'Walkedon': William Carlos Williams Revisited

‘Walkedon’: William Carlos Williams Revisited

The first day of my 10 week residency at Taft with their 8th Grade classroom was filled with energy! The students were eagerly brilliant and so we dug right in to examine William Carlos William’s minimalist Imagist style poem, The Locust Tree in Flower. This poem is inspired by William’s interest in minimal / abstract art of the day (1930s). Lesson Note: I like using this poem as a starter. As students juggle words and grammar line by line to describe an object, their attention is turned ‘inside the box’ of a simple poetic form. How do we describe something using minimal words/language. What words do we use/make up? Here are some of their wonderful examples.

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, Period One

Clouds Oliva P.

blue
lively
dancing
above
soft
fluffy
glittery
flowing

Wind Frank K.

slowly
calm
passive
collective
cool

Untitled Alana R.

Peeking
Above
Clouds
Sun
Emerging

Dog Victor B.

House
On
fast thinker
Quickly
Lazy
Under
Loyal
Next-to
slowly
Happy-sleeper

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, Period Two

The Hospital Jacob S.

Near
the
sickers
dark
Hospital
hide

grass Ian K.

grass
quietly
sits
green
contently
onground
sometimes
muddy
walkedon
always

The Yellow FieldGoal Emanuel C.

Fieldgoal
Near
Above
Beneath
Stands
Sits
Faded
Dead
Calm

The Grass Sona S.

Green
Messily
Spikes
Throughout
Lifeland
Jaded
Dimly
Irritation

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, Period Three

Us Sam A.

nearly
naïve
notion

The People I See Hope Z.

tired
slowworking
on
slowly
trudging
dreadful

Traffic Bethany B.

Cars
Speeding
Vronk
Tires
Squiiring
Tired
Air
Slowly
Peprollow
Carefully

Snow Allyson C.

Calm
Gently beneath our feet
Eager
Icy
Instantly
Innocent
Beautiful
Down to the ground
Throughout

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, Period Six

Rush Franky W.

People rushing
lives separate
make their ways swiftly to work
mindthrough the haze

Rainy Day Kenijah T.

Gloomy

Sleepy

Pool Floor Vedikak V.

slimy
cold
wet
hairy
disgustingly
nearly
easily
lazily
pool
floor
keploosh

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, Period Seven

Window Lauren B.

cloudy

ice

frosty

Inside

Against

door

City Silhouettes (buildings) Catherine G.

Among

towering

brikkering

dancing

Fallen Pole Sebastian F.

Falling
Crushing
Roughly
Intensely
Scarefully
Broken
Fence
Intercepting
Polecrash

The Fallen Pole