A Tree Grows at Washington!

My first day at Washington began in a roomful of expectant students: Mrs. Nazimek’s 8th Grade classroom. After introductions, and some votes on ‘Who reads poetry?’ (Among the ‘yeses’ and ‘no’s’ there were also some promising ‘undecideds), we delved right into a discussion on Poetry’s meaning. One idea I introduced was the Greek etymology of the word ‘Poetry’ (poein) which means to ‘pile up,’ or to make, create or compose.’ We discussed where poetry ‘hides’ in our daily lives via commercials, music lyrics, and jingles. Then it was off to pen a quick Imagist/Minimalist poem like William Carlos Williams’, The Locust Tree In Flower. I read them two versions of this poem, and asked them to pattern their version on the shorter of the two. With as little wording as possible, I asked them to describe something they saw on the way to school or regularly. Here are some of their Imagist Poems and Experiments in Minimalism. Enjoy!