For the month of March I have been participating in the Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by The Two Writing Teachers Blog. Each day I shared a Quick Write as my way of slicing. The idea is to offer a SPARK that will kindle thinking and then write as quickly as you can for 5-10 minutes. No filters, no revisions. I hope you’ve found some that have sparked your joy of writing this month!
With National Poetry month on our doorstep I think its a great time to collect some ideas for playful engagement with poetry. I love to revisit Billy Collins poem “Introduction to Poetry” to ground my teaching in the purpose for poetry-to illuminate dark thoughts, to play with the richness of our language, to whittle a narrative down to the essence of thought, feeling, and senses, and to explore the human experience. Here’s an interesting video interpretation of his classic poem.
Poem-ish Sparks!
I’ve been inspired by so many slicers this month who have shared poems and poetry ideas. (I list some of their offerings at the end of this post) I often use the term poem-ish to describe what I quick write, not because it isn’t in some authentic way a poem, but because it hasn’t yet been read with a careful ear and revised with the respectful revision I think it one day deserves. It remains in a poem-ish state, sometimes temporarily, sometimes permanently. And that’s ok.
One form I have seen a lot this month has been the “skinny poem”. I love this because I can consume a poem at a glance and savor it in one bite. I think it is less intimidating for kids to try out, and it works well as a quick write! Here’s my skinny poem quick write about the sunset I soaked up from my back deck last night.
Thanks to everyone who shared resources this month. If you have some collections or caches of poetry ideas you have shared that I missed or that you would like to share, please let me know in the comments section. I am so grateful this writing community! Here are a few:
2019 Notable Poetry Books
Kidlitosphere Central Poetry Friday Round Ups
litcoachlady 
Paula, your poem catches a single moment and is definitely skinny, but the exact rules for the form can be found here: https://theskinnypoetryjournal.wordpress.com/about/
Thanks for all the resources. There is more poetry than can fill a month, but I am glad there is one set aside just for poetry.
Thanks, Margaret. You are the best resourcer. This is why I call my quick writes, “Poem-ish”-I don’t have to worry about rules just let the ideas flow. Now I can go back (if I want) and revise to align to standard forms and structures. You’re the BEST!
I didn’t want my comment to criticize your poemish. I use that term with my students to let loose of the rules and just write.
I did not take it as a criticism at all. In fact I am so grateful for the resource. You are always there with a lift!
So many resources. This finally made me break down and create a padlet account. Here I come…
I’d love for you to share any resources you collect on a padlet!
I love the idea of a skinny poem. Your example was very visual.
I love your poem! I´d love to try this with my third graders!
Poemish–I love this. I sometimes participate in poem writing challenges but I feel like an imposter doing it for exactly the reasons you describe. I am playing at poetry and not putting in the careful revision time that I think it requires. Poemish captures what I do as well. Thanks for the term!
I hope this will encourage you to dabble more and play with poetry without that nasty imposter syndrome! I love “ish”, it is a total growth mindset way of approaching things! Good luck, Elisabeth!
Love your skinny-ish poem, Paula. Thanks for sharing my Padlet. I hope everyone finds it useful. I’ve been adding to it throughout the SOLC!
I appreciate that Padlet SOOOO much. You are so generous to create and share it!
Great idea and great resources! Thank you for sharing them!