Poetry as Play - The Chicago Poetry Center

Poetry as Play

Today in Ms. Reed’s 3rd grade, we talked about play and surprise. We talked about how poetry can give us tools to express some of our deepest emotions and thoughts, while also giving us a place to play with language and tap into our weird inner small kids.

To practice getting in touch with this silly side of ourselves, we read Valerie Worth’s poem “Paper Clip,” and then came up with the most surprising similes and metaphors we could for the most boring objects in the room. We stretched our imaginations by expanding these comparisons into short poems.

Ms. Reed 3rd Grade

The Protractor Annie

The protractor cleans away the mess like

a broom. Sweeps like a moving car, sharp

sides that can bite you. Sweeps away like a

black chair, but a shark is sitting on it.

Light Bulb Adam

Light bulb is like a glowing

cat eye in the dark. Meow, meow.

The Ruler Looks Like Inas

A big shark with teeth that are

shaped like numbers, has colorful

skin, has friends that look like a

pencil and paper and they went to

a party in Venus and they played

instruments and ate snacks and played

games.