Poetry Friday Writing Exercise

Writing Exercise (Recommended for All Ages) Narrative Poems Poems can tell a story just as well as fiction can. A poem is a great form for capturing a quick episode (like the Galway Kinnell poem, “The Sow Piglet’s Escape” http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2005/02/01) or a even swash-buckling epic like “The Highwayman.” http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/highwayman-orig.html Let’s stick with the theme of loss, which comes up in both poems. Write a narrative poem about something you lost. It can be a pet, a friend, your glasses. Did you find it again? Think about showing (not telling) how you feel about the thing you lost. Another poem on this theme to share with kids is (frequent Dodge Festival reader) Naomi Shihab Nye’s “The Lost Parrot.” (I was not able to find it online, but it is in her collection, Words Under the Words.)