what is poetry?

I love this quote from the book Emily (about Emily Dickinson) by Michael Bedard.  In this tender children's book, Emily befriends a neighbor child who asks her father, "What is poetry?"  This is his poignant reply:

" 'Listen to Mother play.  She practices and practices a piece, and sometimes a magic happens and it seems the music starts to breathe.  It sends a shiver through you.  You can't explain it, really; it's a mystery.  Well, when words do that, we call it poetry.'"

On another occasion, a peer-educator was working with a young writer (elementary age).  She noticed that he'd stopped "working" and was sitting, staring blankly into space.  When she inquired as to what he might be thinking or whether he needed help he said, "No.  I've got the words.  I'm just trying to get the music in them."

Another artist, metal-sculptress, friend of mine was once asked how long it takes to create her pieces of art.  She thought for a minute then replied, "Depends on whether you want me to count the staring."

I so get this need for creative space, this kind of allowing something new, something that has never before existed in the yet to be manifested form to be born.  It requires a deep listening and long, fertile pauses.

In our culture of fast food, instant messaging, multi-media, and multi-tasking this kind of "being still to listen" is a skill that must be taught and nurtured.  And please do not make the mistake that children will learn this in school.  School is the anti-thesis to stillness.  Period.

So for today's prompt, I offer this suggestion:  take your child by the hand; set down the phone; shut down the computers (yes, the Mobigo too); turn off the radio and the television; go outside (away from the noise); stop.  Touch the bark of the elm; smell the river; stick your toes in the mud; name the clouds; mimic the bird calls; lie down on the grass and try to feel the earth spin.

Bring blank (I repeat BLANK not lined) paper and a pencil and some chalk pastel pencils or colored pencils with you.  Record what you notice:  draw an image or use lines and colors only (NO, we are not using the cell phone to record a photograph; we are drawing).  Now write (adults can act as scribe for younger writers), either on the image or on another sheet.  Use sensory words and strong action words to show us what you've seen, felt, heard, and smelled.

Now comment on this post with your work! I'd love to see it.

Pile Poems "Words of Love"

Prompt:  On slips of paper, jot down words or phrases with which you associate love.  Write short descriptions of things you love to do.  Or write words and phrases about people, pets, possessions, foods, nature, places you love, characteristics of love, and or experiences you've had or wish to have of love.  Include objects, smells, sounds, and tastes.

Let these ideas flow freely.  The words and phrases do not have to be categorized nor in any particular order.

Hint (my "Words of Love" pile): swim in the river, sit in a tree swing, sing, nap with my cat in my lap, lollygag, chew chocolate, listen, dance, cuddle, wish, kindness, fuzzy, comfort, sky, listening, smell of hay, stones, feathers, earrings, wet clay, cobalt blue bowl, musty, rosemary, autumn air, gardenia blooms, patchouli oil, Old Spice, silence, rapids, crickets, cat’s purr, heartbeat, wood flute,  sour, salty, buttery, tart

Try It:  Now place your "Words of Love" into a pile and play with the words and phrases, arranging them in different, unusual ways, adding descriptive or connecting words as you will until you find a poem you like in your arrangement.  Record your poem on blank paper.

Hint: Here's a poem created using some of the words from my words of love "pile" on this prompt page:

musty        stones

—silent as salt

cobalt bowl

blue         autumn purrs

crickets

feather passed

tales     to the night

rapids       and rosemary

wait—one

white     gardenia

blooms

P.S.   Try creating other poems from different combinations of your "Words of Love," simply by rearranging the word set.  Or, try making different lists of words you associate with other subjects, objects or experiences.  Then use the above process to compose poems from your piles of words.  The possibilities are endless.

Special Note to Teachers:  This is a great review, evaluation and enrichment tool.  For example, say you've taught a Science lesson on the rain forest.  As a review, and to integrate Science and Language Arts have students work in small groups to brainstorm a word pile from what they remember about the rain forest.  Then ask them to use this process to compose rain forest poems, one as a whole group and then one each individually. To integrate visual art, ask them to illustrate their poem.  This will make a gorgeous, informative, work-product evaluation wall for your classroom or hallway or you can compile the works into an illustrated classroom anthology!

from:  Young Writer's Idea Box, © D. Ellis Phelps (work in progress), 2013, www.dellisphelps.com.  You may use and distribute this page for educational purposes with the above reference.

Example Poem from Character Sketch Prompt

one long dirty nail 

on the index finger 

of his right hand

extends 

perpendicular to the cheese

and club-cracker hors d' oeuvre 

he holds

i shop the isles 

of the grocery store 

debit card in hand

try to decide      between 

generic and name-brand 

soda      whether or not to 

buy ice cream and eye 

this abominable snowman

dressed in army surplus

a wrinkled gray-green canvas 

hat holds down the wiry 

mess salt and pepper spaghetti 

hair     he moves in small 

quick jerks like the squirrel 

in my backyard---wary 

of the watching 

people     he stuffs his 

jacket and khaki shorts

with tooth-picked cubes of holiday 

ham    rocks back and forth 

on the Birkenstock sandals

that moor him---crew socks 

and all to the sample-station 

buffet    i think he looks 

like someone who would

keep his money in tin 

can ---buried    if 

he had any     but he 

probably      lives 

---under the Austin Highway 

bridge     i think he needs 

a bath and i wonder      where

---he'll eat his next meal

i think

he wishes 

winter wouldn't come

from:  Young Writer's Idea Box, © D. Ellis Phelps (work in progress), 2013, www.dellisphelps.com. You may use and distribute this page for educational purposes with the above reference.

Writing Promt: The Character Sketch

Definition:  In a character sketch, you are letting the reader know many things about the character in only a paragraph or two.  It is like drawing a quick pencil sketch rather than doing a full portrait.  The reader should get a general idea about the nature of this person, and know something about how they look and how they live in the world.

Try it:  Use detail to describe someone you know or someone you have seen.  Following are some questions you may answer to get you started. 

• Where did you see him?  Walking down my street; in the airport; sitting on a park bench; on the news…

• What was he doing? Trying to fix his car; yelling out the window…

• What color was his hair?  How long was it?  How was it styled?

• How long or short were his fingernails?  Were they clean or dirty?

• Think of a word to describe his expression:  hateful, comical, stupid, curious, blank…

• How was he dressed?

• Describe his body.  Was he tall, short, lean, fat, muscular, flabby…?

• What does this person do?  He looked like a person who would…kick a dog; take his grandmother out to dinner on Sunday; hide his dirty socks under the bed…

• In what kind of place does he live? A mansion, a shack, a boat…

• How did he walk or move?  Did he saunter, slide, limp, ramble, hobble, or stroll?

•  Did he remind you of an animal, a machine, something in nature, or an object?  He looked like an old, rubber boot, hunched over and worn.

• What kind of things does this person think about, need, or wish?

Challenge:  Create a poem or story using the character you have described.  Illustrate your piece.  Try creating a fictional character.  You can use this list of questions to describe your character, or think of your own ways to help us see her.

from:  Young Writer's Idea Box, © D. Ellis Phelps (work in progress), 2013, www.dellisphelps.com.  You may use and distribute this page for educational purposes with the above reference.

Using Sensory Imagery

Definition:  An image is a picture.  Imagery is the use of pictures.  Sensory has to do with the five senses:  taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight.  So then, sensory imagery is the use of words that bring up pictures about how something tastes, feels, smells, sounds, or looks.

Example:  The metal bucket squirmed with juicy, brown, earthworms. 

Try It:  Add sensory imagery to the following sentences and phrases: 

The breeze blew into the open window.

He groomed his horse.

She ate her dinner.

She looked out the car window.

He was trying to sleep but...

 Hint:  How did the breeze feel?  How did the barn smell?  What was she eating and how did it taste?  What did she see out of the car window?  Describe the noise that woke him up.

 P.S.:  You may completely rearrange the sentences or you may think of your own sentences using sensory imagery.

Challenge:  Now write a poem that is full of sensory imagery.  It might be about a particular meal you like to eat, a certain time of the year, or the smell of your mom's perfume.  How do these things make you feel? 

Let your ideas pour out on BLANK paper like cereal out of a box.  They will have no particular order.  Don't worry about spelling now.  Sound words out.

Next, draw circles around words and phrases that seem to go together.

Now write numbers on each group of circled words or phrases to order your groups.  Decide which idea you want to use first and write a number one on that circle.  Decide which idea you want to use second, and write a number two on that circle and so on until you have all the circles numbered. (These can always be rearranged later).

Now write your poem in its order with each group of ideas on a separate line. 

TaDa!  You have a poem full of sensory imagery.  Read it out loud to hear how it sounds.

Now revise!

Take out non-power words.  That means you will cross out plain words and replace them with picture words.  EX: Instead of The kitten was cute, write "The kitten looked like a rag doll with its head hung over her arm."  

Check to see if your words are spelled correctly.  

Play with the lines of the poem to see how it looks on the page.  For example, you might write a line that looks like this:

i let the stinky green slime

slide down my throat

and you might change it to look like this:

i let the stinky

green slime     s  l  i  d  e

down 

my throat!  

Read your poem out loud to someone.  Ask for comments.  Consider the comments and make changes you think will improve your poem.

Rewrite and polish! 

Write your poem again neatly on nice paper with changes, correct spelling, & new ideas.

Now, with your parent's permission,  post your poem under comments below.  Be sure to include ONLY your first name and your age.  And invite your friends who like to write to try this writing challenge.  Write on!  

from:  Young Writer's Idea Box, © D. Ellis Phelps (work in progress), 2013, www.dellisphelps.com.  You may use and distribute this page for educational purposes with the above reference.