Betsy Brown Reading and Response/Poem Exercise

During 3rd period, please read Betsy Brown. Then, post one or more comments about the book on your blog. At the end of the period, come together with your group and discuss what you have read so far.

Response questions:
1. What scene or passage can you best identify with?
2. What character would you most like to spend time with? Why?
3. What scene or character in the book has bothered you? Why?
4. Comment about Shange's use of standard English grammar. Why do you think she purposefully plays with syntax, spelling, and sentence construction?
5. Predict the ending of the book. What major events will happen to Betsy? To Jane?
6. Which characters seem to contrast? Which seem to compare? What does this tell you about how an author uses characters?

4th period: Poetry Exercise.

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.