Today is Arbor Day (read about it here), so I’m including a shape poem I wrote about trees and my own writer’s dilemma.
To celebrate Arbor Day and National Poetry Month, read some tree poems! Kristine O’Connell George’s Old Elm Speaks: Tree Poems is one of my all-time favorite collections. Poetrees is a new collection by Douglas Florian.
A shape poem is also called a concrete poem or a spatial poem. You can find them in collections such as Doodle Dandies: Poems that Take Shape by J. Patrick Lewis, Splish Splash and Flicker Flash: Poems by Joan Bransfield Graham, and A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems, edited by Paul B. Janeczko.
To write a shape poem, choose a concrete object so you have a shape to work with. Write the poem first. Then fit it into its form. I used the WordArt feature in Microsoft® Office Word to create the poem above. Have fun!Don't forget to join us in our first anniversary celebration and enter to win a critique of your work!
6 Comments on Arbor Day + National Poetry Month = Tree Poems, last added: 5/1/2010
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What a great poem, JoAnn. And I have the same dilemma!
Carmela
Thanks for the tips on how to do a shape poem. I tried to explain this to a class I was working with to no avail.
I like your poem, too.
I can get my children haiku beautifully but they always shape things reminiscent of splattered droppings - I think I need your skills ;)
My preschooler absolutely loves Doodle Dandies. The snake poem is her favorite.
By the way, we also celebrated Arbor Day with poetry and a "POET-TREE"
Thanks, JoAnn, for the poem. Also, thanks for explaining how you made your poem. I didn't know about WordArt.
Laura Evans
all things poetry