Three years of proven poetry units for grade 10 to 12 students, polished over twenty years. Three week units split into weekly lessons through the semester. Transform your students’ poetry experience. See the difference Poetry Friday makes!
Beta testers needed for the semester. Write if you’re interested.
COLD COMFORT
(by Shawn Bird and the 2021 En 11-A class)
.
Something burns on a winter night
I smell the smoke and see the fire
Reflections on the snow are bright
The dreams to which I aspire
.
I smell the smoke and see the fire
What hopes linger in the dark
The dreams to which I aspire
Rise to the sky in flickering sparks
.
What hopes linger in the dark
Cradling cocoa in my hands
Rise to the sky in flickering sparks
My heart longs to dance
.
Cradling cocoa in my hands
Warm steam tickling my nose
My heart longs to dance
And waken my frost-bitten toes
.
Warm steam tickling my nose
The family encircles the flames
And waken my frost-bitten toes
Relaxing after winter games
.
The family encircles the flames
Reflections on the snow are bright
Relaxing after winter games
Something burns on a winter night
.
A pantoum is written in quatrain stanzas with lines 2 and 4 of each stanza repeating as lines 1 and 3 of the subsequent stanza until the last stanza, which circles back to the beginning, with line 2 being line 3 of the first stanza and line 4 being the first line of the poem. There are no rhythm rules so line lengths can vary. It is amazing how impactful this repetition proves to be.
If you try it, do post a link to your pantoum in the comment section!
A POTATO FORK POEM
(for Brenda)
.
Fellow forks, beware!
Do stay away from here!
Brenda takes us
then she breaks us.
Oh tremble! Feel fear!
Come only if you dare!
.
Digging rocks and boulders
(Putting bodies in the ground?)
Brenda will abuse you
Aggressively use you
Your handle’s snapping sound
Means you won’t get older.
.
Forks, do NOT come near!
Get the fork out of here!
I’ve been working on a book of high school poetry units this summer. I’ve been adapting lessons I’ve used for years. I had to write a lot of poems as examples for all the poetry forms (since I don’t have permissions to publish other people’s work). I wrote this Ottava Rima, but decided its tone was too negative to include in the book. I wrote a second Ottava Rima using all the same rhymes that is poetry positive, but I thought you might enjoy this one. 🙂
Ottava Rima form requires:
Teacher Woe
Some get to choose if they should write a poem
While others do not get to have a say
They write when teacher says and so they moan
“I do not want to write a poem today.”
They talk in class, but do not work at home.
The assignment’s ignored so they can play
When poems are handed in, then some will cry,
“I didn’t write. Why-oh-why didn’t I?”
Beautiful and poignant words from poet and author Theresa Kishkan
In Ukraine, in 2019, I bought two vyshyvanky, the embroidered shirts that encode so much of traditional life and culture. The one on the right uses rhombus forms that I believe symbolize the unity of male and female principles, sown fields, prosperity.
The other vyshyvanka has poppies embroidered on the yoke and sleeves. The poppy is a protection against the evil eye.
I remember the difficulty in choosing a vyshyvanka among the thousands available in the Kosiv market, each one more beautiful than the last. Some were so heavy with embroidery that I couldn’t imagine actually wearing them — and I wanted to wear mine. I still think of the one that got away, not in Kosiv but in Lviv, at the end of my trip, when my suitcase was full and I thought I’d spent enough money. That one? It was black, with appliqued yoke and sleeves in deep…
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Recently, a list of books apparently newly banned in Florida is making the rounds. On the list is Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. Asked to respond, Diana offered some eloquent words that summarized with, “Evil has a tendency to backfire, which is a fortunate thing for civilization, I think.”
I have read many books on the list. I have taught many of the books on the list to teens. Book banning is just a way to control ideas, and I feel it’s a bit like Princess Leia’s statement, “The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.” Doesn’t banning books make them much more interesting?
What’s your favourite book that’s been banned? Why do you like it?
Patience is a virtue is proven in this one!
After a couple years of yearning whenever a new copy of a favourite literature magazine arrived, thinking “I wish I could be published in this,” I finally told myself that to make it happen, I would actually have to submit something. I had a story that I thought would be a good fit, and sent it off March 2021. At that time, their site said they respond within 3 months.
At 6 months when I hadn’t heard, I thought it was probably a good sign, that it might have been put into a ‘maybe’ file. At 9 months, I sent a note and asked about the piece.
In January 2022 I got a decline on the story. I was sad, because I still thought it was a really good fit for them, but that’s just the way things work. I pondered sending it elsewhere, or releasing it as one of my Minute Reads. But I didn’t get around to it.
Last week I got an email asking if the story was still available. 13 months after submitting.
So yay! Sometimes things work out unexpectedly. You never know who at a publication will say, “But what about that story, wouldn’t it work here?”
Submit pieces you know would be good fits, and the editors may (eventually) agree with you! 🙂
After the contracts are signed, I will let you know where to get your copy!
I just discovered that my submission to the 2022 Okanagan Short Story contest was short listed! The contest is sponsored by the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at University of British Columbia (Okanagan).
I have been short listed in this contest several times: 2022, 2020, 2015 (and perhaps another year, but I can’t find note of it, lol).
I won’t name the story, since it will be submitted for some other contests.
there is space here
enough for me
enough for you
if you’re kind, thoughtful
and respectful; we have room.
you don’t have to be beautiful
or conform to notions of who you should be
so long as others’ genuine needs
are okay with you,
too.
Shawn L. Bird 