Happy Poetry Friday! Welcome, everyone! (Wondering what Poetry Friday is? Click here.)
I’ve missed you! Last week, I was in Chicago for the NCTE-NCTM Joint Conference. A couple of poetry-related highlights: hearing Irene Latham and Charles Waters’ wonderful keynote and then getting to talk poetry, mistakes, publishing, and life with them at lunch; meeting Keila Dawson in the Exhibit Hall. Hooray!
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I also did some research, ate a lot of donuts and cupcakes, and had many Chicago adventures with my husband, Randy. Here are just a few pics. I’ll stop here or else I’ll be uploading hundreds of images. But a few memorable things were seeing Big Country and OK Go, the Emmett Till exhibit, Millennium Park, the Architecture Tour on the First Lady, Titanique, and SO much delicious food.
This month, our little poetry group (and hopefully you too!) wrote raccontinos. It’s a bit of a complicated form, featuring couplets where every other line rhymes and the title followed by the end words of every other line tell a little story (I bolded and underlined the story words). We’ve done them before. Here’s the one I wrote 9 years back. This time, I didn’t want to write a poem about writing a poem. I fall into that sometimes. So I looked at my idea file and came across the fact that orangutans build new sleeping nests every night.
I did some quick research, brainstormed some words I might need, and then made rhyming lists. Then I wrote an okay first draft. I realized it was flat–just an expansion of that little 5- or 6‑word story in the end words. So I thought about another layer. Something to make it a bit meatier. I thought about how mother orangutans teach their young how to build nests and decided to weave that into the poem. I didn’t get it in there very much, to be honest. But I felt like adding a child did add a touch more emotional resonance to the poem. Here’s my draft 2.
The rhythm needs refining, but I do like a fair bit of the content. And I like that it’s not about autumn or writing (two default topics for me). Can’t wait to see everyone else’s drafts–maybe yours?
Liz
Tanita
Tricia
Mary Lee
Kelly
Click here to see all our previous Poetry Princesses collaborations.
Our Poetry Friday host is the witty rhyming fanatic, Tanita Davis. Check out the Roundupand see what she has to share.
2 Responses
Okay, EXCUSE ME, ma’am, but that is brilliant. SO many delicious tidbits:
the buzzing builds buggy songs…
a branch, brand new…
quickly, nimbly threading…
Always a great choice to add a baby animal — and I love that you literally got the topic out of the Random Facts File and made it do so much WORK! I could see this poem included in a “what did I learn today?” collection, interspersing what a child learns in the course of a day with what an animal learns. Additionally, I love the image you used. Generally I kind of dislike simians (after An Incident in first grade with a monkey cage over which we’ll just DRAW A THICK VEIL), but orangutans are way too cute to hold a grudge against.
Laura, your raccotino is well-structure with a flow and an adorable photo. I am amazed how your thoughts weave beautifully to tell your story. I believe teachers could use your poem as a mentor text. I also love your photos of your trip. Ice cream — $25. Yikes!