M&Ms and Imagist Poems at Taft

On my first week with them, Ms. Taylor’s 8th Grade class dove right into creating Imagist-style poems, patterned after The Locust Tree In Flower by country doctor and poet, William Carlos Williams. We talked a bit about how a poem is literally a ‘made thing’ (from the Greek) and how its lines are just as important as the white space that abuts the poem. To help illustrate this point of breveity, each student took a spoonful of M&Ms and was asked to create their own Imagist-style poem using the number of candies in their cup. The color covering of each chocolate dictated what part of speech they could use to describe an item that each of us could see either inside the classroom or outside the window. Brevity was key and after the poems were created, we guessed (from their descriptions) what item the poet may be describing! Students were encouraged to experiment with made-up words, such as ‘ferncool’ in William’s poem. Here are some samples. (M&Ms not included).

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, 1st Period

My Desk Ariel H.

Above
Dirty
graphite
old
Metallic
Sitting
gummydingy
greybore
sitting
staring
dopeyeyed
lazyheaded
molassesclock

Collapse of Jerries Jacob T.

High
above
jumping
jolly
jittering
Jerries
fell

Outside of the Window Liz T.

Of
green
grass
blue
calm
skies

The Outside Danilo V.

Frozipitation
student
walking
tree
on
car
Driving

Spring Snow Mikaila P.

Walking
on
snow
in
Spring
soaring
you
flancercul

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, 3rd Period

That One Kid Andreen I.

Through
Classroom
crunchy
munchy
chips
behind
me
slurping
through
thick
smoothie
beside
me
baffle
bestest
cutestest
kid
that
eats
through
class
the
students
in
class

Dog Adam G.

Collar
Smelly
Smart
Running
Jumping
Bite
Fleeb

Snow Natasha B.

Around
cold
ran
fast
flakes
snow
house
branches
children
schumuffle
clonci
swam
kicked
licked

The Hibiscus Flower Tiffany T.

Across
the
board
lies
blossoming
hot-hotpink
shcides
of
all
kinds

10 Lines Juliana F.

Among
Blue
skies
running
jumping
Diving
populis
people
supcarnate
amusingly

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, 6th Period

Untitled Lexis T.

run
hide
cold
white
I
am
the
leader

American Flag Shannon T.

By
Red
Loving
Blue
Whitewash
Inbetween
flying
swooshing
swaying
flag
royalty

Snow Patrick A.

White
Chunky
Snow
Falling
From
The
Big
Tree
Swaying
To
The
Direction
Of
Windaboos
Grass
Accepting
H 2 O
Ice
Melting
Sunlight

Snow Yuan O.

Our
brite
mintcool
snow
underneath
graywhite
hugelong
clouds
blowing
through
cold
air
above
shning
coldpiercing
frozenred
faces

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, 7th Period

Prepositions Marcus W.

White
Words
Taylorscratch (Tay-Tay’s handwriting)
Confusing
list
Brain
Ouch!
Not
Verbs
Nouns
New

Snow Blizzard Vincent M.

Frost
Biting
Wind
before
Marrowblow
burnt
frozen
ice
needles
inside
skies
stricknight
current
beyond
brainbuck
frost
without
crystal
Humberbite
outside
hail

2 or Cup Ann K.

Inside
Hold
Capture
Warren
Candy-Catcher
Orparters

Television Emma B.

viscow
atop
falling
apaster
shining
glowing
colorless
flying
schow
across
showing
glasorsh
snashaloop
classroom

Ms. Taylor 8th Grade, 8th Period

Snowy Weather Katherine V.

Into
Vast
Skies
Filling
Quickly
Snowflakes
Crashing
Withon
Faces
Abruptly
Swinter

Morica Max S.

Starred
Spangled
Mounted
Wall
Wave
Sploofy
US
Obama
rule
flagorious

Winter Sarah B.

Through
Falling
Snow
Flakes
Comes
Swinter
on
my
hair, cheeks & hands
cold
as
death

Flag Manny L.

Rough
Tight
Stiff
Old
dirty
square
saluting
representing
thin
Blue
Red
White