Poetry Collection N - Z; Poetry Workshop; Advice for Contests

We will slip to the library during period 3 and select our final poetry collection: N - Z. Spend period 3 completing some independent reading. Then we'll move to the classroom for some poetry prompts/workshopping.

Poetry Worksheet. Complete the poetry analysis worksheet by the end of period 3 in the library. I'll collect this at the second bell before we move back to the classroom.

Some advice about writing poetry:  (watch and take notes as necessary in your journal)

• The Secret to Writing Great Poetry (3 min.)
• The Three Elements of Poetry: How to Write Better (5 min.)
• sound
• meaning
• structure
• Martin Kiszko's Tips for Writing Poetry (6 min.)

What wins a poetry contest? Here's some hard reality (& tips).

• Lyric poetry that has a strong sense of character, setting, language, and theme often win these contests.
• Slam and performance poetry is meant to be performed. It is unlikely that such a poem will ever win a traditional poetry contest. It might win a poetry performance contest....
• Rhyming poetry with a simple or unnecessary rhyme scheme often fails to impress judges. Spit rhyme somewhere else...poems that overdo this device usually don't win.
• Angsty poems about you and how much it hurts to be an adolescent never win poem contests. Suffering is universal, yes, but unless an adult can relate to it, it will never win. The more the poem is just about you, the less chance you have of winning. 
• Poems that ignore punctuation (e.e. cummings poems...) or poems that have a lot of proofreading errors, spelling mistakes, or grammar/mechanical errors rarely win. 
• Poems that overuse repetition rarely win. Poems that repeat don't win.
• Poems that are too political or angry or too sweet or sappy rarely win.
• Poems that focus on a unique characteristic of culture often win. The cultural significance must be SPECIFIC to the character the speaker is speaking about. Poems about your unique cultural traditions, or your connection between young/old generations often win.
• Poems that utilize clever word play, subtle puns or double-meanings of words, have a distinct and difficult structure that enhances the poem, poems that have a volta (turn) or reversal, poems that utilize imagery, poems that are very specific in detail, or poems that are written truthfully and cut "close to the bone" often win.

The prompts:

A. Word Spill: Pick 10-20 words from the poems in the collection you have been reading. Make a list of these words on a piece of paper. Pass that paper to your neighbor. Your neighbor has 10 minutes to use at least 10 of the words (he/she may use all 20!) in a poem. You may add OTHER words, of course.

B. Pick a different poem from your collection. Write the last line of the poem on your paper as the first line. Then skip to another poem in the collection (randomly, if possible) and place the first line of that poem as the last line on your paper. Write a poem until you complete the space between the opening and closing line on your paper. 

C. Pass the Poem; Exquisite Corpse: Choose one of the poems in your collection. Pick a single line from the poem. Write this line on a piece of paper. Pass the poem to the next poet in line. That poet should write a line that goes with that poem. Be mature. Don't ruin the tone of a poem because you're immature. Try to keep the tone, subject, POV, and various elements consistent with the line that precedes yours. When you have written a line, pass the poem along, etc, etc. The poem is done when it returns to the original poet.

D. Write a "Where I'm From" poem, but instead of YOU as the subject, choose a real person you know, a historical figure, or a fictional person you make up and write about THIER life.

ex. You are from the hills of Santa Fe...; You come from hard labor and log cabins...; I called you grandma, but you were born an orphan girl...; etc. The traditional "Where I'm From" poem was written by George Ella Lyons. Schools have taken her poem and made it a bit of a cliche (i.e., you might have had to write one of these before). Making the subject someone else is more original.

E. Make a list of technical terms and use this list to describe a person or a common event.
Science technical terms: check here for some ideas...
Here's a list of poetry terminology...
Medical terminology sample poems...
Other great ideas are lists of flora & fauna (plants and animals). Use your science text books, for example, to connect ideas about nature, chemistry, biology, physics, or earth science as a metaphor for something we all can relate to: love, life, human nature, death/loss, etc.

These poems tend to win contests because they are:

1. Universal.
2. Creative.
3. Not about the teenage writer specifically.
4. Show a broader interest than just teenage interests...
5. Show that a poet is specific and knows something more than the average student submitting...
6. Tend to show humans overcoming adversity, not complaining or being negative about the subject...

There will be many poetry contests to enter this year, next year, the year after that. The most true thing is: if you don't enter--you can't win. Try. You never know...but then again, you now know more than the average teenage poet.

HOMEWORK: Complete your reading of your poetry collections. Read for models. Read for enjoyment. Read, read, read, read, read. The more you read poetry--the better you will get at writing it. As you read--if something strikes you as cool or inspires you--stop a moment and write a poem draft in your journal. Read. Write. Repeat.