“Phillip/ Philips/ Philippians”: Short Name Poems

‘I celebrate and sing myself…‘-Walt Whitman

Students explored names through a series of prompts which began with a reading of a girl named jack by Jaqueline Woodson, What occurs in the naming of someone or something? How does it sound when spoken? How does it feel to be announced or announce someone by their name? Who speaks the name as you do?

‘…the name a person bears through life is something [they] must carry, and it is sometimes the only thing others have to judge you by before they meet you. Your name travels ahead of you like a portent of things to come, a thing from which others make assumptions about people.’-Tim Lockwood, Writer.

Lesson Note: Writer Kim Addonizio once told the publication, Contemporary Authors: “Writing is an ongoing fascination and challenge, as well as being the only form of spirituality I can consistently practice. I started as a poet and will always return to poetry—both reading and writing it—for that sense of deep discovery and communion I find there. I can think of only two useful rules for aspiring writers: learn your craft, and persist. The rest, as Henry James said, is the madness of art.”