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!
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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?”
Day 20 NapoWriMo prompt is the sijo, a Korean form. It’s a triplet with lines of 14-16 syllables, each divided. Conflict, development, resolution with a twist.
The school bell rings; kids enter one by one, masked, alone in the crowd.
They ignore the rule to space themselves out, clamouring for comfort.
Teens want to crush close together, as they stare at their phones.
In the class room
the fan makes the loudest noise
second to the crinkle of paper
turning, shuffling.
Shifting bodies.
deep breaths,
inhaling fortitude,
exhaling a last,
desperate hope.
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Day 14 of NaPoWriMo. Not following the prompt, which is about examining one’s name. Patrick Lane has already written the only Bird poem I’d want to write!
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I don’t endorse any of the WordPress added ads, unless they’re for Fluevog shoes.
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barriers to the outside
secrets
distance
privacy
safety
at a cost of claustrophobia
these walls close in
while we huddle
masking our smiles
nervous
hidden thoughts.
Another demo pantoum poem written with my Creative Writing students today. This one demonstrates the power of this form, as small shifts can alter or intensify meaning. The kids weren’t in the mood to write at the beginning, but by the second stanza they were laughing and engaged as we looked for rhymes that worked.
I don’t want to write a poem today
I’m too tired to use my brain
The thought fills me with dismay
Poems make me insane
I’m too tired to use my brain
My mind is feeling foggy
Poems make me insane
My eyes are getting soggy
My mind is feeling foggy
Can I just return to bed?
My eyes are getting soggy
My heart is filled with dread
I’ll just return to bed
I’m much too tired to think
My heart is filled with dread
My life is on the brink
I’m much too tired to think
If my feelings are uncaged
My life is on the brink
The words won’t fill the page
When my feelings are uncaged
all the thoughts bring me dismay
Words will over-fill the page
I can’t write a poem today
Another demo pantoum written with an English class. 🙂
I wish we were happy
I wish we were glad
This poem will be quite sappy
But it will not be sad
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I wish we were glad
I wish we were silly
But it will not be sad
Though the weather is chilly
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I wish we were silly
That election is scary
Though the weather is chilly
The situation is hairy!
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That election is scary
But koalas are cute
The situation is hairy!
But I bought new boots!
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Koalas are cute
Mac and cheese comfort food
I bought new boots!
Folks, don’t be so rude!
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Mac and cheese comfort food
Make this poem quite sappy
Folks, don’t be so rude!
I wish we were happy
This air is thick enough to drown in
Wading through your words
Lightning flashes in the hills like my
anxiety after the press conference.
Summer storm raging.
They announce back to school plans.
I’m watching the hills for forest fires,
fearing the burning.
Brief respite: rain splatters on the back deck,
before oppression descends again,
and our power goes out.
Pick up any yearbook
any place
any year.
Turn the pages,
you will recognize them.
That one:
always so friendly.
That one:
forever in trouble.
That one:
so cool.
That one:
Oh! The music!
That one:
skipped more than attended
That one:
kept you up nights,
worried about wise choices
safe places.
Any yearbook,
familiar faces,
each so unique,
every one the same.
Pens poised,
Paper rustling.
Begin.
Destiny scratched
into this exam.
Future doors open or close.
You can ruin your life!
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Don’t stress.
Life is not a straight road.
If an exam slams a door,
wiggle through windows,
force up foundations,
drop down the chimney.
Destiny is carved in determination,
not scratched in this exam.
Shawn L. Bird 