Poetry Collection Project #3

Please get your last book from the library with a poet whose last name begins with M-Z. During the holiday break, please complete your reading of this collection. Choose 1 poem that you like the most and consider performing this out loud in class.

Have a happy holiday! Get some rest and (when appropriate) try to find time to write!

The second half of our class we will move next door to perform some more slam poetry.

Slam! Today...

Complete and prepare your slam poem (the one you did for homework). During the second period of this class we will saunter over to the other room to hear some of these out loud. In preparation, read your poem out loud to yourself. Make decisions about rate of speech, rhythm, and vocal quality (like volume or where you stress one word over another). As always, make decisions about your performance BEFORE you begin to speak out loud.

Homework: Please complete your poetry book. Bring this book with you next class.

Poetry Activities #2

Using the text of the poet you chose for your second poetry chapbook, do the following JOURNAL/brainstorming exercises with your poet's book:

1. Jot down the best 3 titles of the poems in the collection
2. Read 3-5 poems and list what you think the poet's theme or main idea is in the poem.
3. Spend about 5-20 minutes reading (silently). When an idea pops into your mind stop and write a poem using that idea. If more time remains for this portion of the class, when you complete a poem, go back to reading.

POET AS AGENT FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

"Men die everyday for what they miss in poetry..." William Carlos Williams

1. The poet is the voice of reason
2. The poet is the spokesperson for the downtrodden, outsider, or oppressed
3. The poet is the eye of the world
4. The poet brings order to chaos

HOMEWORK: Complete your chosen text by next class. Write a slam poem (a poem meant to be performed/read out loud).

Poetry

Please complete your elemental poem by the end of 3rd period today.

If you finish, please move on to this next exercise:

Poetry: Steal a line...

Take your poetry book and steal a line from any of the poems in the chapbook. You may place this line anywhere in your poem. You may also change the line slightly to keep tense and POV consistent. Somewhere in your title or as an epigram, indicate and name the poet who inspired your poem.

4th period we will return to the library. We will be looking for poets whose names end with E - .

Poetry Activities

Today spend 10 minutes reading the poetry book you selected. As you read, in your journal, jot down 10 words (1 word per minute) from the poems you are reading. Choose the word(s) that you find the most intriguing or interesting. Try to avoid simple abstract or vague words or common ones. Go for the interesting ones.

When the bell chimes, spend two minutes jotting down the titles of the poems you have been reading. We'll use this later.

Get into groups of two. Alternatively, select a poem from your book and read this to your partner. The partner should listen. After reading discuss what you remember or imagined during the reading. Take only a minute or two to discuss this with the reader. Then the listener/describer will read a poem from his/her book and repeat the process. Do this 3 times. When the bell chimes. Stop and move on to the next portion of our exercise.

Choose a new poem from your collection. Then you and your partner follow these steps:

1. Read the poem silently once.
2. Alternate readers so that your partner reads the same poem a second and third time, this time out loud.
3. Take a moment to discuss the poem with your partner.
4. List and define any words that you or your partner may not know or only “think” you know. Write these words and their definition in your own journals. Use the internet dictionary to help you, or a physical dictionary.
5. Separately, list the words in the poem that alone stress the importance of the poem’s meaning.
6. Compare your list with your partner’s list. Which words are the same? Which are different? Write both your lists in your own journals.
7. Separately, which single word summarizes the poem for you?
8. Compare your word with your partner’s word. Write both your words in your own journals.
9. Separately, Examine the poem and describe an image that encompasses the entire poem – describe this image. (in other words, if this poem were a photograph, what would the photograph be of?)

Last, but not least, with the remaining class time, finish your elemental poem draft (hand in to the dropbox when completed). If you finish early, look over your word lists in your journal and write a poem inspired by some of the ideas and poems and words you read in class.

Journal Due!

Your journal is due today. While I am grading it, please read and complete the blog post below: The Elemental Poem.

During the second half of class, we will be going down to the library to choose a poetry book. Look through the poetry selection from authors, last name A-D. We will be reading several poetry books in the next few weeks.

Before you check out the book, please read a few poems to make sure you like or can appreciate the poet's style. During the rest of class downstairs, after you have selected a poet, please sit (alone) and read. Try to complete the poetry book by next class.

Elemental Poem activity

The ancient world was much simpler in some aspects than the modern world. In the ancient world, people recognized only four basic elements: earth, air, fire, and water—and these elements were considered not only the building blocks of the material world, but also the elements of our character or psyches. Someone who was known to be passionate was thought to be possessed of fire and to be subjects to the laws of fire. These earthly elements also had their correspondence in the heavens, and each astrological sign was—and still is—associated with earth (Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo), air (Gemini, Aquarius, Libra), fire (Leo, Sagittarius, Scorpio), or water (Pisces, Cancer, Aries).
– From Everyday Creative Writing; Smith & Greenberg

Try revisiting this "simpler" world by focusing on and using the ancient elements to organize a poem.

Brainstorm:

Identify yourself with one of the elements. How are you like Fire or Air or Water or Earth? Write down as many qualities of yourself as possible.

Then make a list of places where you would least expect to find each of the elements. Example:

Fire
• In the refrigerator
• On the palm of my hand
• In a laundry basket

Next:

Make a list of verbs that you would least associate with each element. Example:
• The water sneezed
• The fire slept
• The wind stood in line at the bank

Combine these brainstorming activities to write a draft of a creative poem.

Example: From Charles Jensen’s poem Housefires and Homefries

My mother sets little fires in my
Shoes. They smolder like samovars.
It’s her way of saying
stay home and wait for the glacier,
my father, man of men. His golf bag is full
of snow. His shirts have ice cuffs
and frozen collars. My parents stare
at each other until their eyes turn
to earth and ash and when one speaks
the other blows air into paper bags
and bags float like syllables spoken under water.