Cristian Iohan Ştefănescu via Compfight
We’ve begun to write “small thing” poems in class using Valerie Worth’s poems as mentors.
Thought I’d post some of the ones I wrote as mentors for the kids along with the short free-writes (I call those DISCOVERY WRITING) that I used to generate ideas for them.
Here is a link to the Google Doc that I used to help explore “small thing” poetry.
* * * * * * * * *
DISCOVERY WRITING: blank paper. There is nothing quite like that feeling of a blank piece of paper, or a blank computer screen just before writing. I am scared of that, but, if the paper is like a farm field in the winter, then maybe I can plant something in that “field” when I start “ploughing” away?
blank paper
This piece of blank paper
sits on the table
like a snow covered field
waiting to be planted.
First letters grow into words,
words grow to sentences,
and sentences become stories
that give food for the heart.
Fox…
*swift, cunning, smart, intent, focussed
DISCOVERY WRITING: Fox…I think of a video that I once saw of a fox hunting.
I want to catch that intensity in the poem. I wonder how I can create this intensity? I read a poem once that used very short sentences to help create a feeling of anticipation. I might try that to help me.
fox
Fox cocks his ears
blinks his eyes
and hears
beneath the snow
a vole scurrying.
Stop. Crouch.
Lean. Leap.
Jump. Thump.
He buries his nose
and snaps.
Dog collar
DISCOVERY WRITING. Dog collar – old and stained, but I remember when I first got it. Now has been on the necks of two different dogs. Was worn by the first one when he died. The second one is very old now and I am thinking of the good times we’ve had together.
dog collar
A dog collar
woven tight,
bright blue
smelling new,
around the
dog’s neck
grows old,
picks up
the stains
of life.
telephone pole
DISCOVERY WRITING. telephone pole. Simile: a telephone pole can look so tied down like a person filled with worries and fear. Sometimes, though, the telephone pole can seem to sprint on by like someone who is on a quest. Maybe I’ll play with that idea of being stuck and then free? Personification might be the way to go…I could have the telephone pole “be” a person who is stuck and then finds freedom…?
telephone pole
Sometimes,
you stand,
burdened,
your
feet buried
deep in clay,
your arms
tied by thick
heavy wires.
But sometimes,
when I glance up
from my own
trip
down the road,
I see
you sprint
past me –
swift
and free.