All posts in Haines

““Wake up”, “Wake up” “Wake up”, “Wake up.:” Repetition Poems

We explored the powerful device of Repetition in Phil Kaye’s poem of the same name. Some poems in our workshop are ‘after’ Kaye’s work. Lesson Note: “Repetition can make magic happen-repeat a word or […]

“La la la la la la la la Cupid melody stuck in my head”: Meditation Poems

Students participated in a short meditation and breathing exercise. I read them I Close My Eyes by David Ignatow. After the meditation, they were asked to write whatever came to mind. Classwork was conducted […]

“Kind heart. We/ Are smart. We”: Gwendolyn Brooks-style Poems

Students read Gwendolyn Brooks’ classic poem, ‘We Real Cool’ before crafting their own ‘cool’ poems using their own words and ideas for what is cool, rhyme repetition, and the short form. We Real Cool […]

“But I haven’t got one yet”: Name Poems

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts, beginning with a reading of a girl named jack by Jaqueline Woodson and Name That Means Holy in Greek by […]

“Picking up anything it devours”: Video-Inspired Poems

Students watched a bear cam video similar to the one described in the poem we studied, ‘There was this bear cam’ by critic and poet, Sandra Simonds. Sandra Simonds charts the formations and deformations […]

“Do anything you want/The limits are the sky/ Only one restriction apply”: Portrait Poems

Students read Instructions to the Artist by Billy Collins before crafting their own portrait-inspired poems. Lesson Note: According to findings by the leading researcher on the power of writing and journaling for healing purposes, […]

“To another holding room until she went upstairs to stay”: To the Stars

Students read a student poem that used personification to talk to a star before trying their hands at their own poems addressing something… bigger than themselves while using words from legendary poet/teacher Kim Addonizio’s […]

“But as a ghost, watching over you, giving a sign of presence.”: Table Poems

A common household object became the focus of this lesson while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps The World Ends Here. The poet James Merrill once commented, ‘we understand history from the family around the […]

“In the hot Summer/Radio ready/ Blue leather walls”: Memory Poems

Students wrote poems about recent and not-so-recent memories and continued working with short lines and sometimes minimalism. Lesson Note: “To get the right word in the right place is a rare achievement…Anybody can have […]

“After the glory of the day”: Night Poems

Students doodled and drew pictures of what happens at night before they drift off to sleep and then wrote short poems using sensory details. Lesson Note: “Do stuff. Be clenched, curious. Not waiting for […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET