Poetry Friday: Wrestling The Beast

Two things on my mind these days.

The poet in me is all about teaching ekphrastic poetry for the Maryland Humanities Council. (I did my first -- and the program's first -- workshop yesterday. A photo from my class is up on the MHC home page. So cool!)

As a mom, I’m coping with wrestling season. Holiday shopping will have to wait. Unless you’d like a Vipers Wrestling t-shirt.

Our eleven-year-old son began wrestling in second grade. We signed him up because he needed to do something and it was only $50 for a season of clinic! He fell in love with the sport. You’ll get a sense of why if you check out my article on kids’ contact sports in SI Focus Magazine.

I love using Arnold Adoff’s book “Sports Pages” with 5th grade and older students. The book has a poem for just about every sport kids do. Adoff’s style is sensory and playful.

Here’s the beginning of his wrestling poem:

Wrestling The Beast

This guy is an animal. A pig? Squealing sinus breathing. A bear? Hair on his fat arms. A dog? No, not biting, but his chin digging into my collar Bone. A dragon. Easy. Dragon breath. An anaconda snake. His mistake: Choke hold around my neck.

The poem turns (along with the match) in the last stanza. Check out "Sports Pages" to find out what happens. I'm sure the kid's mom is biting her nails.

DJRobMan is wrestling for a travel team this year. Last weekend was his first competitive tournament. He lost in a single elimination round. It was a major achievement to make it to the end of the match without getting pinned.

As for me, I’ll be recommending “Sports Pages” as an extension for my “Totally Ekphrastic! Picturing America Through Poetry” workshop on Thomas Eakins’ image of an athlete: “John Biglin in a Single Scull.”

Kids love writing about the activities they do, whether it’s riding horses, gymnastics, art classes, or practicing trombone. Eakins’ watercolor is sensory in its own way – I hope it will be a great jumping off point for some active poetry.

I’ll let you know how the lesson goes. Today, I’m off to a much-needed writing retreat with our SCBWI Asst. Regional Adviser, Edie Hemingway & hope to write some poetry of my own.

Speaking of favorite books, this week’s Poetry Friday Round Up is at Mommy’s Favorite Children’s Books.

More Poetry Pockets

My third graders at Norwood Elementary had a great time creating their poetry pockets yesterday and today.

Our model poem is "Eliza's Jacket" by Calef Brown. We borrow the first two lines of Brown's poem, then let our imaginations take flight.

Cherie Lurz's morning class came up with this group poem:

I have a jacket,

a jacket made of pockets.

In pocket #29, I have snowy days.

I take one out

when I'm getting hot,

so I can get cold

and play in the snow.

I take one out

whenever I'm bored,

so I can have a snowball fight

or make a snowman,

or sled down a hill.

I take one out

whenever I want a day off

from school,

to curl up by the fire

with hot cocoa

and read a book.

(The last stanza suggested by an under-the-weather Ms. Lurz!)

Julia Kerner's class has had dinosaurs on the brain since I gave them a dino "Grow-Creature" to be their poetry mascot. (It is pink. Its name is Waffles the Dinosaur.)

Here is their group effort:

I have a jacket,

a jacket made of pockets.

In pocket 26 I have a dinosaur egg.

It cracks open

and a triceratops comes out.

I collect fruit for it to eat,

so when it grows it can give me

rides around town.

The neighbors would pass out!

Miss Flanigan's class was hungry:

In pocket 32,

I have my own McDonald's.

I'd get chocolate milk shakes

and salty fries and a Big Mac

whenever I wanted.

I would smell delicious.

And a handful of Ms. Lurz's students sat down with me today to compose this wildly imaginative poem:

I have a jacket,

a jacket made of pockets.

In pocket 5,000,003

I have an elephant,

so I can take showers

instead of baths.

In pocket 100,

I have a monster

with a green face,

purple hair and black teeth,

and a furry body,

to help me

scare away bullies.

The monster and the elephant fight

because the elephant tries

to spray the monster's teeth

to clean them,

so in pocket #506

I have a brick wall

to separate them all.

I love how this last poem begins to veer into narrative.

Hope your students had fun with their pocket poems, too. Again, if you'd like full instructions on the lesson and craft, visit http://www.mrspoems.com/.

Tomorrow, I'll be in a celebratory mood -- working on Odes with students at Ellicott City, MD's Bonnie Branch Middle.