Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. - T.S. Eliot
This volume is all about POETRY.
Challenge 1
This Thursday, April 30, is Poem in Your Pocket Day! On Thursday, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it safely with everyone that you can.
Start by searching for poems you love. Find them in books, on Epic, or by searching "poems for kids" online. Copy down or save your favorites to share. Or, write an original poem!
On Thursday, fill your pocket with a poem! Pull it out and read it to everyone in your house throughout the day.
Be creative to share your poem with the world. Could you write on large paper and hang it outside? Could you write it on your driveway with sidewalk chalk?
Parents: you can share poems on social media using the hashtag #pocketpoem
Find more information and poetry at https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/poem-your-pocket-day
Challenge 2
Explore some reverso poems from the book Mirror, Mirror, A Book of Reverso Poems. These are poems that mean one thing when reading them forward, but another thing when read in reverse. Here's a little example:
A cat without a chair: Incomplete.
Incomplete. A cat without a chair.
See how it works? It's kind of like a palindrome.
Now it's YOUR turn. Can you write a reverso poem? Here are some tips from Marilyn Singer:
- Find a story, subject, or character with two sides.
- Start with a few lines that can be flipped so they make sense in reverse.
- Select phrases that can be turned into questions and interjections.
- Use a lot of participles, infinitives, and single word sentences.
- The reversos have changes only in punctuation and capitalization, so get to know punctuation — how can you use a comma, period, dash, colon, semi-colon, etc.?
- Write the poem on the computer so you can move the lines around until they make sense.
- Don’t get discouraged — reversos are hard to write. Play and have fun!
Challenge 3
A pendulum is an instrument that swing back and forth at a very predictable rate. Can you build a pendulum by tying a weight (or something small and heavy) on a string or shoelace?
Swing your pendulum and record your observations. What do you notice about the swing when you change the length?
A lot of poetry has a natural rhythm to it which is called its meter. How can you use this as a metronome to keep a steady beat as you read a piece of rhythmic poetry? Record yourself and share your performance.
Challenge 4
Read duet poetry! Duet means two. The poetry book Joyful Noise, Poems for Two Voices is impossible to read without a partner. Every poem is only complete when two people read it aloud!
Find a reading partner a try reading Paul Fleischman's duet poem called "Fireflies". Practice over and over with your partner until you can read it together with expression. It's more challenging than you might think!
Challenge 5
Create art and poetry at the same time with blackout poetry! For this type of poetry, you eliminate words to create a poem.
Start by finding a newspaper or magazine article. Go through with a pencil, and lightly draw a box around words you want to save. Color everything else so that just the words you boxed stand out.
Poet Austin Kleon is an expert at Blackout Poetry. Watch an instructional video from him here.
Find more examples from other poetry artists here.
Make sure to share your final product!
Credits:
Created with images by Allie Smith - "Let nothing dim the light that shines from within. -Maya Angelou" • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image" • Julian Santa Ana - "untitled image" • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image" • Unknown - "Photo Displays Person Holding Ball With Reflection of ..." • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image" • Mike Von - "untitled image" • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image" • Unknown - "Two Gray Condenser Microphones · Free Stock Photo" • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image" • Sandra Seitamaa - "untitled image"