I use a lot of index cards and things from magazines when I teach poetry. They’re easy and inexpensive. I can cut things out of magazines while I’m watching TV or just relaxing in the garden. In the past I skipped taping things to index cards but magazine paper is flimsy and things would get crumpled or lost too easily. Now I’ve discovered a bonus of having things on index cards is that I can always have a couple of sets in my pockets. Because one thing I’ve learned about teaching is that some lessons go over great and some of them fall flat in a heartbeat. I like being able to grab another set of cards and jump right into something else. In the classroom the kids seem to like holding them. At my desk, I like shuffling through them until something calls to me.
I start every class with the sensory warmup. If you want to warmup first I’ll give you a word from my stack today: TRUST
The next exercise is a simple list poem. I love using these with people who are intimidated with the idea of writing poetry. I tell them they don’t have to worry about rhymes or making any kind of sense. They just have to start with a list. A great example is Bruce Lanksy’s I Can’t Write a Poem.
I find using a question as a prompt sometimes helps get things started so here are some of my question cards.
Let’s pick one and write.
I chose WHERE DOES IT HURT? Here’s my first brainstorm.
WHERE DOES IT HURT?
every time I look in the mirror
my eyes (allergies)
my shoulder (fell off my horse too many times)
my little toe (stubbed it on the dog bone)
the thumb on my left hand (slammed it in the fridge)
the inside of my mouth where I bit my cheek (watching a scary movie)
the corner of my heart where I keep thoughts about my dad
a vault where I hide my memories of living in New Orleans
shadowy places where a mother always worries about her children
a hidden place deep inside of me where I know I’m not living up to my full potential
Now what was interesting to me is that I started off thinking about actual physical hurts and then it just flowed into more emotional ones. Sometimes I have long lists. Sometimes I get just a couple of lines and then a poem explodes. Sometimes my list poem stays a list and sometimes it goes off in another direction. It’s all good. It’s all writing. It’s all a gateway to poetry. This is just another way for me and my students to enter the creative process. Maybe they can’t write a poem, but they can make a list.
Here’s what I did with my brainstorm.
WHERE DOES IT HURT?
Blood and band-aids
record the painful moments
I let the world see
stubbed toe
slammed door
one shoulder,
always sore.
But those wounds heal
eventually
scar-less memories
that fade
but never haunt me.
I can’t show you
where I hurt the most.
One corner of my heart
holds hurts leftover from childhood
the gift of a missing father
the pain in an unwanted daughter
the memory that I have no memories
of him to call my own.
Behind another wall
I hide any recollection
of ever living in New Orleans
pretending like it never happened
pretending like it never change me
pretending, always pretending,
because remembering
is where it hurts the most.
—Susan Taylor Brown, all rights reserved
Your turn. You can use the question prompt I used or one of the cards or open a magazine and find one of your own. I hope you’ll decide to share it here.
Wow. This is phenomenal. I love your question cards. I might have to hire Maddie and her friends to make some for me. They would be very cool for a young authors workshop.
I especially love the opening of Where Does It Hurt…
Laura I love index cards and have a ton of different ones and different ways to use them. By the end of the month there will be several you can have Maddie make.
I used to use word tickets, which I know you use sometimes too, but index cards hold up better over the long haul. I just use a packing tape to tape it down. I’ve gone through the pain of laminating one batch but I don’t think it’s wort the time and money for that.
Your poem makes me realize that sometimes the emotional hurts are more painful.
I decided to answer: How do you spell joy? When I noticed that my list rhymed in places, I rearranged the lines and left it a list.
ellie
Some Simple Joys that Be . . .
A blossom in my garden, next day three.
Holiday gatherings –
laughing with family.
Relaxing in warm sunshine.
Looking up from under a tree.
The silence of swimming underwater.
Chocolate and all things tasty.
Getting lost in a good book.
Knowing others are happy with me.
ellie, I think you’re right. Very often emotional hurts are more painful than the physical ones.
Love the idea that some of your lines ended up rhyming and you built the poem that way.
My favorite line is:
“The silence of swimming underwater.”
Thank you so much for playing along.
I love what you’ve done with the index cards! I, too, use them a lot when teaching, but for student response. (I give them the index cards.) Like you said, handy and easy to read and somehow less intimidating than a sheet of notebook paper. 🙂 I am so looking forward to the rest of your series. Wonderful!
Thanks, Irene.
Now that’s a new one for me. I never thought about handing out index cards to the students. You’re right, it would be less intimidating that a big sheet of paper.
CAN YOU SEE IT?
Can you see the hurt
When you look into my eyes?
Can you see the pounding
Of my heart?
Can you see the tears
Rolling down my face?
Trying to hide the fear
Of my disgrace.
As you look right through me
with that piercing stare
My guess is that you can’t
That you don’t even care
As I wipe the tears away
I try to make amends
But in my heart I tell myself
This is where the story ends
– Anne McKenna
Look at you go, Anne. Three new poems in three days. I’m proud of you for giving it a go.
Now I’m going to put my teaching hat and challenge you to revise this one and do it without the rhyme. 🙂 I bet you can take it even farther. Add some sensory details so it is a specific person in a specific place.
CAN YOU SEE IT?
Can you see the hurt
When you look into my eyes?
For they are what say it all
without uttering a word
Can you see the pounding
Of my heart?
Beating right though my chest
with aching anticipation
Can you see the tears
Rolling down my face?
Each tear to represent
the erosion of my pain
As you look right through me
with that piercing stare
That is what hurts the most
Can you see it ?
– Anne McKenna
The repetition of “can you see it” is achingly wonderful in this one, Anne. Nicely done.
Terrific post, Susan! Re. Irene’s comment, I just used index cards for a little poetry writing workshop for adults, and I think THEY found them less intimidating than a whole piece of paper, too. Love index cards. And sticky notes. And I really love what you did with your own prompt; I wasn’t prepared to be tugged under emotionally so quickly – wow.
Thank you, Robyn.
You’re right about using those cards with adults too. We all can use something to take the intimidation out of that giant white page (especially for me when writing in a group setting. That’s hard!) I use all my magazine word prompts with adults and at teacher in-services too. They love them.
I’m looking at this again and I think I’d take off the first two stanzas.