Earlier this month, in the midst of the Two Writing Teachers blogging challenge, I participated in the five-day March poetry Open Write with Ethical ELA. It was a dizzying five days, trying to write a "slice of life" for Two Writing Teachers and, additionally, create a special poem for the suggested inspiration. I thought I'd share my five poems here, just to document the experience. I am really giving short-shrift to the writing process of these poems; it truly was a fun and challenging writing endeavor.
In April, I will attempt the Ethical ELA VerseLove - 30 days of poetry writing; I did this for the first time last year and enjoyed it so very much.
Day One: write about a childhood memory - inspiration by Dr. Kimberly Johnson
Here's my poem: Meet you at Heckerd’s!
someone
must have asked permission
someone was first
all I know is
kids had been playing on his front lawn
since long before we moved in
Meet you at Heckerd’s!
Mr. Heckerd’s front lawn
the only one on the street without
trees or shrubs or flowers or
a concrete sidewalk to divide it up into parts
just one big rectangle of bare grass
inviting
Meet you at Heckerd’s!
Mr. Heckerd lived alone
the only house on the street that wasn’t bursting
with children or pets or relatives or wiggliness of any kind
just him and
all of us
Meet you at Heckerd’s!
every kid in the neighborhood
every afternoon after school every day all summer
impromptu football, frisbee, footraces, flags to be captured,
he saw it all from his front window
our laughter and our bickering
so much foolishness and sweat
children at play
he welcomed it all
Meet you at Heckerd’s!
Day Two: Write a pantoum; this is the basic format of a pantoum - inspiration by Dr. Kimberly Johnson
Begin by writing four original lines.
1 2 3 4REPEAT lines 2 and 4 and expand ideas in lines 5 and 6:
2 5 4 6REPEAT lines 5 and 6, expand ideas in lines 7 and 8:
5 7 6 8FINALLY, repeat lines 1, 3, 7 and 8 in the following order:
7 3 8 1
(I did not follow the pantoum form precisely)
Here's my poem: the shortcut
walk past the Marines at the base gate
immediate turn wander sneak through the woods
to the back entrance of my new high school
after I walk past the Marines I find
fringe kids there they sat on fallen trees smoking weed
right outside the back door of my new high school
another world indeed
free spirited fallen forgotten fringe there they sat
seeing me, welcoming me to join them too
another world indeed
me, rule-follower new friendless alone
welcoming me to join them, seeing me
sneaking through the overgrown weedy woods
me, rule-follower sitting smokeless with my first friends
the shortcut
seek
wonder
solace
knowledge
observe
nature
children
family
evoke
beauty
mystery
joy
surrender
anxiety
confusion
hurt
share
memories
understanding
life
reveal
surprise
desire
bravery
Day Four: License Plate Poetry (no vowels!) - inspiration by Katrina Morison
PNDMC
DYS
R
LNG
LV
IS
LNGR
Day Five: Backwards Poem (it is read right to left) - inspiration by Katrina Morison.
child young a as
rod fishing bamboo a found I
pond a alongside lying
stuck softly mud the in
thought I fishes one how be must this
hook rusty with line the tossed I
water green brown the into
luck for waiting calmly stood
surprise my explain to how
long so eel an was catch my
learned I when that’s perhaps
bobber a be to best it’s
connected on holding
ways invisible small in helping
flow the with going
Hope you enjoyed these poems! I will have many more this April . . . .
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