FREE CHOICE POETRY

Florian, Douglas. Shiver Me Timbers: Pirate Poems & Paintings. Illustrated by Robert Neubecker. New York: Beach Lane Books, 2012.

Douglas Florian’s Shiver Me Timbers: Pirate Poems and Paintings is full of fun and color.  The poems are filled with rhyme and rhythm, making these poems a delight to read aloud.  Listening to these poems allows the readers’ imaginations to run wild.

“Blackbeard” has the sound of a limerick, but, like other poets before him, Florian used a little poetic license.  Limericks typically have ending rhymes in the first, second, and fifth lines, with the third and fourth lines rhyming with each other.  The stanzas in Florian’s poem have ending rhymes in second and fifth lines along with rhymes in third and fourth lines.

The illustrations are bold, colorful, and a bit cartoonish.  They hold a definite appeal for children and, when coupled with Florian’s poems, keep children moving through the pages.

There is no table of contents or index, but it doesn't feel as if anything is missing. The poems could be read in any order and still have the same effect...giggling, laughter, and smiles.  Even though the poems do not employ a myriad of forms and techniques, the poems are fun and children will love them.

“Me, Pirate”

by Douglas Florian

Me nose is long.

Me ears look wrong.

Me face makes children cry.

Me scraggly beard

Is very weird.

Me breath makes flowers die.

I am a brute.

Not one bit cute.

A really rotten egg.

I’m four feet high,

Missing one eye.

I have a wooden leg.

Me skin has moles.

Me teeth have holes.

I’ve gnarly, knobby knees.

Me voice is hoarse,

But what is worse,

Me foot smells like Swiss cheese.

I’m bony thin,

Ugly as sin.

I’ve got a six-inch scar.

But never –

            the –

                        less,

Despite

            all

                        me

                                    mess,

I am a movie starrrr!

Before reading this poem:

Ask the students to describe a pirate.  While reading the lines of the poem, have students draw the pirate described in the poem.

Follow-up:

Ask students to write their own description poem.  Choose a item and list everything you can think of to describe that item.  Use the descriptions to write a poem in any poetry form.

POETRY BY KIDS

Lyne, Sandford. Ten-Second Rainshowers: Poems by Young People. Illustrated by Virginia Halstead. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1996.

Ten-Second Rainshowers is a compilation of poems from one hundred-thirty school age children.  Sandford Lyne (1945-2007), accomplished poet, taught poetry workshops in numerous schools, touching the minds (and pens) of over 27,000 children. 

Lyne divided the book into six chapters, each titled after a line in one of the poems included in the chapter.  Virginia Halstead’s colorful oil paintings, along with quotes from various authors open each chapter.

All of the poems are written in free-verse form, the only instructions being that the poems should not rhyme.  The age of the poets drives the topics, with students writing about parents and love and friendship.  Many of the poems are particularly sad, dealing with bullying, desertion, and death.

The poets did use many different elements; one example is in “Wonder to My Eyes”  in which the author uses ‘I wonder’ as the repetitive phrase and ‘my thoughts’ are repeated throughout the poem with the same title.

Similes, such as “Children are like precious flowers” in the poem “Children” and “thoughts like honey” in “A Boat of Blue” help readers see the images the poets felt as they were writing.

Several poets used personification to appeal to readers’ senses.  “Spring and winter fight for custody of the season” is such an accurate way of describing that time of year that is not winter but hasn’t yet turned to spring.

The index includes a list of the poets.  This would enable family members and friends to locate the exact poem more easily.

"My Life is a Buried Treasure"

by Dawn Withrow

grade 3

My life is

a buried treasure

to me.  I want

to find it.

I dig all day.

It is hard

to find it

all by myself.

Before reading this poem:

Ask the students about buried treasures.  What do they think they might be?

How is life like a buried treasure?  (This question alone could spark great conversation.)

Follow-up:

Ask students to think about comparing two unlike things.  Make a list of all the ways they are alike.  Write a metaphor poem, or a poetry form of your choosing, but remember – DO NOT RHYME.  (Just like the poets in the book.)

JANECZKO COLLECTION POETRY

Janeczko, Paul B. Seeing the Blue Between: Advice and Inspiration for Young Poets. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press, 2002.

Paul B. Janeczko compiled a collection filled with advice to young poets.  The poets, from Bruchac to Yolen along with thirty others, all share poetry-writing advice with readers.  The reader almost senses that the author is talking to them, sharing a snippet from the wealth of their poetry experiences.  Readers are told to use poems, songs, and films to inspire their poetry (Siv Cedering), collect words, sentences, and lines (Robert Farnsworth), and read (Adam Ford, Andrew Hudgins, and J. Patrick Lewis)

Beyond their words of encouragement, poets shared a poem or two with readers to illustrate their advice.  The poems varied in form, an excellent way of showing readers that writing poetry, and the poems themselves, cannot be boxed into any one description.

Many of the poems had rhyme schemes, and most followed the same rhyming pattern.  Kalli Dakos’ “My Writing is an Awful Mess” and Michael Dugan’s “Don’t Tell Me” both show the popular rhyme scheme found throughout the anthology: A-B-C-B.

The various poets shared free verse poems, shape poems, and persona poems, as well as many others.  Ralph Fletcher’s “Playing with Fire” is an example of free verse, with no rhyme and only one punctuation mark, a period at the end.  The shape poem shared by Douglas Florian, “The Whirligig Beetles,” was written in a circle, depicting the motion of the beetle described.  In “Maple Shoot in the Pumpkin Patch,” Kristine O’Connell George has taken on the persona of a maple shoot, writing the poem from the perspective of “helicoptering past your kitchen window last fall.”

Metaphors and similes are found scattered throughout several poems, providing a way for readers to see and feel what the poets are seeing and feeling.  Lee Bennett Hopkins writes, “Subways are people” and goes on to describe what that looks like.  In talking about fog, Marilyn Singer writes, “the sky is a liar” and “the streetlights float like UFOs.”  Janet Wong writes about families and says “Our family is a quilt of odd remnants patched together.”  All of these examples of figurative language give readers the ability to see things the way the poet sees them and yet, at the same time, helps them see things for themselves.

Some of the poems are meant to evoke emotion or take readers to a place in their own memories.  In Bobbi Katz’ poem, “When Granny Made My Lunch,” readers thoughts automatically go back to memories of their own grandparents.  George Ella Lyon takes readers back to their own roots with “Where I’m From.”  Home and family and emotions knock at readers subconscious, bringing memories with them.

The table of contents lists the poets, in alphabetical order, along with the poems included in the collection.  The index lists each of the poems by first line, providing an additional method of searching.  Janeczko also included notes about each author, sharing their background, inspirations, careers, and hometowns.

“Quilt”

by Janet Wong

Our family

is a quilt

of odd remnants

patched together

in a strange

pattern,

threads fraying,

fabric wearing thin –

but made to keep

its warmth

even in bitter

cold.

Before reading this poem:

Bring in a quilt to show students.  Give them a chance to study it: look at it, touch it, describe it, explain why it’s useful, etc.  Write the list on chart paper.

            Ask students:  How could we compare the quilt to a family? 

Follow-up:

Allow students time to choose an item from a box you provide (box might contain any myriad of objects: book, fruit, toy, box of markers, etc.)

Ask students to study it, much the same way they studied the quilt.  Have them keep a list of their observations.

Next, have them choose a slip of paper (papers contain people- friend, grandmother, grandfather, mother, father, brother, sister, neighbor, etc.).
Ask students to write a poem similar to Wong’s, one in which they compare their person to the object they chose from the box.

SIDMAN POETRY

Sidman, Joyce. This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness. Illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co, 2007.

Joyce Sidman took on the personas of Mrs. Merza’s sixth grade students when she wrote the poems in This is Just to Say.  The premise of the book is that Mrs. Merza’s class read the poem “This is Just to Say”, by William Carlos Williams.  The “students” imitated the style or concept of Williams’ poem and liked them enough to create a book.  Many of the poems are written in free-verse form, but the book includes a haiku, a poem for two voices, and a pantoum.  The poems are divided into two parts: Apologies and Responses.

Writing as sixth graders, Sidman wrote poems of apology and the responses to those apologies.  They range from funny to serious to sad.  In “Brownies – Oops!” Maria writes a somewhat humorous account of the time she snuck to the kitchen and stole a huge brownie from the middle of the pan.  Her poem is an apology to her mom, and the last stanza speaks sixth grade perfectly:

            “My head said, Oops!

            but my stomach said, Heavenly.”

Tenzin pens a serious poem with “It Was Quiet.”  This poem is about a dog being euthanized and the feelings that accompany that event.  The feelings of the fictitious author are evident in the last two stanzas:

            “I’m so sorry we had to do this.

            We wanted to save you some pain.

            I hope we did the right thing.

            Is death ever right?

            I don’t know, but I hated having to choose it.

            And I hate the quiet in our house

            Without you.”

The seriousness of Jewel’s poem, “Next Time,” trickles out a little at a time.  The author’s father left and the child apologizes for everything she believes she ever did wrong.  By the end of the poem she is begging her father to come home.

            “Please, please come back.

            Don’t leave me spinning alone,

            like a slow, sad tornado.

            I’m sorry, Daddy.

            Next time I’ll be

            perfect.”

The responses are just as poignant, with Maria’s mom apologizing for her own transgressions, the custodian sharing the story of euthanizing his own dog, and Maria creating a poem from the too emotional letter her father sent.

Pamela Zagatenski’s illustrations are whimsical compilations of hand-drawn pictures and computer generated art.  Many of the pages include the dictionary definition of apology worked into the illustration in some way.

“Spelling Bomb”

by Joyce Sidman (as Anthony)

I can’t believe I lost.

I know I disappointed you.

Do you really thin I don’t care?

I know how important it is to win.

I know I disappointed you;

I saw it in your face when I misspelled.

I know how important it is to win;

I studied hours and hours.

I saw it in your face when I misspelled.

I saw you turn away from me.

Even though I study hours and hours,

I never seem to be your champion.

I saw you turn away from me

and in that moment would have given anything

to be your champion.

To see your bright, triumphant pride.

In this moment, I would give anything –

do you really think I don’t care? –

for your bright, triumphant pride,

which I can’t believe I lost.

by Anthony

Before reading this poem:

Ask students if they’ve ever done anything they are sorry about.  Allow them time to talk to their shoulder partner or group about things they may want to apologize for.     

Follow-up:

Explain the pantoum poem form to students, as this may be new to them.  See page 22 of This is Just to Say.

           

Pairs of students will write apology and response poems either as themselves or pretending to be someone (or something) else, choosing any poetic form (haiku, diamanté, pantoum, etc.) that appeals to them.  Each will write the apology poem, swap poems, and write a response poem to their partner.