Elemental poem activity

Elemental Poem

The ancient world was much simpler 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.