented together, readers get two perspectives on a story, told with the same words but meaning different things. Here is an example.
In the Hood
In my hood, skipping through the wood, carrying a basket, picking berries to eat— juicy and sweet what a treat! But a girl mustn’t dawdle. After all, Grandma’s waiting.
After all, Grandma’s waiting mustn’t dawdle... But a girl! What a treat— juicy and sweet picking berries to eat, carrying a basket, skipping through the wood in my ’hood.
I can't imagine how difficult it is to write a poem in this fashion. The fact that it makes perfect sense in both directions and tells two sides of the same story is quite remarkable. Here's one more, the poem that gives the book its title.
Mirror Mirror
Let me help you get some rest. Mother knows best. Listen to me, Snow White. Sleepy, Dopey, Happy, you've been working day and night. You look worn out. A long nap? A blanket? An apple to eat? What would you like? Time to get off your feet.
Time to get off your feet. What would you like? An apple to eat? A blanket? A long nap? You look worn out. You've been working day and night Sleepy, dopey, happy Snow White, listen to me. Mother knows best. Let me help you get some rest.
Follow Follow: A Book of Reverso Poems (2013), written by Marilyn Singer and illustrated by Josee Masse, is the sequel (dare I say follow up?!) to Singer's first book of reverso poems. Fairy tale poems in this new collection tell opposite sides of the stories from Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Princess and the Pea, The Little Mermaid, The Golden Goose, Puss in Boots, and others.
Ready, Steady, Go!
That ridiculous loser! I am not a slowpoke. Though I may be the smallest bit distracted, I can’t be beat. I’ve got rabbit feet to take me to the finish line.
Take me to the finish line! I’ve got rabbit feet to beat. I can’t be the smallest bit distracted. Though I may be a slowpoke, I am not that ridiculous loser.
Incorporating fairy tale poetry in the classroom is a great way to spark interest in poetry itself. The topic is familiar and lends itself to examination from multiple perspectives. That's one of the reasons that these books work so darned well. The unexpected second perspective is often surprising and funny.
Whether your state uses Common Core or some other set of standards, the study of fairy tales and fables is an important part of English/Language Arts curriculum. Teachers have become pros at integrating fairy tales from other cultures and "fractured" fairy tales. It is high time for poetry to take its rightful place as part of this study.
For some ideas on integrating fairy tale poetry into the curriculum, check out these resources.
Teacher's Guide for The Poets' Grimm - While the book is decidedly for older students, there are some great ideas that could be implemented in the elementary classroom.
Explore Point of View in Fairy Tales - A good lesson that encourages kids to write fractured fairy tales. This can easily be adapted to writing poems!
Fractured Fairy Tale Interactive - An online tool for writing a fractured fairy tale. This can also be adapted to writing poems.
The Journal of Mythic Arts: Fairy Tale Poems - If you are looking for poems to share, you'll find work here by Neil Gaiman, Margarita Engle, Margaret Atwood, Holly Black and others.
POEM IN YOUR POCKET DAY is APRIL 30, 2015! Visit poets.org for printable, pocket sized poems and other fantastic poetry related items or click here!
I fell in love with Poem in you Pocket: 200 Poems to Read and Carry, published in conjunction with The Academy of American Poets and selected by Elaine Bleakney, last April. Maybe this year I will be able to bring myself to
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In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all been extremely generous with their time.
How does a poem begin for you — with an idea, a form, an image, or something else?
Marilyn: For me, a poem can begin with any of those things. Sometimes, it’s an image. I saw the full moon between skyscrapers near Times Square, NYC, where the Broadway theatres are, and it led to the image of the moon as an actor waiting in the wings to make an entrance. That in turn led to the poem “Broadway Moon” in A Full Moon Is Rising (Lee & Low). Other times, it’s an idea that sparks a poem. I was thinking about the nature of fire and these lines came into my head: “Fire has contradiction/at its heart/from that wintry blue part/to its jagged golden crown.” They became the opening of the poem “Contradiction” from Central Heating (Knopf). For my reverso poems, the process of writing obviously begins with form. A reverso is a poem in two parts. The second part reverses the lines from the first part, with changes only in punctuation and capitalization, and it has to say something different from the first part. Mirrror Mirror and Follow Follow, both published by Dial, are my books of reversos based on fairy tales, and I have a third book of reversos, Echo Echo, based on Greek myths, coming out next spring. When I decide to create a reverso, I have to find a narrative that will fit that form. I look for two sides to a story, and then I find lines that can be flipped, which requires a lot of participles, questions/declarations, etc. I usually write poems by hand on paper, but I have to write the reversos on a computer in order to shift around lines more easily and see what makes sense.
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Marilyn: Other than the reversos, which are a deliberate choice, I’m not really sure how I choose the form of my poems. I don’t think that there’s one thing at work which determines my choice. Sometimes a line begs to be repeated, for example, “A stick is an excellent thing,” from the title poem from A Stick Is an Excellent Thing (Clarion). That call for repetition suggested that I use the line in a triolet, one of my favorite forms. But often, my choice is more like: I’m going to write about spadefoot toads for my book about animals in dangerous habitats, A Strange Place to Call Home (Chronicle), and I’ve researched them, and, they’re in the desert, which is dry and sparse, and the poem’s about nature, and how about a haiku: “They can deal solo/with dryness, but give them rain,/and then: toads explode.”
Are there any forms you haven't tried but would like to? Why or why not?
Marilyn: There are lots of forms I’ve seen on lists and don’t know anything about. Tetractys? Tyburn? Dorsimbra? Maybe I’ll get to some of them—and maybe I won’t. I tried my hand at some villanelles and enjoyed them, though they were quite difficult. I’ve never written a sestina, and I don’t know if I ever will. It seems a bit daunting. In general, I’m drawn to forms that are more concise—triolets, cinquains, haikus, as well as free verse—forms that say a lot in a little. But, who knows, maybe I’ll wake up some morning with the burning need to write epic verse (though probably not!).
What tools (rhyming dictionary, book of forms, etc.) do you use in writing poetry (if any)?
Marilyn: I use all of the above—a rhyming dictionary (mostly online), a thesaurus, and reference sites to forms—as well as spell check. ;-)
What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Marilyn: When I was very young, my parents read poetry to me. It made me fall in love with words and what they can convey. It also made me believe that there is not just one view of the world. Poetry is about surprise—seeing a cat, a stone, a trip to the ocean, an annoying neighbor, racial politics, climate change, bird migration, something conceptual or concrete in a unique way. And the poet’s efforts to do that allow the reader or listener to share that view, and perhaps use his or her own mind and senses to look at things differently.
Also, poetry can be a fun game. Writing my reversos, in particular, has been the ultimate word game. And I think, for readers, figuring out what the poems say and how they say it (and then maybe trying to write reversos themselves) is also a good game.
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
Marilyn: Here’s the title poem from Follow Follow. It’s based on the Pied Piper tale. Who is speaking in each part of the poem?
FOLLOW, FOLLOW
Hundreds of rats, my dear citizens of Hamelin, shall never return! All the children once again play merrily in the streets. On this festive day I will tell the council to relay what I say: “Many thanks for your trouble. There will be no pay. It is time, Piper, to go away.”
It is time, Piper, to go away? No pay? There will be trouble for your "many thanks." Tell the council to relay what I say: I will, on this festive day, once again play merrily in the streets. All the children shall never return. My dear citizens of Hamelin— hundreds of rats.
In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all been extremely generous with their time.
Avis: It varies. It can be a visual image, a musical thought, a physical sensation, or perhaps just a single word. But before I start writing, I like to immerse myself in someone else’s poetry. Sometimes an idea might come from this reading, but mostly I return to my earlier inspiration. A word grows into a phrase that grows into a line, and slowly, over time and many, many rewrites, a poem might emerge.
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Avis:
It’s crafty business, poetry writing, But poetic forms are so inviting!
Should it be free verse? Rap? Haiku? Intravista? Sonnet? Clerihew? Limerick? Villanelle? Elegy? A Couplet? Acrostic? A parody?
A myriad of forms from which to choose, but the content decides which one to use.
What tools do you use in writing poetry? Avis: I enjoy playing with rhyme, and have three different rhyming dictionaries. My Penguin Rhyming Dictionary is a well-thumbed paperback. Another book is A Rhyming Dictionary and Poets’ Handbook by Burges Johnson, where the words are grouped into one-syllable rhymes, two-syllable rhymes, three-syllable rhymes, and so on – a double-dactyl-delight. I also like Walker’s Rhyming Dictionary. It is a reverse-order dictionary and a handy source for eye-rhymes, where endings are the same in spelling but not in sound. I love eye-rhymes, and wrote a whole book of them, but recognize this obscurity is hard to sell. But they were fun to write, and here’s one of them:
TOUGH
Dandelions plough
straight through
cement. Although
just a golden hiccough
shining in its tiny trough,
for Dandelion, that is enough.
I also use the thesaurus, plus a Webster’s and an Oxford dictionary. Canadians sometimes have different pronunciations and spellings to the Americans for certain words. The ‘u’ in words such as honour, savour, humour, etc., disappears when my poems go over the border, bringing back childhood memories of a big red X on a spelling test if the ‘u’ were ever omitted.
But most of the time we both agree, except when saying ‘zed’ or ‘zee.’
For forms, I often refer to The Harper Handbook to Literature, edited by Northrop Frye, et al. Lewis Turco’s The Book of Forms: A Handbook of Poetics is a wonderful resource. A book I encouraged my teacher/librarian students to read when I was teaching a poetry course at the University of B.C. is called The Teachers and Writers Handbook of Poetic Forms, edited by Ron Padgett. It’s full of useful information and reader-friendly definitions. I am somewhat addicted to collecting books of form, if only to discover new and obscure kinds of poems I’d like to try. What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Avis: It doesn’t always have to rhyme or be funny. Poetry is the most inspiring and beautiful arrangement of words language can offer. Poetry is a producer of the ‘ah-ha’ moment. Robert Frost said “Poetry begins in delight and ends in wisdom.” I would like children and students to discover this delight and wisdom by reading lots and lots of good poems – all kinds. Poetry is meant to be enjoyed; too many ‘simile-safaris’ can kill poetry. I would like them to know the wonder of language, and to try writing their own poems, and learn through this experience that poetry writing is not easy, but so rewarding. It is a lifelong friend.
Are there any forms you haven't tried but would like to? Why or why not?
Avis: Yes, there are a lot of forms I have not yet tried! I have experimented with many different ones in two ABC poetry books I’ve written, and do have my favourites – especially haiku, triolet, sonnet, limerick, and acrostic. I’ve always been intrigued with puzzles and word games: crosswords, scrabble, anagrams, acrostics, words-within-words, rebuses, and any type of word fun that could be a springboard for a poetic form. I like to create poems with messages inside, and enjoy inventing my own forms.
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
Avis: "Foreign" can mean unfamiliar, and my choice of verse form will be unfamiliar, as it is an original poetic form I have created. I’ve called it the intravista, where words within words, arranged downward, make a poem within a poem. Here is an intravista about our old cat, Sockeye:
THE CONTENTED CAT
A thermal cushion arrives on my lap, spurred on by the thought of a blissful nap. She neatly washes paws and chin – then lets her heartwarming purr begin. So pleasant that murmur of purr and meow, there’s enough contentment to unfurrow my brow.
Her purr is as warm as her fur.
By hiding a word within another word, the intravista continually surprises me. Coming up with an unusual word to envelop another one always seems to spark an unexpected idea, and it’s fun to have an inner voice give you two poems for the price of one. As April is the month of blossoms, and also Poetry Month, I’d like to close with this poem:
IN THE KEY OF BEE
Blossom weather! The sun-dappled street is alive with humming. Listen to these trees blissfully thrumming in the soft key of honeybees!
April is National Poetry Month! All month long we’ll be celebrating by posting some of our favorite poems for Poetry Friday. For our third Poetry Friday post, we chose Song in my Heart by Tony Medina, illustrated by Jesse Joshua Jackson from I and I Bob Marley.
Song in My Heart
I am the boy
From Nine Miles
The one sing
Like three little birds
In a reggae style
The one blessed
By Jah
To travel miles
Across the world
With my island girl
Guitar in hand
And my dreads
A twirl
With music
In my belly
And songs
In my heart
Healing the world
With my reggae art
Keeping you always
Like a song
In my heart
Let us know what poems you’re reading in the comments section!
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"We are pressed for time, so we multitask. You might be eating breakfast while you’re reading Bookology, or doing laundry, or both. “Killing two birds with one stone” or “hatching two birds from the same egg”—integrated teaching—is the best way to fit everything in, especially in the K-5 classroom." (read the whole article here)
1) helping pressed-for-time teachers and librarians teach poetry while meeting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the Texas TEKS for English Language Arts (ELA)/Poetry and Science & Technology,
and
2) including a “Take 5!” mini-lesson with every poem in their collection for librarians, teachers, and parents with instructions for sharing, picture book pairings, and curriculum connections.
And in their NEW collection Janet and Sylvia have added another bonus: each of the 156 poems in this newest book appears in both English and Spanish--WOWEE!
As JoAnne writes: I’m thrilled to be one of 115 poets (and 3 Teaching Authors!) whose poems are featured in the brand-new Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations!
I'm thrilled that they've included two of my poems. This one's for National Thrift Shop Day (who knew?)
(Click to enlarge )
Have a fabulous Poetry Friday...and consider donating to a thrift shop today and then shopping in one, too ~
And...please stop by my poetry blog where all Poetry Month long I'm posting PPPs--Previously Published Poems--from anthologies, Cricket Magazine and my novel in poems.
An acrostic poem is one in which the first, last or some other letters, when read in a line moving downward, spell out a word or phrase. Acrostic poems date back to ancient times. They are found in the Bible and Roman ruins. Chaucer wrote them in the Middle Ages. Christopher Marlowe, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll and others have written in this form.
Here's a bit of background on the form from Avis Harley's book, African Acrostics.
The acrostic is a playful poetic form that people have enjoyed writing and reading since ancient times. The name comes from akros, the Greek word meaning outermost, or end, and stichos, meaning row, or a line of verse. Although the form has many variations, the most popular is the traditional acrostic, in which the first letters of the lines, when read downward, spell a word or words.
... Acrostics offer the writer an intriguing framework for a poem, and single acrostics are not difficult to create. Think of a word, phrase, or even a whole sentence that catches your imagination. Then write it vertically. You can use one words per line, or many words—rhymed or unrhymed. A predetermined letter can sometimes spark an unexpected idea, and it's great fun to hide a word or message for your readers
Astonish yourself— s Create a poem that Reads On its Side. Think of the fun when It lets the letters help you Choose.
On my regular travels through classrooms I have noticed that students are often asked to write acrostic poems. Sometimes I see their names or the topic they are studying as the spine of their poems. Too often these acrostic studies are merely lists of descriptive words or phrases. Poetry they are not. I think good acrostic poems are hard to write. To inspire students in their acrostic writing you need strong mentor texts they can use as models. The books that follow provide outstanding examples of acrostics that work. African Acrostics: A Word in Edgeways (2012), written by Avis Harley with photographs by Deborah Noyes, is a collection of 18 acrostic poems, each accompanied by a gorgeous photograph of the animal described. Poems cover the crocodile, rhino, kudu, lion, hornbill, elephant, stork, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, ostrich, African wildcat, lioness, bonobo, impala, hippo, bat-eared fox, and leopard. The book opens with a poem about the form.
ACROSTIC (uh-Kros-tik)
Welcome, all poets--both new Or well versed. Non-rhymers or Rhymers! Come, Dive in headfirst!
Inviting all writers-- Now you're just the right age.
Explore the acrostic that rides Down the page. Get a word you Enjoy and would like to define. Write it down vertically And fill in each line. Your name is a very good way to begin. Surprise yourself. Find that poem within!
Now that you've been introduced to the notion of a "word in edgeways," I doubt you'll ever look at an acrostic in the same way. In fact, Harley pushes the boundaries of the form and does more than write simple acrostics. Let's skip to the endnotes for a moment where readers will find descriptions and examples of the many forms found in this collection, such as the double acrostic, multiple acrostic, cross acrostic, and more. Here's an example of a double acrostic.
Eye to Eye
Ear-sails flap in a breeze. Leather limbs in rhythm Evenly swaying in step Plod slowly over Africa. Huge as a dinosaur, yet A tender soul from such Noble mammoth alumni. There is wonder abuzz, Staring into eyes so wise.
The poems in this book are deftly created. The words spelled out vertically range from single words (herald, lying, poppet, outstanding) to phrases (wild stripes, cloud friends, fatherly advice, beauty in the beast). The double acrostics, quintuple acrostic (yes, that's FIVE words), and concrete acrostic deserve some special attention. The patterns that exist within them never get in the way of the poem itself, and finding them is a bit of a surprise.
Spring: An Alphabet Acrostic (1999), written by Steven Schnur and illustrated by Leslie Evans, is a collection of 26 acrostics from April to zenith. The poems each serve as a complete thought about the subject and are crafted exquisitely with what seem to be just the right words. Here are a few examples.
After days of Pouring Rain, the last Ice and snow finally Leave the earth.
Egrets, ducks and Geese nest in the marsh Grass, waiting for their Shells to hatch.
There are four books in this series, each one with carefully crafted acrostics. You can view some of the illustrations in the series and read a few more poems on Leslie Evans' web site.
Silver Seeds, written by Paul Paolilli and Dan Brewer with paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, is a collection of 15 nature poems using the acrostic form. The verses are ordered to follow a young boy and girl through the day, beginning with dawn and ending with night. In between they encounter sun, shadow, hills, trees, leaves (though the word is leaf), a bee, butterfly, hummingbird, clouds, fog, rain, the moon, and stars. Here is the poem that gives the book its title and one on clouds.
The poems in each of these collections are economical and evocative. The metaphors are carefully selected and spot-on.
You will notice that each of the poems shared are fine examples of the form, far removed from the school-assigned poems to write an acrostic using your first name, or some vocabulary word being studied. Now that you've had a chance to think a bit about this form, here are some resources you may find helpful.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
Do you recognize the lines above? They come from Sonnets from the Portuguese (this is 43) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
The sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem that originated in Italy and slowly made its way across Europe and to England. Sonnets were first written as love poems. The type of sonnet, Petrarchan (Italian) or Shakespearean (English) generally determines the structure and rhyme scheme. Before we get into the "rules" and specifics, let's start with a some words about the sonnet.
In That Book of Dad's I Borrowed
chapter two was about the sonnet. Man, those made me want to go back to haiku. Like a burger with everything on it, sonnets are packed with roses and dew, summer days, tender breaths, rocks and rills (whatever rills are), and tons of wimpy guys who apparently thought it was a thrill to sit around with some sheep and sigh about everything. I'm not that lame. I'm just a former baseball whiz who'd like to do what I used to do. Again. Even if it means getting called out on strikes. Sorry, Will, the sonnet's not for me. Baseball's my love—not some thou or thee.
It Took Forever
to write that, and it isn't very good. I finished, though, because I might be skinny and sick but I'm not a quitter.
Man, sonnets are hard: counting syllables in every line, trolling for rhymes.
But it's really cool how everything fits into fourteen little lines.
It's kind of like packing a lunch box, getting in way more good stuff than I thought I could.
These two poems are from Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. Kevin Boland (known to his baseball-playing buddies as Shakespeare) is sidelined by mono and must spend time at home resting and recuperating. What's a boy to do when he's told he's sick and can't play the sport he loves? His father, who is a writer, hands him a marble composition notebook and says, "You're gonna have a lot of time on your/hands. Maybe you'll feel like writing/something down." Soon after this Kevin takes a book about poetry from the den and secrets it away to his room.
It feels weird smuggling something about poetry up to my room like it's the new Penthouse.
As Kevin recovers from mono he writes about the death of his mother, girls, baseball, the past, and the struggles of a typical teenager. The poems take a variety of forms, including sonnet, couplet, free verse, elegy, pastoral, pantoum, and more. One of the things I love about this book is Kevin's perspective on writing and poetic forms, particularly the sonnet.
So how is a sonnet structured? First, most are composed of 14 lines and written in iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is the meter pattern of syllables. An iamb is a foot (two syllables in this case) that are unstressed/stressed in pattern. Since the prefix pent- means five, iambic pentameter is a line consisting of 5 iambs. It is stressed in this fashion:
da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM | da DUM
Italian Sonnet
The Italian sonnet is divided into an octave (8 lines), followed by a sestet (6 lines).
The rhyme pattern for the octave is a-b-b-a, a-b-b-a. For the sestet the pattern can be c-d-e-c-d-e OR c-d-c-c-d-c.
The transition from octave to sestet usually contains a turn.
English Sonnet
The English sonnet is composed of three quatrains and a final couplet.
The rhyme pattern is a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f-g-g
The turn in this version comes with the final couplet.
A Wreath for Emmett Till (2005), written by Marilyn Nelson and illustrated by Philippe Lardy, is a heroic crown of sonnets, or a sequence of 15 sonnets that are interlinked like a normal crown of sonnets, except in the heroic crown the last sonnet is made entirely from the first lines of the previous 14 sonnets. One of the things that makes this heroic crown such an achievement is the the last sonnet is also an acrostic poem, in which the first letters of each line spell out the phrase “RIP Emmett L. Till.”
The poems in this crown are not easy to read. They are unsettling, shocking, and sad, but this is an important event in the history of our nation that needs to be told again and again. The book ends with a short biography of Emmett Till, extensive notes on the 15 sonnets, and an artist's note. The tempera illustrations by Philippe Lardy quietly reflect the themes and moods of the sonnets.
One of the sonnets in this crown is written from the perspective of the tree witnessing the lynching, and echoes some of the sentiments expressed in Paul Laurence Dunbar's poem The Haunted Oak.
Pierced by the screams of a shortened childhood, my heartwood has been scarred for fifty years by what I heard, with hundreds of green ears. That jackal laughter. Two hundred years I stood listening to small struggles to find food, to the songs of creature life, which disappears and comes again, to the music of the spheres. Two hundred years of deaths I understood. Then slaughter axed one quiet summer night, shivering the deep silence of the stars. A running boy, five men in close pursuit. One dark, five pale faces in the moonlight. Noise, silence, back-slaps. One match, five cigars. Emmett Till's name still catches in the throat.
You can listen to an interview with Marilyn Nelson on NPR and hear her read the entire poem. If you are interested in using this book in he classroom, you can download a teacher's guide from Houghton Mifflin.
The Emily Sonnets: The Life of Emily Dickinson (2012), written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Gary Kelley, is a sequence of sonnets that together tell the story of Dickinson's life. Written in the voices of Dickinson, her dog, sister, and others, each poem lovingly points back to the words used in Dickinson's own works. Back matter includes detailed information about the context of the poems and includes interesting and endearing anecdotes to accompany each sonnet.
Here are Yolen's words from the Author's note about the collection. In this book of sonnets about Emily's life, I have given each poem a title and an indication as to the speaker, whether Emily herself, her sister Lavinia (Vinnie), her niece Martha (Mattie), her mentor/friend Thomas Wenworth Higginson, an unknown critic, or me (JY). I have tried to tell the truth of her life, but as Emily said: "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—/Success in Circuit lies ..."
The Brick House (Emily Speaks)
No house in town was built of brick Except the one that bore me. The roof was slant, the walls quite thick. My mother did not adore me. My father's smiles were rare and swift, A grimace more than joy. I was the second child, a gift; The first one was a boy.
We two, like sailors in a storm, Clung desperate to each other, Trying to stay safe and warm, Small sister to big brother; He strove so hard my life to save From drowning in that icy wave.
It's rare to find sonnets in poetry for children, so I have one more title to recommend.
Shakespeare's Seasons (2012), created by Miriam Weiner and illustrated by Shannon Whitt, is an introduction to Shakespeare that combines snippets of his verse (mostly sonnets) accompanied by illustrations that span the seasons of the year. Back matter includes a short note about Shakespeare and his work. Here is an excerpt.
The way people speak to each other has changed a bit since Shakespeare's time. This is why some of the words in this book—words from his sonnets and plays—may sound funny to you. But listen carefully and you can enjoy the music of his words, and the pictures they create in your mind.
The book opens with the season of summer and these lines.
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date. Sonnet 18, 1-4
Most excerpts shared are four lines or less, though the longest quote is eight lines. Shakespeare's words, paired with Whitt's lovely images, make the language and ideas easily accessible for children. If you haven't seen this title, take a quick look at the images from the book at Shannon Whitt's web site.
If you are ready to tackle reading and/or writing the sonnet with your students, here are some helpful resources.
The Poetry Foundation has a terrific article on the form entitled Learning the Sonnet.
At the most basic level, found poems are poems composed from words and phrases found in another text. Here is a more comprehensive description from the folks at Poets.org.
Found poems take existing texts and refashion them, reorder them, and present them as poems. The literary equivalent of a collage, found poetry is often made from newspaper articles, street signs, graffiti, speeches, letters, or even other poems.
A pure found poem consists exclusively of outside texts: the words of the poem remain as they were found, with few additions or omissions. Decisions of form, such as where to break a line, are left to the poet.
“Happy poets who write found poetry go pawing through popular culture like sculptors on trash heaps. They hold and wave aloft usable artifacts and fragments: jingles and ad copy, menus and broadcasts — all objet trouvés, the literary equivalents of Warhol’s Campbell’s soup cans and Duchamp’s bicycle. By entering a found text as a poem, the poet doubles its context. The original meaning remains intact, but now it swings between two poles. The poet adds, or at any rate increases, the element of delight. This is an urban, youthful, ironic, cruising kind of poetry. It serves up whole texts, or interrupted fragments of texts.” — Annie Dillard
Put another way, found poetry is the literary version of a collage. Poets select a source text or texts — anything from traditional texts like books, magazines and newspapers to more nontraditional sources like product packaging, junk mail or court transcripts — then excerpt words and phrases from the text(s) to create a new piece.
What I love about the Found Poetry site is that they describe different types of found poetry and where possible, provide examples. You can learn about erasure, free-form excerpting and remixing, cento, and cut-up. They also provide a quick but very helpful introduction to issues of fair use.
In an NCTE article on found and headline poems I found this most useful and inspiring language for thinking about found poetry.
Plenty of strong and beautiful poems are made from plain language. You sometimes hear such language in conversation, when people are talking their best. Listen. Sometimes you yourself say wonderful things. Admit it. You can find moving, rich language in books, on walls, even in junk mail. (From such sources you’ll probably find better poems, or better beginnings for poems, than from dictionaries and other word books.)
So, poems hide in things you and others say and write. They lie buried in places where language isn’t so self-conscious as “real poetry” often is.
So found poetry is inspired by every little thing, you just need to keep your eyes, ears, and heart open to the possibilities.
The Arrow Finds Its Mark: A Book of Found Poems (2012), edited by Georgia Heard and illustrated by Antoine Guillope, is a collection of 40 found poems. The guidelines for creating the poems found in the book are outlined in the Introduction and are excerpted here.
Poets were asked to find text that already exists in a form other than poetry and present that text as a poem.
Poets could find poems from any source (other than poetry).
Poets were encouraged not to change, add, or rearrange words but, as in any creative endeavor, they stretched these guidelines and were allowed to make minor changes in order for the poem to flow more smoothly or make better sense. They could also change punctuation, tense, plurals, and capitalization.
Poets created their own titles that often gave the poems depth and added another layer of meaning.
Poets could combine the found poem with an other form.
So, the intrepid poets in this volume set out to find poems in the texts of everyday life. Here are a few of the poems they came up with.
Found by Janet Wong on a box of OxiClean detergent
Pep Talk
Keep cool. See a brighter solution. Maintain freshness. Boost your power!
Found by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater in Drawing On Both Sides of the Brain by Betty Edwards
Artist's Advice
Draw everything and anything. Nothing is unbeautiful: a few square inches of weeds a broken glass a landscape a human being. Observe your style. Guard it. Put pencil to paper every day.
Finally, I want to share one more found poem. This is a poem of a different sort. Please visit the Newspaper Blackout site to learn more about Austin Kleon and his work.
WordMover is an interactive tool that allows children and teens to create “found poetry” by choosing from word banks and existing famous works; additionally, users can add new words to create a piece of poetry by moving/manipulating the text.
ReadWriteThink has a number of lesson plans on this form.
This Teaching Channel video on found poetry is for a high school classroom, but it presents a great idea and interesting possibilities for the elementary classroom.
This article from the National Writing Project entitled Uncovering Truths Beneath a Found Poem describes an inspiring lesson leading students through the creation of found poems.
Now that you are inspired, go out and find yourself a poem! NPM is half over, but I still have more to explore with you. I'll hope you'll come back tomorrow for another form.
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During National Poetry Month, Malachi Smith, the internationally renowned dub poet, will be reading from Scream, his latest CD, at Miami Dade College, North Campus, on Tuesday, April 14, 2015.
The son of a preacher, Malachi was born in Westmoreland, Jamaica. At the tender age of eight, Malachi began writing poetry and recorded his first poem “Kimbo to Kimbo” in 1979. Following on this early success, Malachi became a founding member of Poets in Unity at the Jamaica School of Drama and went on to produce many other CDs such as Blacker the Berry - The Sweeter the Cherry, Throw Two Punch, Middle Passage, and Luv Dub Fever.
In 2009, Malachi won the Outstanding Writer award for the Jamaica Development Commission's Creative Writing Competition. A retired member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and a graduate of Miami Dade College, Malachi is based in Miami.
Malachi Smith
10:00 am to 11:00 a.m.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Rooms 3249--Halls A&C
Miami Dade College, North Campus
11380 NW 27 Avenue,
Miami, FL 33167
This performance is free and open to the public.
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List poems are carefully crafted list, catalog, or inventory of things. Robert Lee Brewer of Poetic Asides writes this in his article List Poem: A Surprisingly American Poem:
The list poem was used by the Greeks and in many books of the Bible. But two of the most popular American poems, Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” and Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl,” are list poems. So what is a list poem?
Basically, a list poem (also known as a catalog poem) is a poem that lists things, whether names, places, actions, thoughts, images, etc. It’s a very flexible and fun form to work with.
Whitman is one of my favorite list poem writers. Here's one that particularly stands out for me.
I Hear America Singing by Walt Whitman
I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing, Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.
What is it about list poems that makes them so accessible? Perhaps it's because the list is so ubiquitous in our lives. Everyone makes lists, so finding them in poetry is not unexpected and makes them seem familiar.
The list poem or catalog poem consists of a list or inventory of things. Poets started writing list poems thousands of years ago. They appear in lists of family lineage in the Bible and in the lists of heroes in the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad.
Characteristics Of A List Poem
A list poem can be a list or inventory of items, people, places, or ideas.
It often involves repetition.
It can include rhyme or not.
The list poem is usually not a random list. It is well thought out.
The last entry in the list is usually a strong, funny, or important item or event.
List poems abound in poetry collections and are sometimes found in narrative prose. Here's an example from the book Kartography (2004), written by Kamila Shamsie.
This litany of Karachi winter characteristics could easily be turned into a list poem, though I read it as a prose poem as written.
Out for a walk in New York City I see: yellow cabs speeding down Broadway; people lounging in overstuffed chairs at a coffee shop. I hear: cars honking; a dog barking in the distance. As I walk along I make a list in my head of what I observe just like Walt Whitman did over one hundred years ago in his famous list poems Song of Myself. The list or catalog poem is one of the oldest and most accessible of poetic forms.
... Poets meticulously craft their words to create list poems. Falling Down the Page highlights the wide variety of the list poem form, from a simple list of words with a twist at the beginning or end to more complicated and detailed descriptive lists.
Here are two poems from this collection.
Are We There Yet? by Heidi Roemer
Ocean maps, Weather maps, Maps that chart the stars.
Road maps, Train maps Show us where we are. Builder's maps, Landscape maps, Maps drawn in the sand.
Fold-up maps, Rolled-up maps. A globe held in my hand.
Tattered maps, Treasure maps- What secrets are they holding?
I like maps. I read maps. They get me where I'm going.
This is a wonderful book, full of surprises. It opens vertically and is visually very interesting. (It was designed by John Grandits, so this should come as no surprise to anyone who's seen his concrete poetry books!) This is not only a great choice for read aloud, but also a terrific mentor text for students learning to write list poems.
I want to close with this list poem by George Ella Lyon.
Where I'm From By George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.
Read the poem in its entirety. You can hear it read on George Ella Lyon's web site or listen to it in the video below.
There are a number of resources available for teachers wanting to use this poem as a model for list poem writing.
As JoAnn noted in her Friday post, the anthology, which offers 156 bilingual (English/Spanish) poems celebrating 156 holidays, is the newest in a series of Poetry Friday anthologies compiled by award-winning poet Janet Wong and children’s poetry expert Dr. Sylvia Vardell, Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman’s University.
The “transmedia” project offers its intended audience of K-5 readers and intended users of teachers and librarians a bounty of opportunities, including:
a book version in paperback
collectible trading cards, postcards and posters with poems on them, distributed or in sets as “Pocket Poems cards” or a “Book in a Box
an e-book version, website and/or app featuring additional materials such as songs, audio readings, poem movies and video versions.
I am so honored Janet and Sylvia included my March 17 St. Patrick’s Day poem, which appears at the end of this celebratory post, in their original, child-friendly anthology. (Check my November 3, 2014 post as to the writing of this poem.)
How terrific of these talented anthologizing women to answer the following questions asked on behalf of our TeachingAuthors readers and honestly? – to satisfy my own curiosity as a participating poet.
With each title in The Poetry Friday Anthology series, you continue to mine new opportunities that invite young readers to embrace poetry and language.How did The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations come to be?
JW: Sylvia is FANATIC when it comes to holidays. Several years ago she loved creating our ebook holiday anthology, Gift Tag, I think she’s wanted to do a larger-scale holiday book ever since.
SV: Yes, it’s true. I do love the preparation and celebration that comes with birthdays and other special occasions. But I also know that children find something to celebrate in lots of new moments they are experiencing and I love that energy and freshness. I’m hoping our book will introduce new ways to look at some of those familiar celebrations, as well as present brand new holidays and events that get kids thinking and trying new things.
You invited an august body of poets to select an occasion and create a relevant poem. What were some of the challenges of the selection process?
JW: The hardest part of the selection process: having to say no to terrific poets and poems. We received triple the poems that we could accept. The 156 poems in both Spanish and English plus resources plus teaching tips makes the Teacher/Librarian Edition 372 pages and 1.8 pounds! We fit in as much as we could.
SV: An additional challenge was selecting the celebrations themselves. There are so many more holidays that we would’ve loved to feature. Janet and I went back and forth over which days to include. She wanted to omit Dewey Decimal Day—but there was no way that I’d let her do that!
Which celebrations were most poet-popular/poet-unpopular?
JW: We tried to limit the number of poems that we would receive for any particular holiday by steering poets toward unselected (or less-selected) holidays, but many poets sent us poems for a half dozen or more holidays, including ones that we already had “covered”—so we had multiple poems to choose from for just about every celebration. Pizza Day, Pasta Day, Sandwich Day, and Cookie Day were among the favorites. We poets apparently love our carbs!
Can you share with our readers your vision for the “trading card” aspect of the experience?
JW: Most kids love “stuff” more than they love books. A librarian once told me that the biggest sellers at her book fair were the little necklaces (that happened to come with a book). Making Pocket Poems® cards is a way to make poetry more accessible and inviting to everyone. People can find and print their own cards for free at our websites, PomeloBooks.com and PoetryCelebrations.com.
What has been most gratifying for you in creating these singular collections?
JW: For me, the most gratifying thing is that we've been able to inspire lots of educators (and whole school districts) to integrate poetry PLUS another content area—poetry plus science, for instance.
SV: Personally, it’s been so fun to get to know so many poets who write for young people and sift through hundreds of poems—just a pleasure to read and read and read poetry. And professionally, I’ve been so gratified at the responses of teachers and librarians who learn about our anthologies, try the “Take 5” activities and say with surprise, “I can DO this!” For people who have never really been comfortable with poetry, that is the best compliment we could get!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, belatedly!
And Happy Poetry Month!
Esther Hershenhorn
p.s.
Don’t forget to enter our Book Giveaway to win an autographed copy of Paul Janeczko’s 50thbook, DEATH OF A HAT, illustrated by Chris Raschka. You can enter between now and April 22 (which just happens to be our SIXTH TeachingAuthors Blogiversary!).
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Out and About: a first book of poems
Written and illustrated by Shirley Hughes
Candlewick Press. 2015
ISBN: 9780763676445
Preschool thru Grades 3
I received a copy of this book from the publisher.
Beloved British author/illustrator Shirley Hughes introduces
a new generation of readers to her bustling, neighborhood where anything is
possible. Her London is filled with diversity and
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"ekphrasis"�a vivid description of a thing. Ekphrasis during the Greek period included descriptions of such battle implements, as well as fine clothing, household items of superior craftsmanship (urns, cups, baskets), and exceptionally splendid buildings. . . . ekphrastic poems are now understood to focus only on works of art—usually paintings, photographs, or statues. And modern ekphrastic poems have generally shrugged off antiquity's obsession with elaborate description, and instead have tried to interpret, inhabit, confront, and speak to their subjects.
The creation of original poetry and prose in response to works of visual art, known as Ekphrastic writing, is a writing exercise originating in ancient Greece where schoolboys were assigned composition exercises about painting and architecture. Familiar examples are poems such as John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819) or W. H. Auden’s “Musée des Beaux Arts” (1938).
Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth Century American Art (2001), edited by Jan Greenberg, is a collection of poems inspired by and written to selected works of art by Alexander Calder, Jackson Pollack, Grandma Moses, Jacob Lawrence, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Georgia O'Keeffe and others. Pieces include paintings, photographs, sculptures and more. An illustration from Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach is even included. This book was a 2002 Printz honor book.
In the Introduction Greenberg writes:
In college I discovered there was a long tradition of poets writing on art, going back to ancient Greece. I read Homer's description of Achille's shield and John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn. The list grew. Now in my books on American art, I find that including poetry enriches the text, adds an element of surprise. For what the poet sees in art and puts into words can transform an image, "giving us a sense," says the poet Bobbi Katz, "of entering a magical place," and extending what is often an immediate response into something more lasting and reflective.
These connections between reader and viewer, writer and artist, resulted in this anthology, celebrating the power of art to inspire language.
... Whether the word are playful, challenging, tender, mocking, humorous, sad, or sensual, each work of art, seen through the eyes of a poet, helps us look at the world around us with fresh insight.
The book is divided into several sections, labeled Stories, Voices, Impressions, and Expressions. Some of the poems in the book tell stories, while others speak from the artwork itself as the voice of the object or a person depicted within. Some describe the elements of the artwork, while others still explore the nature of art and the artist.
In the section on Expressions is a pantoum by Bobbi Katz. It was written for an untitled Rothko work created in 1960. Here is how it begins.
Lessons from a Painting by Rothko How would you paint a poem? Prepare the canvas carefully With tiers of misty rectangles Stacked secrets waiting to be told.
Prepare the canvas carefully With shallow pools of color Stacked secrets waiting to be told Messages from some unknown place
In the section on Impressions is a poem by Jane Yolen. Here is an excerpt. Can you guess which well-known painting it accompanies? (The title has been excluded for obvious reasons!)
Do not dwell on the fork, the brooch at the throat, the gothic angel wing of window pointing toward a well-tended heaven.
The ekphrastic poems in this book are moving and lovely. In addition to those mentioned above, you'll find pieces by Kristine O'Connell George, X. J. Kennedy, J. Patrick Lewis, Naomi Shihab Nye, Carole Boston Weatherford, Janet Wong, Ron Koertge, and many others. Back matter includes biographical notes on both the poets and artists.
Side By Side: New Poems Inspired By Art From Around the World (2008), edited by Jan Greenberg, is a collection of poems inspired by and written to selected works of art from around the world. Most of the poems in this work were written or translated specifically for this collection. The artwork represents a mix of "ancient, traditional, modern, and contemporary art." Like her first work, Greenberg has divided this book into the sections Stories, Voices, Impressions, and Expressions. They are described this way.
In Stories, the poet looks at an artwork and imagines a story. In Voices, the poet enters the canvas and speaks in the voice of the subject depicted there. In Expressions, the poet is interested in the transaction that takes places between the viewer and the art object. In Impressions, the poet identifies the subject of the artwork and describes what he or she sees in the elements of the composition, such as line, shape, texture, and color.
In the Introduction, Greenberg says this about ekphrastic poetry.
And ekphrastic poetry has fascinated poets for centuries. The poet takes the time to sit and stare at an artwork, to think about what he or she sees and to write it down. It forces the viewer not only into more than taking in the image but also into finding words to express what he or she feels. Art may challenge our minds, but it also touches our souls.
The poems in this collection are often presented in two languages. For example, you will find a poem written for Pablo Picasso's Dish of Pears, written in Spanish and translated into English, one for Reha Yalnizcik's Two Leaves in Snow, written in English and translated into Turkish, one for Wafaa Jdeed's Forest, written in Arabic and translated into English, and many others. One of my favorite poems was written in Japanese and translated into English.
I love this volume because it introduced me to many works of art and writers I have never seen or read before. The back matter includes biographies of the poets, translators, and artists.
Paint Me a Poem: Poems Inspired by Masterpieces of Art (2005), written by Justine Rowden, is a collection of 13 poems inspired by paintings on display in the National Gallery in Washington. It is written for young children, so the poems here often capture a child's imaginings in relation to the art. You can view examples of the art and poems at the author's site.
J. Patrick Lewis was kind enough to send me some poems he is working on for a collection of ekphrastic poems. Here are two examples.
Is it a picnic? Is it a lark? Mother and Father swelling the park with baby blue babies, baby fat babies, one bound for outer space, one on the Ark. Adolescently wavy, the Admiral lookout’s becoming a navy all to himself, while Father’s daydreaming of roast beef rare, or else the apostrophe of Mother’s hair.
Finally, I want to point you in the direction of Irene Latham's Poem-a-Day Project for National Poetry Month 2015. Entitled ARTSPEAK!, Irene is writing a series of ekphrastic poems for a a wide range of images found in the online collections of the National Gallery of Art. Her project focuses on "dialogue, conversations, what does the piece say?"
If you are ready to begin writing ekphrastic poems with your students, here are some helpful resources.
ReadWriteThink has a lesson plan for high school students entitled Ekphrasis: Using Art to Inspire Poetry. Even though this is for older students, there are some good ideas and helpful hints here.
In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all been extremely generous with their time.
How does a poem begin for you — with an idea, a form, an image, or something else?
Pat: None of the above. A poem for me almost always emerges from a word, one word. “In the beginning was . . .” and so forth. And sooner or later, voila! another word appears. My latest collection began with the word “blue.” I decided to write a series of ekphrastic poems to classical paintings, all of which have a predominance of the color blue in them. If the ms. ever sees the light of day, that will be its title—BLUE.
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Pat: In poetry, as in architecture, form follows function. In short, it depends on what one intends to write about. Limericks, obviously, are wholly inappropriate for the more serious themes, like civil rights, national monuments, or outstanding women. Likewise, you are unlikely to find sonnets as texts for the very young. I do have a fondness for villanelles, not in spite of but because they are so damnably hard to do well. Elizabeth Bishop took fifteen years to write “One Art,” and it shows. Why write if the challenge isn’t there?
Are there any forms you haven't tried but would like to? Why or why not?
I would not write a diamante, which is undeserving of the name “verse form.” Unfortunately, teachers often use diamantes with students, who are then led to believe that writing poems is about the search for adjectives. Since writing poetry is difficult, it could never be about hunting for adjectives, which is easy. Poetry is the search for strong personified verbs.
What tools (rhyming dictionary, book of forms, etc.) do you use in writing poetry (if any)?
Pat: What tools doesn’t one use? Another necessary title that is bolted to my desk is Lewis Turco’s The Book of Forms (revised and expanded edition). Writing poetry without it is like crocheting without needles. I continually turn to Stephen Fry’s The Ode Less Traveled for its wisdom, humor, and suggested exercises. Rhyming dictionaries, yes, of course. The Random House Unabridged is on my dictionary stand, and within arm’s reach is Mr. Roget, silent partner in all my endeavors.
I shamelessly admit that I steal forms (as T.S. Eliot advised) from many a volume sharing space on my bookshelf by some now nearly forgotten poets— Samuel Hoffenstein, Harry Graham, the Carryls, père and fils, W.S. Gilbert, Arthur Guiterman, Ms. Anonymous, and of course, the unforgettable Lear and Carroll. What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Pat: I would like them to know that, at the age of seven, they should pay no attention to grownups who call them “poets.” They are not poets but practitioners. A seven-year-old who climbs up on a piano stool and bangs on the keys is not a pianist.
Second, and again to paraphrase Eliot, rhyming is not one of your holiday games. If children decide that rhyming is what they want to do, let them begin doing it—at the age of 30 or so. For now, just encourage them to write.
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
Pat: The is a Deibide Baise Fri Toin, an Irish verse form. The rhyme scheme is AABB; the syllable count, 3/7/7/1
North Star
Night’s begun. When I can see just that one unimaginable star far
out in space winking at the human race, I feel positively sky- high.
In preparation for sharing forms this month, I wrote to a number of poets and asked if they would respond to a short list of questions on poetry, writing, and form. I'm thrilled every time one responds positively and find they have all be extremely generous with their time.
Helen: Each poem is different, of course, but typically I begin with an image or an emotion. Images are usually quite specific, emotions not so much so; I’m exploring what emotion the image is leading me into, or what images will help bring the emotion into a sharper focus.
How do you choose the form of your poems?
Helen: For an individual poem, I often experiment until I find a form (or freedom) that adds strength to the poem and helps it find it’s way. For a book-length form, the process is similar, but takes longer, as I’m developing the story, getting to know the characters, and finding the form simultaneously.
Are there any forms you haven't tried but would like to? Why or why not?
Helen: I think I’ve tried most of the forms I know about, some not successfully enough to result in a publishable poem. I enjoy inventing new forms, or expanding single-poem forms into something that will work for a whole book. In an earlier version of the novel-in-poems that eventually became HIDDEN, I worked for months trying to find a form that would be structured like a DNA molecule. Eventually, I realized that I had already done that without being self-conscious about it: the form I invented for THE BRAID is very much like the double helix of DNA (though without the twist).
What tools (rhyming dictionary, book of forms, etc.) do you use in writing poetry (if any)?
Helen: I have all those tools—rhyming dictionaries (one for adults, one for children), several different books of forms (again, some written with young writers in mind, others for adult poets). I used them a lot when I was learning my craft and now I use them as references to remind me of the specifics of a form, or to suggest a rhyme I might not have considered.
What would you like students or children to know about poetry?
Helen: A question that interests me more might be “How would you like students or children to know about poetry?” I’d like them to dive in with their ears and eyes and hearts open wide and experience poetry before they analyze it too much.
Here’s a question I was asked by a first grader in Ed Spicer’s class about the poem in my new book, SWEEP UP THE SUN (a collaboration with photographer Rick Lieder): How did you make the poem sound like the bird is actually sweeping up the sun?
I answered: First let me say that this is a beautiful question, because it shows that you are reading and listening carefully, and then thinking about the words. The answer is in the poem itself: think of the sky as language, and then think of the birds’ wings as poetry, a special kind of language that pays attention to sound and images (pictures in our minds). When I write a poem, I don’t start out by knowing what I want to say, just as a bird might lift off from a branch without knowing exactly where it is going. But I trust language, as a bird trusts itself to the sky, so I can “ride the wind” (the thoughts that come to me) “and explore” (to find out what I want to say and how to say it). Writing a poem is energetic, and the sun we sweep up together in this poem (as writer and reader) is like an infinite source of light and warmth.
Finally, one of your esteemed colleagues suggested I ask for a poem in a foreign verse form. Would you be willing to share a poem for this project?
Helen: Here’s a villanelle, a form that originated as French, though many of the best-known villanelles are written in English. The poem is set in rural Alaska, more than 30 years ago.
Mud, Sticks, Food
Somewhere a house is empty of these lives, the mother beaver dead, the pups not born. Our hands caress the loss. Our thought contrives
to name the brown and violet parts, as if, in naming, it revives the heart, makes loops and curves and folds less torn. Somewhere a house is empty of these lives.
We lift the liquid cradles, cut them loose with knives. Water breaks on fur, feet, tail. Watching, we forget to mourn. Our hands caress the loss. Our thought contrives
their birth. We wrap the pups in plastic, hang them high in leaves of willows by the river, to protect their perfect form. Somewhere a house is empty of these lives.
We clean the inside of the mother's skin. All we do deprives her house of mud, sticks, food -- leaves her mate forlorn. Our hands caress the loss. Our thought contrives
to find an exit. The living beaver slaps his tail and dives. We are enclosed in widening rings of scorn. Somewhere a house is empty of these lives. Our hands caress the loss our thought contrives.
To refer back to question #1, when I was attempting to write this poem, I put candles on a cake, lit them, and sat alone at the dining room table in the dark. I thought about all the celebrations we had experienced around that table . . . and the glowing faces, which made all those occasions so special.
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