30 Habits of Highly Effective Poets #23: Kathy Figueroa on Chores

Kathy Figueroa is one of the many wonderful poets I've met through the 100,000 Poets for Change initiative. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

Kathy has a series of poems about chores. What a great way to turn housework into a source of joy -- by writing about it. It's a new angle on whistle while you work. (For another poet on this subject, check out Julia Alvarez.)

I have been working on simple odes with some fifth graders this week. They love the idea that a few juicy similes and hyperbole can make something as ordinary as masking tape sound amazing! (I even made on-the-spot masking tape art to prove the point.) It's the power of tone. Of course, we talked about Pablo Neruda's Odes to Common Things -- a category which Kathy's poem falls into.

Here is Kathy:

I wrote, 'Ode To Housework,' in practically no time at all because I felt tremendously inspired to sit down and write instead of getting directly to work tidying up the house. (I will say that my yard looks very nice, though.)

Ode To Housework
~by Kathy Figueroa

It's time to clean
This house
Though I'm allergic
To dust
Someone will
Be over soon
So tidying
Is a must
Let me think
Of this drudgery
As something
That's actually fun
Otherwise, it's going
To be awhile
Before I get this
Housework done
Let me delight in
Washing the floor
Instead of thinking
It's such a chore
The cat boxes
Will be fun to change
I'll whistle a tune
As I rearrange
The laundry will go
In the washing machine
The plants
Will be watered
So they stay green
Scrubbing the sink
Won't take as
Long as I think
And then, after I do
I'll polish the loo
Cobwebs can be swept
Away with a broom
Then I'll vacuum
The living room
(Note to myself:
Remember to take care
And make sure I get
All the dog and cat hair)
Yes, I guess
My house is a mess
I could do more
And procrastinate less
Then, in no time
This house
Would be clean
And I'd be
The happiest
Person you've seen

('Ode To Housework,' was first published in The Bancroft Times newspaper on January 5, 2012.)

The Bancroft Times included this illustration "originally made from engravings created, in large part, by renowned artisans, Thomas and John Bewick, date from prior to 1784!"

You can read more of Kathy's work -- including several more from her "housework" series, at her Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/Kathy.Figueroa.Poetry

You can also find clips of Kathy reading her work on YouTube.

Simple Odes

One of my favorite poetry workshops for schools is writing simple odes.

I use the same model poem for elementary and secondary students, Gary Soto's "Ode to Pablo's Tennis Shoes." (There's a printable version for teachers here.)

With younger students, I ask everyone to take off a shoe and write an ode to it. They need a tactile object to smell, touch, and see in order to write a juicy ode. I've posted the full lesson and some elementary responses here.

Middle schoolers understand the use of tone in a simple ode. The words and phrases we use give the reader a new, elevated experience of an every day object. These students no longer need the support of an assigned topic.

I've had wonderful odes on the EXIT sign in the classroom, a bookmark, and in Sarah P's very juicy ode, an orange.

Ode to the Orange 

by Sarah P. (7th Grade, St. Jane Frances School)

The small sphere of sunshine

is revealed as the knife

slices into the golden flesh

of the orange halves.

Juice swells from the orange,

ready to burst

as it        d

                r

                i

                p

                s

d

  o

     w

         n

from the knife

like the color of

precious honey.

The golden tiles of the orange

piece together

like glass forming a mosaic.

As the fragrance

of the orange rises

the divine aroma gathers around me,

tempting me to take a bite.

I can’t resist and sink my teeth in,

getting a sneak peek of heaven.

Posted with permission of the poet and her family.

I love Sarah's playfulness in this poem. The descriptions themselves aren't enough to capture the experience of eating an orange, so she uses some concrete-poem techniques to add to the reader's sensory experience of this "bright object."

Thanks to St. Jane Frances School in Pasadena, MD for allowing me to share student work. I'll be back with more middle school poems tomorrow as we gear up for National Poetry Month.