Hooray! It’s National Poetry month! Poets and poetry lovers everywhere have been looking forward to this all year. I know I have.
I teach poetry to incarcerated youth. They’re a tough audience. They don’t want to do anything and they REALLY don’t want to write poetry. It takes me a few visits to get them into it and while I don’t convert everyone in loving poetry I do seem to get a lot of them writing it. I’m going to share some of the ways I get these kids to write poetry. They always involve prompts and exercises of some kind so I will do the exercise and I hope you will play along. Not all of the poems and exercises I share will speak to you and that’s okay.
When I go to a poetry residency I usually go for 10-12 visits. This is good because in the detention facilities it usually takes 3 sessions before I have built up any trust with the kids. So I start off easy and set certain things in place that they know will happen every time. After reading to them from Ruth Gendler’s wonderful book The Book of Qualities, I bring out my purple cards.
I let a student pick a card and from there we do a group poem on the board based on using our five senses to describe the word. It takes a while but pretty soon they get into and are shouting out some great descriptions and I jot them all on the board. We pick our favorites and put together a quick list poem. This is the one thing I do every single visit. In the classroom it helps get them warmed up without writing yet and because they are all doing it together, there is less pressure on them. And they get used to it and look forward to being able to pick a card and get us started. As you can see from the photo, these are just words cut from magazines that I taped onto some index cards. I use these cards in a lot of different ways and when I am teaching, there are always a stack of them in my back pocket. I keep some on my desk too, if I am looking for a prompt.
So let’s do one of these now. I pick the card ENVY. In the classroom, this is what I would write on the board:
What does envy look like?
What does envy feel like?
What does envy sound like?
What does envy smell like?
What does envy taste like?
Okay, here’s what I came up with:
Envy looks like every person I’ve ever seen who doesn’t have issues with their weight.
Envy feels like a beach bonfire blazing out of control.
Envy sounds like steam hissing from a broken overheated pipe.
Envy smells like candy cooking on the stove, so sweet it makes me feel sick.
Envy tastes nothing like I imagined it would taste like.
Now in a classroom you’d have a lot more sentences for each sense but this will give you the idea. And if you’re doing this on your own, go ahead and freewrite as many as you can come up with. You can use my word, ENVY, or one from the picture or picture a word of your own.
After I have my sentences I like to play with them and see if I can find the poem. I should add that I do these quickly. They’re great warmups for just that reason. You don’t have to spend hours or days revising it. I might go back and play with it some more but here’s my 10 minute poem.
ENVY
Envy sounds like steam hissing from an overheated pipe
every time I seem someone who doesn’t have issues with their weight
my chest hurts.
Envy feels like a beach bonfire blazing out of control
and smells like candy cooking on the stove, sickening sweet,
it makes my stomach turn
it makes me feel sick
it makes me into someone I don’t want to be.
Envy tastes nothing like I imagined it would taste like,
it sticks in the back of my throat like peanut butter
choking my possibilities.
— Susan Taylor Brown, all rights reserved
And I tell these new poets, this is it. You wrote a poem.
Your turn. Why not give it a try here in the comments or on your own blog. If you post it on your blog please leave a link in the comments so I can come see what you’ve done.
I hope you’ll share your poems in the comments so we can all be inspired.
Nice post, Susan! I’ll pass it on to my teaching friends!
Thank you, Cindy!
I had to try this Susan. Don’t know if you meant for your readers to post poems, but you inspired me so I have. I tried invisible, and used short words for lack of time. But I made myself stick to the words so the poem is different from what I might otherwise have written.
Invisible
looks like: nothing
feels like: empty
sounds like: crying
smells like: old blossom
tastes like: bitter
The Good Child
The irony
of fading to nothing
while trouble making siblings
take center stage.
Like an old blossom
empty of scent –
no reason to be noticed.
Crying bitter tears
no one sees.
– ellie
ellie I’m so glad you played along. Yes, I’m hoping people will post their poems. I need to make that more clear tomorrow.
I love your poem. This is another great way to use the prompt.
I really like the line,
“Like an old blossom
empty of scent “
This is a new way to brainstorm for a poem based on a word. I’ll definitely try it at some point this month, and also try it with my students!
Thanks, Mary Lee. I’ll be interested to hear how it works for you. I do a lot of brainstorming and prompts with index cards.
Hi, Susan. I do five sense poems with younger kids. We usually write about food memories (special meals, family traditions). I like this take, too, using the senses to meditate on a particular words. Great workshop idea for older kids.
Thanks, Laura.
I love doing food memories too! I have a bunch of food pictures from magazines that I let the kids sort through sometimes. Some of them do better with a visual rather just a word.
Susan, I haven’t tried my hand at poetry in many years, but your prompt intrigued me. So, THIS is YOUR fault!
Wonder looks so bright, I shield my eyes by can’t turn away.
Wonder feels so prickly, I flex my brain to make the pins-and-needles go away.
Wonder sounds like church bells carried on the breeze from far away.
Wonder smells like an early morning snowfall — all the dirt is hidden away.
Wonder tastes new and sharp after all the familiar recipes are filed away.
Joanne I am SO glad you decided to play along.
I love the repetition of wonder/away.
My favorite line is
“Wonder feels so prickly, I flex my brain to make the pins-and-needles go away.”
I’m off to check out your blog.
INNOCENCE
Innocence looks like a newborn baby boy
Cradled in his mother’s arms
Innocence feels warm and cozy
Even on the coldest day
Innocence sounds like laughter of little children
Making sandcastles in the sand
Innocence smells like burnt toast with a cold cup of tea
Made especially for Mum on Mother’s Day
Innocence tastes like a mouthful of cookies
Secretly taken from the cookie jar
Innocence is also pure
Until it is taken away.
– Anne McKenna
Anne I’ve been waiting for your poem and it was worth the wait. I love the tone of this, it feels light and airy and, well, innocent, until we hit that last line.
Well done.
Love this, Susan!
I like the word, satisfaction.
Satisfaction looks like a carpenter, sweaty and standing in his plaster stained overalls, looking around at the addition he just finished for his new baby’s room.
Satisfaction feels like every little rough corner has been rubbed smooth and you’re left with a nice round sphere.
Satisfaction sounds like a deep and long “ahhhh.”
Satisfaction smells like a warm cup of tea by your side and scones baking in your friend’s oven.
Satisfaction tastes like the perfect chocolate covered strawberry. Not too much chocolate; not too much strawberry.
This is really fun!
Great idea!
Thanks so much for playing along, Kathy.
I love the first line here. I can totally see that carpenter nodding as he looks around the room at all he’s done.
WORRY
Worry looks like a ball of tangled wool. You can never seems to find an end to start unraveling it
Worry feels like a big rock in the pit of your stomach. No matter how hard you try to remove it, it stays firm.
Worry sounds like three different bands in a parade all playing a different song. You can’t really listen to any as they all run into one.
Worry Smells like old smelly shoes no matter what you do to clean them. The smell just never goes away until eventually you give up and throw them out.
Worry tastes like a lemon, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. In fact it leaves a bitter taste all over.
Worry is like a demon, one who keeps beating me no matter how hard I try to defeat it.
Although I am so close to victory I can almost taste it.
– Anne McKenna
Love this line especially, Anne:
Worry sounds like three different bands in a parade all playing a different song. You can’t really listen to any as they all run into one.
Good job.
INVISIBLE
Invisible looks like my heart. I can feel it beating. I also feel the hurt like it is breaking in two.
Invisible feels like love. I keep hoping and praying that one day I feel it but it never comes my way.
Sounds like sunshine, I can feel it, I know it’s there but I don’t hear it when it touches the ground.
Smells like flowers, you can see their beauty but you can’t see where the fragrance radiates from.
Tastes like rice, it does’t taste like much until it is complimented by something else.
Mostly invisible is me, like how some people can look at me and stare straight through me like I am not even there.
– Anne McKenna
Love the first line in this one a lot Anne.