NPM 50 State Tour: Illinois

The Prairie State has had a poet laureate since 1936. Past P.Ls include Carl Sandburg and Gwendolyn Brooks.

Illinois' current poet laureate is Kevin Stein, who is a well respected literary critic as well as a poet. Read an interview with Stein here.

Before we check out Stein's poetry, here is a youth poem featured on his website. Stein is a champion of kids writing poetry -- you'll find some great work by children on his site. Yay!

Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School, 6th grade
by Rebecca


Aged Cheese
 

People are like cheese.
When cheese is first made, it does not have
strong flavor.
When a child is born, it has not discovered
all its senses.
As the cheese ages, it gets more flavor.
As the child grows, it explores the world.
When the cheese is sold, it lives in
a refrigerator.
When people become adults, they get a job,
have a family, and buy a house.
Eventually, the cheese gets forgotten,
it gets moldy and is fed to a dog,
or eventually when you are old,
your kids move away
and after a long hard life
you lie down to rest
for the rest of your life.

And here is a poem by Kevin Stein -- a sort of dual character sketch. What does the open space breaking up each line signify to you?

It Didn’t Begin with Horned Owls
Hooting at Noon

by Kevin Stein

Though in them he heard       the weird symmetry

of loss and love’s becoming,       a great silence

between one call and the       other’s reply.

So he laid block, framed       studs into walls:

plumb, square, on line.       He stayed up late,

straightening bent nails       on the lip of a block

with his ballpeen hammer,       the way a contractor

with a sprung back had shown       him. Evenings

he went next door to talk,       toting his thermos

of bitter coffee and a picture       of his son

who’s dying of AIDS. Son       he’d failed, son

he’d pounded on and never got       right.

The rest of the poem is at the Poetry Foundation.

Anastasia Suen is hosting Poetry Friday at Picture Book of the Day. Stop by for some rockin' verse.

I Need a Ti-shoe

It's my last teaching day at Northfield Elementary. I'll be back in a few weeks for the third grade's Poetry Celebration, but I'll miss working with the kids on their poems.

Maryland State Arts Council Artists-in-Education get to spend several days working with students. The children get to know and trust me. They're willing to take creative chances, have fun, and view their poems as poems -- rather than writing assignments.

Here's the last crop of shoe odes (lesson here). Kids often capture an energy in their poems that's rare in the adult poetry world. I love the rhythm of Ryan's poem.

Poet: Ryan L. Ode to Nike Shoes Old Nike shoes. Your words: Dart IV. WOW, do you smell! You’re made in Vietnam. Such a long travel as a bird flies migration. Extremely fast like a jet. Old Nike shoes. Elementary schoolers aren't accustomed to working with similes, but they're great at it. We warm up first with the infamous baby powder exercise (see the description here). I told the students to use whatever similes popped into their minds, however wild. Peyton took me up on it!

Poet: Peyton L. Ode to Peyton’s Shoe My shoe looks like A green grape ready to be eaten. Caves waiting to be filled with People. Rocks that go in curvy paths, Mazes you can never get out of. Holes the size of the moon. Words that Mean crazy things. Smells like rotten cheese. They protect my feet From everything. I love my shoes.

See you tomorrow for Poetry Friday.

Two Great Tastes That Go Great Together

Bonus when my students write food/imagery poems -- free recipes.

Yesterday, one third grader wrote about his family's Halloween morning tradition. Hold onto your taste buds...

Cinnamon buns baked with candy corn on top. Are you seeing the melted yellow and orange candy dripping over the sides of the bun? Can you taste the earthy cinnamon and sweet, melted candy? Mmmm.

A marriage made in culinary heaven.

Last time, I shared some main course imagery written by the Northfield third graders. Now, it's time for dessert.

I love how Ilsa's attention to detail in this poem makes me feel that she's enjoying every bite of this delicious dessert.

Poet: Ilsa M.

Ice Cream Today is my birthday I hurry to the door I hurry to the shop When I get there… I can smell the cold air rush to my nose. I can hear the freezer’s noise trying to Get the ice cream cold. I can see the orange color so bright Like the sun shining. I can touch it with my spoon and no Bumps come in my way. I can taste the cold mango flavor In my mouth melting. I quickly find a spot right next to the Window. I slowly put [a spoonful] in my mouth. Its taste is so fresh and so real. I love mango ice cream. We've been talking about how food can conjure up memories of people and places. For Meghan, making a dish with her grandmother is what makes the food special.

Poet: Meghan M. Berry Biscuits A nice summer day my gramma And I are picking berries to make Berry biscuits. We go in to the kitchen squish Squish we’re smashing the berries. Looking at the smashed berries Looking gooey. Clink! Clink! Hearing the mixing Spoon clank against the bowl. Make it into dough. Pre-heating the Oven. Ding! It’s ready. Cutting the dough into circles. Put the biscuits in for 15 minutes. Put some sugar on the berries. Mmm! Ding! The biscuits are ready. Now time to cut them open. Slice! Put the berries In. We’re finally done.

Next up...some smelly sneakers take center stage as the Northfield third graders write odes.

Delicious Imagery Poems

We’re going sensory today at Author Amok. The Northfield third graders are working on imagery – writing poems about food. Food is as much about memories and associations as it is about the immediate sensory experience of eating. I challenged these eight and nine year olds to include those associations in their poems. (Here is the full lesson.) Take a look at the section of Mariel’s poem that I put in italics. Does it remind you of a poem by William Carlos Williams?

I love the similes she uses to describe the noodles.

Poet: Mariel J. Mac and Cheese It’s really cheesy and delicious slimy too I slurp it up all day long then I munch it munch munch it looks like a banana or even a little boat I laugh and giggle at it until I’m ready to eat and then I slurp and munch it up I say thank you to my dad for making me it and letting me eat at the counter because I never do then I give him a hug and a kiss and go down stairs to watch TV Mackenzie does an amazing job of recreating an experience around a food – eating spaghetti and meatballs at a family reunion. Look for some of the spot on word choices she makes, like the dog’s wagging tail, “Slicing the air.” Poet: Mackenzie P. I breathe in the steam From the bowl Coming from the kitchen. I slide into my special seat As the food arrives. Grampa serves the Spaghetti loaded with Sauce. I roll meatballs onto My plate. Slurp! I hear my aunt And grandma Eating the noodley Food. I laugh at The stories my Grampa hears at work. My sisters and I Demonstrate something We learned at school. Pat, pat. Libby carries her dog Bone under the table Hoping for some scraps. I hear her tail wagging, Slicing the air Beside my feet. I taste the Warm, spicy Meatballs as I Twirl my fork on my plate, Twisting the food around It. When dinner is over I stand up And go to the couch With the others Leaning against My mom drowsy, By the end Of my family Reunion. Thanks to the Northfield ES families and teachers for their permission to post student work. More of our wonderful food imagery poems tomorrow.

Teaching Stanzas

Third graders understand stanzas this way: it's a fancy poetry word for "paragraph."

I tell them "stanza" is an Italian word for "room." When you move among the stanzas of a poem, it's like walking through the different rooms in a house. One of my Northfielders said that the empty line between two stanzas is like the hallway between two rooms! What an insight.

You can find a lesson in using opposites to teach stanzas here (with thanks to Roseanne Singer, who shared the lesson with me.) It features Elizabeth Coatsworth's "Swift Things Are Beautiful."

Ariel came up with this unique take on the opposites poem...

Poet: Ariel U. Real, Mythological The frogs leap into a pond. The crab scuttles away. A tabby cat prances around gracefully. The dragons breathe the fire. The phoenix spreads its wings to take off. A unicorn’s horn shimmers In the moonlight.

I love the final image in her poem.

Rohit's poem reminds me of the list poems in The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. (There's a profile here of the 11th century Japanese author -- a woman!) Poet: Rohit V. Fun & Boring Fun things are: Playing with friends, Watching people play football And score 6 points, Jumping off the trampoline, Going high and airborne. Boring things are: Shopping for furniture, Cleaning my room, Waiting for people Who take a very long time.

Tomorrow, I'll post some delicious and evocative food memory poems.

Amok in a Noisy Art Room?

Great minds make think alike, but great poems often show how individual our points of view can be.

Today -- two onomatopoeia poems by Northfield Elementary third graders. Both explore the sounds of the school art room, but each poet hears the room differently.

Poet: Sage T. Art Room The paint brushes go swish, swish. I hear the pencils going scraaatch, scraaatch. I hear people thinking of how to be more creative hmmm, hmmm. I listen to the sound of people dipping their paint brushes into some paint plop, plop, plop. Ahh, the sounds of the art room. Swish, scratch, hmmm, plop, plop!

Poet: Collette L. I hear the click, clik, clack Of pencils writing. I hear the swish, swash, swash, Swish the paint brush washes Away the white with a fresh New coat of color. I hear the marker caps Pop pop shhh, shh, shhh. I hear the pencil drop Clit clat. I hear the paper move Sswish, crinkle!

For more ekphrastic poetry (poems in reaction to art), check out this post.

Tomorrow, Northfield students share their opposites poems as they learn to work with stanzas.

Amok in Unusual Topics for Poetry

Writing onomatopoeia poems with elementary schoolers is a blast!

The first poem we wrote at Northfield Elementary was a sound riddle using onomatopoeia words. The class had to guess where the poet was, or what activity s/he was doing. (Find the lesson description here.)

They've got some out-of-the-box thinkers -- take a look at these poems by third graders.

Poet: Joshua G.

I would never have thought of this place for a poem, but it's perfect for onomatopoeia. Can you guess where Joshua is? I hear air nozzles buzzing. I feel the padded chair. I see pairs of pliers. I smell molding goop. I feel slimy spit on my chest, hands twisting wires in my mouth. I see a person in a lab coat. I hear, “Brush your teeth

after every meal.” I hear kids crying. I smell toothpaste. I hear, “You can leave.”

Poet: Alexandra P. Alexandra's class loved hearing her read this poem.

I hear a splash of water as I play with glee,

as I hear bubbles popping,

as a rubber duck sails by,

as I unplug the drain,

as I hear water

slushing around.

I get out

as I chatter my teeth

as I get a towel to get warm.

Sometimes, it's our own poet's voice that makes a poem original. Tomorrow -- two Northfield poets write very different poems on the same topic.

Poetry Friday -- Young Poets

Answer: Over 650 Question: How many poems were submitted to Word Up! – Howard County Library’s youth poetry competition? Wow! Poetry is alive and well in our central Maryland schools and homes. Last week, I spoke at the Word Up! celebration. About a dozen of the winning poets (grade six through age 21), read their poetry. (I did the math -- over 80 entries per grade level.)

The readers were great, performing their poems about nature, relationships, politics, pizza and coping with a bright red stain on a white blouse.

One of the winning poets is Isaiah Du Pree, a 9th grader at one of our public high schools. (In the photo above, he's the one in the suit seated in the front row. That's me at the podium.)

I met Isaiah when I visited his middle school G/T Writers Guild last year. He’s got great stage presence and his poem, “Declaration,” lends itself to performance. Declaration Maybe if we didn’t send such degradation Our world would not suffer all this humiliation We wouldn’t have blacks in trials and tribulations America would try to handle current situations This is our world it’s not an animation It won’t disappear with some prestidigitation Because in this world there is no sanctification What we need is more renunciation Surrender ourselves would be some configuration American is dying we need emancipation Lift ourselves up and gather determination There would be no more. No more limitations No more examinations and weak investigations No more lies. No more false education You were meant to be you are a creation Anyone who told you different used manipulation If we keep this up there will be extermination We must find a way to prevent annihilation This is what I speak this is my citation This is my demand this is my declaration

For more Poetry Friday posts, visit ... http://mayaganesan.blogspot.com/