FINAL PORTFOLIO/FINAL EXAM

Agenda:
Poetry projects: Due this Friday, June 1

FINAL PORTFOLIO:

DUE: Friday, June 8th

Here are two (2) parts to your final portfolio.

1. A 4-6 page, double-spaced, typed self-evaluation essay
2. A variety of your best work chosen from all your CW classes

Your final portfolio will count for both 9th-grade creative writing classes and will be reviewed by Mr. Craddock & Ms. Gamzon. It will constitute 20% of your final grade.

Part A. Self-Evaluation Essay

Part B. Portfolio

Select work that you created this year in Ms. Gamzon or Mr. Craddock’s classes. All work should be copies of original work. No journals will be accepted. Follow the guideline below.

Table of contents. Your table of contents should order your portfolio into the following parts:

a. Poetry

b. Fiction

c. Non-fiction

d. Scripts

e. Special projects

Poetry. Choose 6-8 of your best poems. Select work that shows your understanding and growth in the field of poetry. Each poem’s title should be listed in the table of contents.

Fiction. Choose 4-6 of your best fiction pieces. Select work that shows your understanding and growth in the field of fiction. Each fiction piece’s title should be listed in the table of contents.

Non-fiction. Choose 3-4 of your best non-fiction pieces (including text of speeches, etc.) Select work that shows your understanding and growth in the field of non-fiction. Each non-fiction piece’s title should be listed in the table of contents.

Scripts: Choose 1-2 of your best scripts. Select work that shows your understanding and growth in the field of script writing. Each script’s title should be listed in the table of contents.

Special Projects: Choose 3-4 of your special projects (newsletter, slideshow or Prezi, brochure, literary magazine, house on mango street booklet, collaborative story project, human interest video, blog, animated  poetry, etc.) which show your growth and creative ability. Each project should be listed in the table of contents. If you have been working on a project not assigned in class, you may include this work in your special projects. (Example: I am working on a novel, and I haven’t told my teachers or I have written a musical, etc.) Please do NOT print your special project, unless you already have an extra copy. Instead, please talk about these projects in your reflection.

Self Reflection Non-Fiction - Creative Essay:

During the entire freshman year, we have thrown quite a bit of information, projects, and assignments your way. We did not do this to be cruel, but to see how you react to pressure, deadlines, writing & reading skills, and so that you had the opportunity to grow as a writer and a student. It is true that the most important qualification for writers is that they write. Apart from this, reading is also the most important way to improve your writing at this stage. These introductory courses are designed to get you to know yourself as a student and writer a little better. Part of this is the need to self-reflect. Examine the writing rubrics and the material in your portfolio. Reflect on your work this year.

Reflective piece: 4-6 pages, double-spaced. Write about how you’ve grown as a writer this year, what has been easy/hard for you, what areas you feel you need more work in; reflect on your progress as a writer, a reader, and as a student. Write about each selected piece you have chosen to include in your portfolio (per genre): why did you include these pieces in your portfolio? How does the piece show your growth and development as a writer in this particular genre? What did you learn about yourself concerning writing from this assignment or project? Discuss the writing process you used to create the work, where you got your ideas, what you learned about the form or genre of the work as you wrote and revised it, what you learned about yourself as a writer, etc. Discuss special projects and reading that had an impact on you. What did you learn about writing and about yourself through these assignments this year?

Rubric

_____ Table of Contents 10 points

_____ Reflective Essay (4-6 pages) 30 points

_____ Poetry (6-8 poems) 10 points

_____ Fiction (4-6 short stories) 10 points

_____ Non Fiction (3-4 creative essays/speeches) 10 points

_____ Special Projects (3-4 special projects) 10 points

_____ Grammar (Work is clean, copy-edited, free of errors) 10 points

Penalty: (-1/2 point for each grammar error. Up to -10 points)

_____ Portfolio turned in complete and on time 10 points

Penalties:

• Late portfolios (-10 points per day late)

• Handwritten work (-1 for each handwritten page)

• Grammar errors (see above)

Poetry Project

AGENDA:

Continue to work on your POETRY PROJECTS.  DUE: Friday, June 1.

You will be preparing your FINAL PORTFOLIO the following week.Instructions coming soon.

New prompt: Steal a Line: First Line

AGENDA:

First Line Exercise
Take one line from a poem of your own that is unfinished or a poem by another poet. It does not matter where the line occurs in the poem, but you want to select the best line from the poem. Use this line as the first line of a new poem. Try to maintain the same quality of sound, language and thought that the first line presents.
(by Stephen Dunn, from The Practice of Poetry, Robin Behn and Chase Twichell, eds.)

Continue to work on poetry project.  If you have not done a "Shoveling Snow with Buddha poem" work on that and turn it in.

Revise and edit your poems.  Share poems with peers.

• MAKE SURE YOUR POEMS SHOW AN UNDERSTANDING OF STRUCTURE!  BE CONSCIOUS OF LINE-BREAKING AND ENJAMBMENT.
• 
  
• POEMS SHOULD SHOW A VARIETY OF STYLES AND GENERALLY SHOULD BE 12-20 LINES LONG.
• 
  
• POEMS SHOULD HAVE LINES SINGLE-SPACED.
• 
  
• DOUBLE SPACE TO INDICATE STANZAS.
• 
  
• POEMS SHOULD HAVE MORE THAN ONE STANZA UNLESS THE PROMPT SPECIFICALLY ASKS FOR LESS.
• 
  
• POEMS SHOULD USE POETIC LANGUAGE: IMAGERY, METAPHOR, SIMILE, SENSORY DETAILS, ETC.

New Model Poem--Rita Dove

AGENDA:

Here's a new model for poetry writing--the dramatic monologue (interior monologue)

Dramatic Monologue

Dramatic monologue in poetry, also known as a persona poem, shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue or soliloquy: an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voice—a character, a fictional identity, or a persona. Because a dramatic monologue is by definition one person’s speech, it is offered without overt analysis or commentary, placing emphasis on subjective qualities that are left to the audience to interpret.

Whose voice is this?  George Zimmerman
"Trayvon Redux"

Think of a person in the news or just a character you can imagine in a dramatic situation.  What are they thinking?  What were they thinking?  Whose voice is this?

OR

Use a powerful quote as an epigraph to respond to in a poem.
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context.

Trayvon, Redux

By Rita Dove

    It is difficult/to get the news from poems /yet men die miserably every
    day/for lack/of what is found there./Hear me out/for I too am concerned/
    and every man/who wants to die at peace in his bed/besides.
    William Carlos Williams, “Asphodel, that Greeny Flower”

    Move along, you don't belong here.
    This is what you're thinking.  Thinking
    drives you nuts these days, all that
    talk about rights and law abidance when
    you can't even walk your own neighborhood
    in peace and quiet, get your black ass gone.
    You're thinking again.  Then what?
    Matlock's on TV and here you are,
    vigilant, weary, exposed to the elements
    on a wet winter's evening in Florida
    when all's not right but no one sees it.
    Where are they – the law, the enforcers
    blind as a bunch of lazy bats can be,
    holsters dangling from coat hooks above their desks
    as they jaw the news between donuts?

    Hey!  It tastes good, shoving your voice
    down a throat thinking only of sweetness.
    Go on, choke on that.  Did you say something?
    Are you thinking again?  Stop! – and
    get your ass gone, your blackness,
    that casual little red riding hood
    I'm just on my way home attitude
    as if this street was his to walk on.
    Do you do hear me talking to you? Boy.
    How dare he smile, jiggling his goodies
    in that tiny shiny bag, his black paw crinkling it,
    how dare he tinkle their laughter at you.

    Here's a fine basket of riddles:
    If a mouth shoots off and no one's around
    to hear it, who can say which came first –
    push or shove, bang or whimper?
    Which is news fit to write home about?




Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952) is an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. She is the first African-American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 2000.^[1] Dove is the second African American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1987, and she served as the Poet Laureate of Virginia^[2] from 2004 to 2006.

The Hand/Billy Collins

"Introduction to Poetry"--Billy Collins

https://thebooknest.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/introduction-to-poetry-analysis/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf69NbUlZXk

"The Lanyard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjB7rB3sWc

The Hand

Mary Ruefle, 1952

The teacher asks a question.
You know the answer, you suspect
you are the only one in the classroom 
who knows the answer, because the person
in question is yourself, and on that 
you are the greatest living authority,
but you don’t raise your hand.
You raise the top of your desk
and take out an apple.
You look out the window.
You don’t raise your hand and there is
some essential beauty in your fingers,
which aren’t even drumming, but lie 
flat and peaceful.
The teacher repeats the question. 
Outside the window, on an overhanging branch,
a robin is ruffling its feathers
and spring is in the air.

ACTIVITY:

 Shoveling Snow with Buddha
Write a poem about performing an activity (any activity) with a famous person fictional or real.

Shoveling Snow With Buddha - Poem by Billy Collins

In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok
you would never see him doing such a thing,
tossing the dry snow over a mountain
of his bare, round shoulder,
his hair tied in a knot,
a model of concentration.

Sitting is more his speed, if that is the word
for what he does, or does not do.

Even the season is wrong for him.
In all his manifestations, is it not warm or slightly humid?
Is this not implied by his serene expression,
that smile so wide it wraps itself around the waist of the universe?

But here we are, working our way down the driveway,
one shovelful at a time.
We toss the light powder into the clear air.
We feel the cold mist on our faces.
And with every heave we disappear
and become lost to each other
in these sudden clouds of our own making,
these fountain-bursts of snow.

This is so much better than a sermon in church,
I say out loud, but Buddha keeps on shoveling.
This is the true religion, the religion of snow,
and sunlight and winter geese barking in the sky,
I say, but he is too busy to hear me.

He has thrown himself into shoveling snow
as if it were the purpose of existence,
as if the sign of a perfect life were a clear driveway
you could back the car down easily
and drive off into the vanities of the world
with a broken heater fan and a song on the radio.

All morning long we work side by side,
me with my commentary
and he inside his generous pocket of silence,
until the hour is nearly noon
and the snow is piled high all around us;
then, I hear him speak.

After this, he asks,
can we go inside and play cards?

Certainly, I reply, and I will heat some milk
and bring cups of hot chocolate to the table
while you shuffle the deck.
and our boots stand dripping by the door.

Aaah, says the Buddha, lifting his eyes
and leaning for a moment on his shovel
before he drives the thin blade again
deep into the glittering white snow. 

Billy Collins

Work on Poetry Project/More prompts

AGENDA:

Work on your Poetry Project.

Focus on creating stanzas using line-breaking and enjambment.

Use the 30/30 prompts from the handout or try writing from these prompts:

http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/poetic-asides/poetry-prompts

Here are poetry Prompts from four years worth of 30 Poems in 30 Days.

Use the word Pattern in the first line and/or the last line of your poem.

Write a poem that begins with you waking up.

Write a poem that begins with a proclamation. If you need a phrase to get your juices going, try “I will”.

Write the final line to your poem first, and then write the poem to get to that ending. I am choosing to end my poem with “His hallucinations make him giggle” which others are welcome to use.

Pick three words that you absolutely love the sound of and set out to use them in your poem.

Use the same (or similar) words in both your first line and last line, but change the order or the meaning of the words from the first line to the last line.

Write a poem that involves an animal.

Write a list poem about things you have done in your life.

Use the word “secret” twice in your poem.

Use a letter count as a constraint for your poetry, either writing a brand new poem or rewriting an old poem to fit the new pattern. You can either count the spaces and punctuation between words as letters or count only the actual letters. Keep in mind that you don’t have to use the exact same number in every line, you can also develop at pattern such as 20-25-20-25.

Write or rewrite a greeting card poem so that is has meaning to you, or at least is funny.

A Ritual Poem takes a ritual (real or imagined) and brings a sense of meaning and reflection to the ritual it describes. Here are some steps to follow (a ritual poem ritual):

1. Pick an element of life that has or deserves a ritual
2. Decide the result you would want the ritual to produce
3. Think of the actions you would take to achieve the result
4. Turn the actions into steps or commands

Write a poem using Skeltonic Verse.

Write a poem about a specific but minor memory you have from more than five, but less than ten years ago.

Write a Tanka. Feel free to write more than one if you like.

Write a definition poem. A definition poem takes a word or a concept and attempts to define it, provide perspective, redefine it, or create a definitive example of it.

Write a poem that is set at or near where you live.

Write a poem in the form of a letter (epistle).

Write a poem that begins and ends with three single syllable words.

Write a poem that begins with a line of advice or instruction, such as don’t give up or take a left at the willow tree.

September 21st is the last day of summer in the northern hemisphere and the last day of winter in the southern hemisphere. With that in mind, write a poem in which the seasons play a role.

Write a poem in which a similar or identical phrase is repeated three or more times throughout the poem.

Write a poem using iambic pentameter. If you aren’t familiar with Iambic pentameter, it is discussed in full here.

Write a poem that begins with the word “I”.

Write a poem as that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once.

Write a poem about a natural event.

Use one of the lists of words above or pick your own morpheme and use it to add adnomination to your poetry.

Pick two or three words from your last poem use them as the first three words of this poem.

Write a poem that gets shorter with each line.

Write a poem about the end of something.

Write a poem about something you believe.

Write a poem that includes at least one description of an object that is six or more words long.

Write a poem that uses some sort of meter. If you want a challenge, attempt a meter you haven’t worked with before. For an extra added challenge, try to work in the word belly.

Write a Blues Sonnet:

1. Write 5 thematically similar heroic couplets of iambic pentameter.
2. In first four, repeat first line of each couplet, yielding the 14 lines of the sonnet.
3. Then, if desired, modify middle lines, of the stanzas without disturbing rhyme or rhythm to strengthen the stanza and give variety.
4. Get out a blues recording and have fun singing your blues song!

Write a poem about an event in your life that you have strong feelings about (it doesn’t have to be painful) without stating how you feel about the event. If you want an extra challenge, end every third line with the letter “R”.

Write a poetic parable. Feel free to play with the form. Sometimes it is more interesting when the lesson is just a bit absurd.

Write about something in your life that you do every day. If you want an added challenge, make the first and the last lines the same or similar.

Write a blank verse poem. Blank verse has meter, but no rhyme. The typical meter for blank verse is iambic pentameter, but you can try other meters as well. If you want an added challenge, include the word “line”.

Write a Pantoum. Feel free to experiment with the form until you write something to your own liking. If you enjoyed this, try a sestina or villanelle.
Write a poem that tells a story. For an added challenge, use a word count. Write four stanzas, each with 30 words.

Write a poem as if it were an entry in someone’s journal or diary or even their Twitter account. If you want an added challenge, limit your stanzas to 145 characters so they mirror the limitations of texting.

Go outdoors and get some fresh air. Find a comfortable spot and write a poem. If you want to try a tanka (or a few) go for it.

Write a poem in ten minutes. It should have at least 100 words. For an added challenge, work in the word “speed”.

Create your own found poem. If you are looking for inspiration, use Google News to find an article to your liking.

Write a poem that uses exactly the same number of characters on every line. You can pick the length, but once you start you have to stick to it. For an extra challenge, try writing about an event that has happened in the past 24 hour.

Write a poem that ends with the word “quiet”.

Either use a set of hyponyms as the structure for your poem or write a poem around the phrase, “He was blue, she was a rabbit.”

Write a poem that uses something other than traditional end rhyme.

Create a poem that uses one of the following word combinations (they don’t have to be in the same line):

• boot, tune, fool
• but, feet, knot
• kit, tap, pock
• seize, fourth, thighs

Write about something you can see from the window of your home.

Write a poem about a place you have been or a journey you have taken.

Call an old friend and write a poem after the conversation

Find an original way to describe a chair and make that the first line of your poem.

Write about the first time you did something.

Write a poem that demonstrates strong emotion without ever stating what that emotion is.

Write a poem about a contest, a win, or a loss.

Write a poem as if it were a letter to a friend.

Include the word right or rights in your poem.

Start your poem with a piece of advice.

Write a poem about your childhood. Explore an actual event that had some emotional significance to you. Avoid using any description of how you felt about the event then or how you feel about it now. Instead, try to make the emotion of the event come through in your descriptions of what happened. Feel free to post your poem in the comments or on your own site with a link back to here. This will give other people the opportunity to read your poem.

Write about an event in your life that happened within the past week. Take some time to think about the week and look for event that has some emotional meaning for you, but not so much that it would be painful for you to write about. Sometimes smaller moments have more meaning. Feel free to post your poem in the comments or on your own site with a link back to here. This will give other people the opportunity to read your poem.

Find a news or opinion article that was published on the web this week. I recommend using Google News because it can take you just about anywhere. Look for a story that has some emotional or philosophical impact on you and use that story as the basis for your poem. If you post your poem here, be sure to post a link to the original article so we can see the inspiration!

Get out of the house and write in a new place. Write about the place you choose to go to. Don’t just rely on what you see. Describe the smells, the tastes and the sounds if you can. Try to give your readers a full picture of the place you choose.

Write a persona poem that incorporates one of the past two concepts. It should either address a social issue or it should provide a strong sense of place. One great way to do the latter is to write a poem in a public place, and to observe the people around you until you find someone interesting that you can imagine a back-story for.
Take at least five minutes to meditate in a quiet room free of outside influences before you write today’s poem. Try to clear your head of stray thoughts. Once you feel like you are clear and calm, write your poem. Let the topic be about whatever comes to mind after your meditation. If you have never meditated before, simply sit in a chair with your eyes closed and try to relax.

Write a list poem that uses a single line for each item on the list. Feel free to choose one of the topics above, or use anything else that comes to mind. As always, post the poem in the comments section if you would like to share it.

Write an elegy about a person or event that is meaningful to you. You don’t necessarily have to approach the most tragic event in your life. Don’t try to take on an event that is still too difficult for you to deal with. Look for something that you can handle.

Write a poem using a specific meter. The meter can be of your own choosing or even your own making, as long as you put a pattern into place. As always, feel free to post your poem in the comment section of this post.

Write a three or more stanza poem that uses a metered style for the first two stanzas and a non-metered format for the remaining stanzas. As always, feel free to post your poem in the comments section for others to see.

Read a poet you don’t like. Try to figure out what they do that upsets you and determine whether or not this assessment is fair. Try to think of ways that you would approach the same subject matter using your style. Write a poem that addresses some of the same subject / style / tone of the poet you dislike but do it in your own style.

Write a poem using syllabic verse. You can assign length ether by line or stanza. If you are stuck for a way to begin, start with this two-word ten-syllable line: Incompatible Participation
Read a poet you don’t like. Try to figure out what they do that upsets you and determine whether or not this assessment is fair. Try to think of ways that you would approach the same subject matter using your style. Write a poem that addresses some of the same subject / style / tone of the poet you dislike but do it in your own style.

Today is a two-part assignment. The first part is to think about your method of writing poetry. The second part is to shake up your process. If you have a lot of structure, try loosening up. If you write very loosely, try adding some structure to the process. Find a new place to write or use a different tool. The change doesn’t have to be major, but if you post your poem, please tell us what you changed.

Write a poem that uses at least two different forms of repetition. Try to embrace at least one form of repetition that you don’t ordinarily use.

Write a poem that follows the three rules of the imagists.

1. Direct treatment of the “thing”, whether subjective or objective.
2. To use absolutely no word that does not contribute to the presentation.
3. As regarding rhythm: to compose in sequence of the musical phrase, not in sequence of the metronome.

Revisit a previous poem, perhaps one you especially liked or one you had trouble with, and write another poem following those same parameters.

Wikipedia’s Random Button is a great and magical thing. Click it and write about whatever subject comes up.

Include the words “formal” and “casual” at some point in your poem.

Write a poem that has a variable line length rather than a set meter. Use either enjammed or endstopped lines.

Write a poem that begins with a negative image or statement and ends with a positive image or statement.

Write a three stanza poem that shows a progression with each stanza. The three stanzas should serve as a beginning, middle and end respectively. It might help to picture the poem as a three act play.

Try something that scares you (just a little) and then write a poem about it.

Write a poem that discusses a real moment in your life without discussing its larger meaning or attempting to lead the reader to a conclusion.

Include a verb in every line of your poem.

Write a poem that begins and ends with the same word.

Write the first draft of your poem in paragraph form and then change it into a free verse poem. Don’t be surprised if you have to change lines, words and phrases. That is a part of the process.

Look at some old photographs and write about a memory or a thought that they give you.

Write a poem that either uses no words longer than five letters or no words shorter than five letters.

Write the final line of your poem first, then figure out a way to get there.

I feel like ending with something technical but random. Don’t include any word with a single “A” in it, but do include at least one word with two “A”s in it.

Write a poem that takes place inside a vehicle (car, truck, train, plane, boat, etc.)

Write a poem in which you use three different words for the same or a similar color.

Write a poem that uses two or more different settings / locations.

Write a poem that includes at least three different flavors and two odors.

Write a poem in which each line has six words and makes a statement or at least expresses a complete thought.

Write a poem in which every stanza either begins with a question or ends with a question.

Write a poem in the form of a joke.

Write a poem that takes place at a public gathering such as a meeting, a carnival, a sporting event or a concert.

Write a poem about building or creating something by hand.

Write a poem that involves cutting, chopping or dividing something.

Write a poem about having to defend yourself or someone else.

Write a poem in which you discuss three things that you or your persona wants.

Write a poem that repeatedly uses numbers.

Write a poem that involves a plan.

Write a poem that take place at a specific time of the day.

Write a poem that involves consequences.

Write a poem that takes place in or otherwise involves a classroom.

Write a poem about waiting for a specific event.

Write a poem about getting lost or losing something.

Write a poem about getting or sending a message (postcard, letter, phone call, email)

Write a poem that includes something that malfunctions or breaks down.

Write a poem about training for something or working towards a distant goal.

Write a poem about a person or a place that has several different names (it’s actually quite common).

Write a poem in which something gets opened or closed.

Write a poem in which something gets faked or simulated.

Write a poem about a rivalry.

Write a poem about a place that has changed considerably over time (construction, destruction, renovation, disrepair, etc.)

Write a poem that involves flirtation.

Write a poem that includes a path, a trail, or a map.

Write a poem that involves a long-term relationship (love, friendship, family, group, etc.)

Linebreaking and enjambment

Line Break

Watch VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5aEjJqMsk8

A line break is the place where a line of poetry ends, unguided by traditional punctuation conventions. Line breaks are important in poetry because they so often introduce ambiguity and affect meaning. Poets use line breaks to lead readers into multiple understandings and surprising ideas, as well as to control the flow at which they encounter ideas and images. For example:

Because as they cut it was that special green, they decided
To make a woman of the fresh hay….

The line break in Cynthia MacDonald's poem forces the reader to pause slightly, which reinforces the surprise of the next line. The technique of carrying a sentence over into another line is called enjambment. Its opposite, using punctuation to signify a break, is end-stopping.

Line Break Exercise

Copy and paste Willie Perdomo's poem "Funeral" into Microsoft Word.
You will then play with the line breaks, the stanzas, and the punctuation to create different versions of the same poem.

Version #1
Break the poem up into five stanzas.
You choose how long or short you want the lines to be.

Version #2
Break the poem up into one long stanza with short short lines (two or three words per line).
Remove all punctuation and capitalization

Version #3
Break the poem up into as many stanzas as you want using any combination of short and long lines.
Feel free to maintain punctuation or remove it.
Do not feel confined to the left margin, but do not center the poem.

Questions:
Which version (other than the original) best captures the spirit of the poem? Be prepared to defend your answer. Think about how the story unfolds and how the line breaks can work to make the reader stop on certain points or move quickly through a section.


It was the first time I saw Edwin wearing a suit. It was the first time I saw Chino cry. Set up by his right hand man, they found Ed in his Cherokee on a Washington, D.C. street, smoke coming out of every hole in his body. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I realized I went to more funerals than parties this summer. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw Edwin Jr. running around the lobby, asking us why we were looking at his father sleep. I think about El Barrio summers: Ed’s a cop and I’m a robber. Money was something you asked an old time hustler for so you could go to the movies on Sunday. It wasn’t suppose to kill you. We ran through the streets like there were no red lights. I asked God to look out for all of us—dead and alive. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, and I thought how if you looked close enough, you could see a hole on Ed’s forehead. I walked home alone, refusing to get high, thinking how my death will just be another reason why my boys will pour beer on the street before they drink.

Things You’ve Never Seen   Fady Joudah

When I tell it, the first time I saw hail, I say it was in a desert and knocked a man unconscious then drove a woman into my arms because she thought the end was near but I assured her this wasn’t the case. When he tells it, he smiles, says the first winter after their exodus was the coldest. Rare snow came down, and his mother, who knew what the fluff was but until then had never seen it, woke him and said, Look outside, what do you see? She called his name twice. It was dark. Snow fell a paragraph to sum up decades of heat. He had no answer. She said, this is flour from heaven. When he tells it, he’s an old man returning to his mother.       Copyright © 2018 Fady Joudah. Used with permission of the author.

TPCASTT

AGENDA:

View TPCASTT Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwoygTjNHVg

• Select one of Joy Harjo's poems in Part 1.
• Complete the TPCASTT handout for that poem
• Hand in your TPCASTT handout for credit

Continue working on your poems.  15 poem prompts (A), 10 poem prompts (B).  Experiment with imagery, figurative language (metaphors and similes), structure (stanzas, enjambment, line-breaking), diction (word choice), etc.  

Be sure your poems are written in stanzas and lines.  

Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font and use left alignment for your poem (not centered).  You do not need to capitalize the first letter of each line if you are properly using enjambment by running the "sentence" down the page, line by line, until you add punctuation.

Coffeehouse Reading Tonight/Stories, Poems

AGENDA:

Finish your "Montana" stories

Work on poetry--

Coffeehouse Reading for senior farewell tonight

HMWK: Read She Had Some Horses--pp.47