'When I go to the water ...': Exquisite Corpse-Style Group Poems

‘When I go to the water …’: Exquisite Corpse-Style Group Poems

Working on poetic lines, students crafted visual and then poetic Exquisite Corpses! Afterward, they were challenged to create a clay figure of one of their collective group drawings! Below are some images and some of the group poems created. Students created topics around which to craft their surprising poems, which unfold as you see below, with the poetic line preceding the new writing invisible to the group of writers crafting the poem until the entire whimsical work is revealed at the end of the process.

Lesson Note: Cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) is a collaborative writing and drawing approach first used by surrealist artists to create bizarre and intuitive drawings.

“When you make art, and you don’t really know what’s going to happen, you’re involved in the mystery that life really is.”-Judy Tuwaletsiwa, an 80-year-old artist from Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us, 2023, Ross and Magsamen

Ms. Romano 7th Grade

Shoes Koi, Danniya, Malik, and Antonio

I wear my shoes everywhere I
go.

I think of my shoes at night and
day.

There are a lot of different shoes to choose
from.

I like to wear my favorite
pair of shoes daily

Ms. Turner 6th Grade

Snowy Winter Dnae, Kennedy, and Johan

Its snowy season
it is super chilly
it is winter break
so now we chillin’

I drink that cocoa
I watch my shows
Winter season is when it snows
I see snowflakes they shine they
glow.

Winter is fun
Winter is cold
When I go to the water
park it is closed

Ms. Romano 7th Grade

Under the Weather Antonio, Makyi, Tyrone

I don’t like the cold but
I like the 25th, but I want
to say something positive, I love that
sports like football are more fun
have you ever played football in
extremely cold temperatures?
It’s extremely fun when it’s played
I enjoyed it a lot

The chilly breeze in the middle of
the hollering and laughter of children
having snowball fights and going back
in the house to go drink hot
cocoa after a long day of
playing in the cold weather.
I also enjoy playing sports
in the winter around this time
it gets better, and it’s cold.

Winter has cold temperatures and very shiny
Christmas trees each year and gifts for everyone
and it’s really fun around this
time because you get presents.

Ms. Turner 6th Grade

Exsclosive's Connell, Chino, and Neveeah

Shoes are very expensive and really nice-looking

Shoes express people and other things

Shoes are the best thing in that
that’s why you see them so much!