Welcome Back to Poetry!

Well, you're back with me now. Mr. Ludwig will be stopping by at some point to return your stories to him. He says he misses you all. Feel free to keep in touch with him on his blog.

Any-hoo. Poetry. Remember that stuff?

It's been a little while since we played around with it, so let's get started!

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
Tornado Child by Kwame Dawes
The Language by Robert Creeley
My Papa's Waltz by Theodore Roethke
The Armadillo by Elizabeth Bishop
The Mother by Gwendolyn Brooks, Audio file...

Now, let's read a little and learn about choosing subject matter. After learning a bit about that and avoiding cliches and other poetic advice, let's go next door and complete the writing of several poems.

Keep your DRAFTS. Write many poems. Choose at least 3 to complete from these prompts, then work on more and fill up your screen, journal, notebook, mind with poetry. Type these up. Be prepared to work on them next class.

Ideas:

• Consider Charles Harper Webb's poem and write a poem about your own name. Research the history and significance of your first, last, and/or middle name. Use your research to write a poem.
• Examine Claude McKay's poem: "Tropics in New York" and write a poem about a place you have visited. Make the setting as vivid as possible. What sights, sounds, smells, flavors come to mind as you recall this location? What images do you see? Make a concept map in your journal. Freewrite. Associate. Write a draft.
• Take a look at "First Death in Nova Scotia". What details does Bishop use that work simultaneously as symbols (objects that stand in for another idea or meaning) and metaphors (two unrelated nouns compared to show a connection)? Write a poem about a person in which you select objects that operate as details and symbols to develop this character. You may make up the character (it does not have to be taken from real life). 
• Make a list of activities, hobbies, information, etc. that you feel you are an expert in. After creating your list, choose one and write a poem using it as a central subject.
• After reading "Chrysanthemums" choose a flower and research its meaning. Then use this meaning to imply your poem's subject, message, or theme. Write that poem.

USE YOUR TIME IN THE LAB TO WRITE!

HOMEWORK: Write at least 3 poems and bring your first drafts to class Thursday. Read the poems in the packet. Learn from them as models. Use them as models for new ideas.