Black out poem 3 reads as follows:
I pass
on
melodrama.
My show.
I wave time.
I bind a problem.
I lock my smile
I burn this sign.
.
.
(Note the use of the poetic device anaphora in the last 4 lines (i.e. beginning the lines with the same word)
Black out poem 3 August 27, 2022
Black out poem 2 August 26, 2022
Black out poem 2 reads as follows:
I see you.
You look to her.
(There were good books).
You take my hand.
We reach a tie, sure
in this glance.
.
Commentary:
So, the line “There were good books” is really a contextual juxtaposition. What’s going on? Is the speaker separating her real life with books and imagining a different ending? Is it all happening in books? Do the books somehow alter behaviour of the speaker and her love interest? What do you think?
Black out poem 1 August 25, 2022
“Black out poem 1” reads as follows:
if I faint
Let me go.
stop me
carry me
smile
Poetry resource for BC high school teachers
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.
Poem- Cold Comfort pantoum August 24, 2022
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!
Poem- A potato fork poem August 23, 2022
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!
Poem- Teacher Woe Ottava Rima August 21, 2022
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:
- 8 lines
- iambic pentameter
- rhyme scheme ABABABCC
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?”
“In the forest, upon the oak, I was spinning the thread for a shirt.” May 19, 2022
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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YAY! April 6, 2022
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.
Shawn L. Bird 