April 25 Cross-outs

Picking up where we left off in writing new poems we came back to the idea of working from existing texts. I brought in Jen Bervin's net 97 (a cross-out of Shakespeare's Sonnet 97). We discussed how Bervin may have made poetic choices in deciding which words she selects for her new poem. We did some examples on the board where together the students chose which words we would cross out and which we would leave. I then gave the students various poems from William Blake's Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence and they created new original poems by crossing out parts of Blake's. Despite working with the same poems, the students all came up with very different work themselves. Here's a sampling of what they did:

Ms. Mays

Burning Bright
by Daisy M.

1.
Burning bright
Of the night
What immortal hand or eye

2.
What distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine
What wings dare he aspire
The hand dare seize the fire.


Such a Flower
by Brenda B.

Such a flower
I’ve a pretty rose tree
I passed the sweet flower o’er

I went to my pretty rose
tree turned away with
jealousy, her thorns were
my only delight


The Rhyming Fly
by Ruby T.

Thy summer’s play
Has brushed away
A fly like thee?
A man like me?
Shall brush my wing.


Untitled
by Yahaira C.

Weary of time
the step of the
sun
sweet golden clime
journey is done

away with desire
shrouded in snow
from their graves
sunflower wishes
to go!


Mr. Stasiak

The Sick Rose
by Andrea M.

Rose that flies in the night
Has found out thy bed and
his dark secret love.

The Sun’s Journey to My Wishes
by Maria U.

Time of the sun that sweet golden
journey is done. Arise where my
wishes go.

Thee Sick Rose
by Oscar C.

O Rose, sick! invisible worm that flies in the
howling storm, Has found out crimson Joy
for a place to stay, shall not leave place
for its crimson Joy Shall enjoy it, O Rose get
better soon, Also if dark secret of love will
destroy its life, Before soon the rose holds its
peace.


Ms. Jaurigue

The Sick Roseby Dievies R.

O Rose
invisible
in the night
storm

has found
his dark secret.

Sunflower
by Maria B.

Sunflower weary of time
Seeking after the sweet golden clime
where the travelers journey is done;
Arise from their graves and aspire
where my sunflower wishes to go!

Sunflower!
by Miriam H.

Sunflower weary of time
The steps of the sun,
After that sweet golden clime
The travelers journey is done

The youth pined away,
The pale virgin in snow,
Where my sunflower wishes
to go!

The Fly
by Leticia R.

Little Fly,
plays
thoughtless
brushed away.

Am not I
A fly
not
A man like me?

I dance
drink and sing,
some
brush my wing.

Thought is
strength
want
of thought is death;
Am I a happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.


The Rose
by Elizabeth R.

O Rose, thou art sick!
Invisible night howling,
crimson joy, dark secret
destroyed

Special project weeks 15-16, March 28 & April 18

In week 15 I brought broadsides that I have collected in the past few years and talked about how each features a single poem. I talked to the students about how each one has visual art inspired by the words, images and ideas of the poem. I then had the students go through their work from this year and find their favorite or best poem. Next I had them closely read the poem and decide what kind of imagery they could use to complement their language and had them sketch some ideas. In the mean time I went around the room discussing with each what color of paper they feel would best suit their work and distributed the paper.

In week 16 we continued the broadside project and I briefly reminded them where we began so they could get to work. I reminded them to neatly write their poem on their paper and then incorporate the images they sketched. Some used literal imagery, others used designs, and some included borders. All in all they turned out wonderfully. They will be put on display in the classrooms, featured in the student's annual portfolios and some will also be featured at parent's night.

March 14 Newspaper Cut-ups

This week I borrowed a lesson from Danielle Aquiline, fellow poet in residence. In this assignment we examined the poem "Rock Singer Dies Onstage After Acrobatic Leap Gone Wrong" by Christine DeSimone. We discussed how the title of the poem was taken from a newspaper headline and then looked closely at the language to discover what parts might have been lifted from the article itself. Additionally we talked about how one might use an existing text to spur an original idea for narrative. Here is a sampling of what they wrote:

Ms. Jaurigue

Fresh Kills
Elizabeth P.

They are the young guns and at the end of
a winter they spent showing off their skills they
are all the rage. But why do they call themself
“fresh kills?” How are they special?

The Three Piggies Move Out
Ivan P.

The three not
so little piggies
move out of a
center.

A woman moves out of her $3.3 million colonial-
style mansion
because of financial
problems.

The reason
the piggies moved
out of the center
was because

they were noisy
smelly and dangerous.

Retro Rap
Karina B.

Cool kids say “You
judging me dawg?
You shop at the mall?”

They are too slow and
they have steady flows
and their beat that
doesn’t sound nice.

Fat boys, Run DMC, a Tribe
Called Quest, De la Soul, EPMD,
and 2-Live Crew walked the earth
pretty cool, huh?

But, for now they remain one
of the more promising groups
that emerge.


Mr. Stasiak

Good-Bye Wolves
by Kashmere J.

These beautiful
dogs will no longer be
protected.
Why are they becoming
extinct now? I mean
they have been protected
since 1973.
Hunters are now able
to hunt wolves it’s not
right.
Can we afford extinction
with wolves, global warming
is already happening!


**
Andrea M.

Two rival groups in Kenya reached an important
peace agreement, why rival, when thy lord
brought natural peace in the world in Feb-
ruary after more than 1,500 people were killed
in violence when the love can surround the
air all day every day.


Peace Signs Birthday
Edgar T.

Oh peace sign, peace sign, turned out to
be 50 years old.

The peace was out February 21, developed by a
British man.

His name was Gerald Holton. He designed
this flag with the combination

of the letters N and D (nuclear disarmament)

Peace sign, peace sign, it’s your birthday
you were used in protest against

weapons and spread around the world.


Ms. Mays

Where is the Money?
Alicia H.

What would it be like if you
were born and lived someplace
else in the world?

Half of the world’s population,
3 billion people, are considered
poor.

How much do you need to be
among the world’s wealthiest?

They might even be very poor.

There is great inequality in
wealth and resources in the
world.


Shooting Satellites
Richard D.

Their are spy that
use spy satellites but
we saw that so we
were shooting it down
with a missile and bombs.
Then it was destroyed.
Now we will get better
weapons to keep so we
destroyed many evil
things.

What’s in that bottle?
Joey B.

Given that reality, it might seem like a
good idea to hit the bottle--as in bottled water--
instead.

The bottle had its own standards but the
bottled has its own thing to do.

But there’s a catch, the federal standards
for acceptable levels.