Parallel Stanzas

Parallel stanzas are poems that look at things from more than one angle. It can be a he said / she said type of thing or a then and now example. There are also poems that give an if - then example. I have included a few samples below. I am anxious to see what kinds of comparisons you will make in your own parallel stanza poems.

I Once Knew a Girl

I once knew a girl who

ran through the fields barefoot,
played tag on weekends,
and woke with the sun at six.
She loved school
and never brushed her hair.
She slept with Teddy
and went to bed with the night light on.

Now
she paints her toenails green,
reads upstairs on weekends, 
and dozes till eleven.
She finds school a bore
and spends hours in the bathroom.
Teddy is under her bed, 
and she sleeps in darkness.

That girl is gone.

(Nora Bradford from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)

Mom

I remember last year - 
that whole week I was in a bad mood.
The only words I said were yes and no.
I believed the world was against me.
You offered to buy me
a chocolate milk and a whoopie pie.
But since I was supposed to hate you,
I said no - 
or maybe I didn't even answer.
Either way,
while I sulked in the van
listening to the music you hate, 
you stood in the checkout
and spent $2.49 on snacks
I didn't want.
I know you did it because you love me,
and I knew you wouldn't like it
if I didn't eat them,
but I only took one sip.

And I remember last Tuesday - 
this whole month I was in a good mood.
All I wanted to do was talk,
and I thought the world believed in me.
You offered to buy me a treat,
and since it's so easy to love you,
I said yes.
You wanted to stay in the car
and listen to the news I hate, 
but I convinced you to come in.
You spent $1.40 on the whoopie pie 
I wanted.
I know you did it because you love me,
and I knew you would like it 
if I ate it,
so I gave you one bite
and devoured the rest.

(Nora Bradford - from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)

Decisions

I'm playing at a concert
A record company offers me a contract
I accept
Begin living life
As a rock star
I make millions
Own a mansion
The world loves me
I love life
I love my job
Then:
I get introduced to drugs
My life drains from me
I put the gun to my head
Pull the trigger
And die
Horribly

I'm playing at a rock concert
A record company offers me a contract
I decline
Decide to live a normal life
As a business man
I pay the bills
Own an apartment
I have a wife and two kids
I love my family
I enjoy life
Then:
I have grandkids
I'm a great father
I've had a great life
My family comforts me around my bed
As I die
Happily

(Travis Arnal)

The # of Ways Poems

In this form of poetry, you are to take an ordinary object and display it in one of the many ways people can see the object. In Wallace Stevens' version of this form poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, he uses the blackbird to make the reader reflect on the various things around us that may be understood by observing the simple things that we come across on a daily basis. I will hand out copies of this poem for you to unpack on your own.

Below, I have included a few examples of poems that were modelled after this one. Notice how many of the forms and styles are copied, but the idea in each is unique to the object or message chosen by the writer. Have fun with this one. It is unique and creative in so many ways.

Nine Ways to Look at a Hammer

1. 

Among a thousand items on the hardware store shelves,

the only one purchased

was the hammer.

2. 

A hammer and a nail

aren't much ;

a hammer, a nail, and some wood - 

well, they're a house.

3. 
The bang of the hammer

createth carpentry,

and whnith the threshold is completeth,

thou resteth upon thy hammer.

4. 

Rome wasn't built in a day,

especially without a hammer.

5. 

When the house was complete,

the hammer clanked

to the bottom

of one of the many tool boxes.

6. 

I don't know which to prefer,

the sound of hammer against nail

or the silence when the job is done.

7. 

The nail's in the wood.

It must be hammer time.

8. 

Noah didn't make the ark himself, you know.

The hammer helped out, too.

9. 

It was evening all afternoon.

The nail gun nailed and it was going to nail.

The hammer lay untouched in the tool shed.

(Michael Stoltz - from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)

Eleven Ways of Looking at Paper

1.
Among the desks,
the notebooks and pens,
the white lined paper held authority.

2.
The dishes must be put away,
the room cleaned.
The paper lay untouched,
the assignment stalled.

3. 
The paper staggered in the midst of chaos.
It fell with Macbeth into the rubbish bin.
The writer surrendered.

4. 
A creative mind and ink
are two.
A creative mind, ink, and paper
are one.

5. 
I am torn:
the new book in hand
or the old one on the shelf?
The passion of writing on paper
or the crisp satisfaction of the computer?

6. 
The girl ripped the floral paper out of her diary.
Her thoughts screamed at the sound
of heart-filled entries severed.
Her foolish crush would be remembered
nevermore.

7. 
Exodus 34:28
Moses was upon the mountain with the Lord
for forty days and forty nights.
In all that time he neither ate nor drank.
God wrote the terms of the covenant
-The Ten Comandments-
on stone tablets.
Not paper.

8. 
If I were smashed into pulp,
rolled paper thin,
would all my imperfections show,
or would I have lines instead?

9. 
The unsubstantial thought
sank on a paper airplane
down to the coffin below.

10. 
She clutched the invitation
written on scented paper.
Her glass shoes winked
in the moonlight.

11. 
A ball of paper meets a trashcan;
an aged tree must be falling.

(James Morrill from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)

7 Ways of Looking at an Orange

1.
amidst the other fruits
piled high in the light blue bowl,
a small orange lay
alone

2. 
a cut up apple and banana 
aren't much;
a cut up apple, banana and orange - 
well, they're a fruit salad

3. 
boy selects the biggest orange
boy struggles with orange
boy gets squirt in the eye by orange
orange lay triumphant on the counter

4. 
a rainbow isn't just red and blue
there's also orange

5. 
a man feared of wasting paper
therefore he took a straw
and stabbed the orange
creating a refreshing beverage
no need for a box

6.
the rough orange peel
protecting the delicate, soft fruit
within - defending against
sharp fingernails and jagged knives
from whatever else may come from the unknown

7.
It was evening all afternoon
it was raining and it was going to rain
as the orange peel
lay lifeless in the compost

(Halie Zorn)

Odes

Odes are traditionally poems written in praise of someone or something that inspires the poet. They describe how the person or object brings joy, comfort or inspiration to the life of the writer. Often, they are exaggerated and over the top, sometimes even humourous. Be as creative as you choose to be with this form as it shares what really matters most to you.

I have included some samples below to give you some ideas.

Ode to Purple

Your colour ever so delightfully gorgeous.

The perfection of the rainbow.

Blue, red colours

mixed with excellence,

to create the colour known for royalty,

elegance and

sophistication.

You have the power to make a goddess

smile

with your luxurious nature,

gifted to lose people with your mysteriousness...

Purple, 

Purple,

Purple...

I could say it all day.

Gaze at it all day.

Compared to you,

all the other colours don't even come

close to your marvelous beauty.

A combination of the warmest and coolest colours,

creating something magical and astonishing.

You're warm,

and cold.

Something mellow,

Like me!

(Britney Schwab)

Ode to Music

Music

The golden cure

To emotions

Commotions

Reality

Lifting one's soul

To what could be called

Heaven

Pushing the demons of life

And modern chaos aside

Forgetting the definition

Of frown

And discovering the truth

Of joy

Music is

Our

Stairway to heaven

MY

Stairway to heaven

(Travis Arnal)

Ode to the Sun

A blazing sphere

of orange

amidst the blue of sky;

Nothing is better 

than basking 

in its glory

on a hot summer day,

a tall glass

of cool iced tea

at my side.

(Chad Marchand)

Form Poetry - Tritina

Tritina is a form that depends on three and repetition.

The three lines in each of the first three stanzas end in one of three words, repeated in the order below. The last stanza (or envoy) is one line that contains all three words.

Stanza 1: A
              B
              C
Stanza 2: C
              A
              B
Stanza 3: B
              C
              A
Stanza 4 (Envoy): one line in which all three words appear.

See the example below.

Iron Maiden Concert

The arena snaps as the band

Emerges onto the stage, music 

Flooding the giant room, fans

Going crazy, fans

High on God-knows-what, reaching for the band

As they unleash legendary music.

Listening to my favourite music

With my friends; as 3 of the 12 500 fans

Amazed that about 100 feet from me stood my favourite band.

I'll never forget how the music blazed, the band rocked, and my friends and I, along with all the other fans, had the time of our lives.

(Travis Arnal) 

Form Poetry - Haiku

Try writing one about something
you observe around you

In a traditional haiku, the rules were more specific. The theme was always one of nature and the syllable pattern was predetermined. The first line had 5 syllables, the second had 7 and the third had 5.

In a more modern haiku, the three line guide holds true, but the theme and syllable requirements are much more lax. See some of the samples below, submitted by students in past years.

Rain

falling, drowning me

in sorrow

Eyes leak...

(Britney Schwab)

Guitar

Beckons me from its perch

six steel strings and slender wood

longing for human touch.

(Chad Marchand)

A frog 

Croaks its complaint

to the peace of night

under a cold starry night sky

(Travis Arnal)

I'm anxious to see what you come up with.

The Lessons of Poetry

Just as a reminder and to give you a reference point in case you need one, I have summarized the lessons of poetry here.

1. The Power of I: Give your reader someone to be with.

2. Beware the participle: Avoid "ed" or "ing" endings. They weaken your verbs. This does not mean you CAN'T use them, only that you need to be sure that if you do, it does make the poem stronger.

3. Cut to the Bone: Cut all unnecessary words. Remember that a poem is elegant shorthand. And when you can't find another word to cut, then your poem is finished.

4. Line and Stanza Breaks: These can guide your reader as he or she reads your poem. They usually indicate the natural pauses that are needed when reading the poem. Rules are made to be broken, however, so if you break lines or stanzas in an original way, just be sure that you are doing it for a reason.

5. Effective and Ineffective Repetition: Sometimes repetition works well in a poem, and sometimes it just sounds redundant. Read your poem aloud or have someone read it to you so that you will "hear" what it sounds like to a reader.

6. Strong words: Look at each word you have chosen for your poem. Is it the best word you could have chosen? If not, what would be stronger. Feel free to use a thesaurus to inspire you or to suggest new words for your writing.

7. Conclude strongly: The ending of your poem is what gives the reader something to think about after they have finished reading. An echo (repeated line from earlier on in the poem) can remind the reader of an previously mentioned image that still rings true.

8. Begin inside: Starting with an image can help to set the mood for the poem. It helps the reader connect with the ideas you are presenting in the poem.

Photography

I took this picture while lying
on my back in a park in Portland.

This summer, I took up photography and my vision of the world has changed. I have been rifling through samples of photos taken by professional photographers and I am made aware that they are capturing life and art in our midst. I am forever in awe of the images that they bring to life by seeing the potential behind the scenes that appear before them every day.

When I started learning more about techniques and composition, I started to see what they see. People wear art on their faces, in the wrinkles they have inherited over time and in the expressions their eyes cannot mask. I now see why the eyes have been called the windows to the soul.

 I have a ways to go, but I will never again miss the opportunity to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me every day as I try to capture the moments that render life immortal - through my lens.

This one is still a work in progress, but feel free to leave me your comments. I have included the link below.

Through the Lens (about the way photography has helped me to see the world with new eyes)

Running

OK, this is something new for me. I teach poetry, but I don't usually write any of my own. This year, I have had so many changes in my life and I have been swimming in my own thoughts. Tonight, while I enjoyed one of my last nights of running for the year, the poems wove themselves through my brain. It was so impiring, I even hit a personal best with my running time.

These are the first poems I have ever shared with my students. Click on the links below to read them. I hope that they live up to the lessons I have taught you about the craft of poetry so far. I would love to hear what you think. Please feel free to leave comments.

Night Run (about why I love to run at night)
Companions (about the sounds that accompany me on a run)
Loss (about the end of outdoor-running season)