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From: JSidman at aol.com <JSidman>
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 08:28:46 EDT
Alas, I could not even find Eve Merriam's OUT LOUD in my library--but will keep looking through interlibrary loan.
Wanted to mention, though, two other poems of Merriam's that I use in teaching poetry writing. I've collected a number of "poems about poetry" and two of hers are among them: SOME USES FOR POETRY, which begins, "to paint without a palette/ to dance without music/ to speak without speaking." Also the poem REPLY TO THE QUESTION: HOW DO YOU BECOME A POET? (this is an excerpt): "take the leaf of a tree/ trace its exact shape / . . .crumple it in your hand/ . . .then in winter/ where there is no leaf left/ invent one."
These two poems, along with others by Kaissar Afif, Eleanor Farjeon, and May Swenson, provide a spring-off for students to write about what they think poetry really is. It's great fun (amid much initial groaning and moaning), and a few weeks ago, a 5th grader came up with the following words: "Words are empty,/ Poems fill up the spaces./ Words make a poem,/ Poems make words alive."
Whew. It's not the first time I have been awed by the effect of great poetry on kids.
Joyce Sidman Wayzata, Minnesota
Received on Tue 11 Apr 2000 07:28:46 AM CDT
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 2000 08:28:46 EDT
Alas, I could not even find Eve Merriam's OUT LOUD in my library--but will keep looking through interlibrary loan.
Wanted to mention, though, two other poems of Merriam's that I use in teaching poetry writing. I've collected a number of "poems about poetry" and two of hers are among them: SOME USES FOR POETRY, which begins, "to paint without a palette/ to dance without music/ to speak without speaking." Also the poem REPLY TO THE QUESTION: HOW DO YOU BECOME A POET? (this is an excerpt): "take the leaf of a tree/ trace its exact shape / . . .crumple it in your hand/ . . .then in winter/ where there is no leaf left/ invent one."
These two poems, along with others by Kaissar Afif, Eleanor Farjeon, and May Swenson, provide a spring-off for students to write about what they think poetry really is. It's great fun (amid much initial groaning and moaning), and a few weeks ago, a 5th grader came up with the following words: "Words are empty,/ Poems fill up the spaces./ Words make a poem,/ Poems make words alive."
Whew. It's not the first time I have been awed by the effect of great poetry on kids.
Joyce Sidman Wayzata, Minnesota
Received on Tue 11 Apr 2000 07:28:46 AM CDT
