Picture Poem Assignment and Sample

Picture Poetry Assignment

For each of the following list at least FIVE in your journal:

List 1: What kinds of things might be happening or have happened to the people in your picture?

List 2: What sounds might the people in your picture be hearing?

List 3: What smells might the people in your picture be experiencing?

List 4: How are the people in your picture feeling?  What are their thoughts and emotions?

List 5: What does the picture make you wonder or think?  What does it make you feel?

List 6: What tastes might the people in your picture be experiencing?

List 7: Tell about the person’s life experiences?

List 8: What could the setting of your picture be (where are they)?

Now look at your brainstorming list and select only the BEST ideas from each question. Using the ideas that will best help your reader see the image in your picture, create the lines of your imagery poem.  

Your poem should be at least 20 lines long.  You will be graded on original ideas and form, so be sure to think past the obvious things that you see in your picture and be sure to vary the beginning of each line of the poem.

                                   

1. They were selling cheap plastic toys and now they’re counting their money; They stole some gum from a tienda and they are splitting it up, keeping a watch out for the cops; They are playing Hoyita behind the train station when they are supposed to be in school; They are chatting about their experiences of that day’s work shining shoes at the train station; They have to have 100 pesos to take back to the boys home at the end of the day and they are afraid to go home.

2. Sounds: taxi cabs honking their horns; shop ladies gossiping outside their tiendas; dirt crunching under their dusty jeans; the bus brakes screeching on the next street over; and angry Military Macaw screeches from the trees overhead.

3. Smells: shoe-shine polish, dust mixed with stale cerveza, diesel exhaust from taxi and bus fumes, clothes that have been worn for days, faint smell of a fruit juice stand selling jugos de mango, pina Blanca and tomate de arbol on the other side of the street.

4. they are feeling frustrated and tired from a long day of working the parks and streets with their shoe-shine kits, they are not dreaming about a new video game or a trip to Disneyworld – their day’s wages wouldn’t even come close to affording that and besides those things are far beyond anything they could even dream of; maybe they are not miserable, not depressed, just plotting the next thing to do – maybe misery and depression are also not in their realm of thinking; maybe they are thinking about the cool new toy that Victor got from his uncle’s tienda across from the parque.

5. It makes me wonder what waits for them when they go home at night.  What do their houses look like?  What do their parents do for a living?  What will they eat? Where do they sleep? Do they ever get to go to school?  Can they read and do math?  Do they feel sorry for themselves or is life good to them because they don’t know any better?  Why do I feel sorry for them?

6.  Tastes:  dust; his Tia’s papas rellenos she served as leftovers for breakfast this morning; imagining the taste of sweet caramelos they could buy with their shoeshine money; blank – nothing – hunger; blue raspberry bolos they got from the nice lady by the lake at the parque.

7. Victor gets up every morning, puts on his chompa, shoes and hat and grabs his shoeshine kit by the door.  His mother is already at the fruit market selling tomatoes and limes and 5 different kinds of bananas.  He grabs a big red one they call maqueno and heads out the door to the park to meet his buddies and find someone who needs some shiny shoes.  He only went to school before his dad started drinking and left them.  He doesn’t think too much about that.  He and Juan Carlos are involved in a game to see who can shine the most shoes on guys wearing hats today.  He has to win because the loser has to buy a bolo from the nice lady who works a cart by the lake at the park.

8. The boys are a couple of streets over from the main park in a little town in Peru; or Mexico; or Bolivia; or Ecuador.

FIRST DRAFT

Five boys are chatting

about that day’s work

shining shoes at the train station.

Taxi cabs honk their horns

shop ladies gossip outside their tiendas

dirt crunches under their dusty jeans

the bus brakes screech on the next street over

and an angry Military Macaw screeches from the trees overhead.

The smell of shoe-shine polish,

dust mixed with stale cerveza,

diesel exhaust and clothes that have been worn for days,

the faint smell of jugo de mango on the other side of the street

fill their noses.

A long day of working the parks and streets

with their shoe-shine kits

plotting the next thing to do

thinking about the cool new toy

Victor got from his uncle’s tienda

across from the parque.

It makes me wonder

what waits for them when they go home at night? 

What do their houses look like? 

What do their parents do for a living? 

What will they eat?

Where do they sleep?

Do they ever get to go to school? 

Can they read and do math? 

Do they feel sorry for themselves

or is life good to them

because they don’t know any better? 

Why do I feel sorry for them?

They taste dust,

Tia’s papas rellenos,

The imagined taste of sweet caramelos

they could buy with their shoeshine money

if they only had some.

They get up every morning,

put on their chompas, shoes and hat

and grab a banana and their shoeshine kits

by the door 

out the door to meet their buddies

and find someone who needs shiny shoes.

SECOND DRAFT

A taxi cab honks

and the faint sweet whiff

of jugo de mango settles

on the dust next to

the five shoe-shine boys

and their livelihood.

The diesel exhaust cannot

Drown out the taste

Of Tia Rosa’s empenadas

Even though it makes

Playing hoyita a little distracting.

They will never get 100 pesos.

Victor remembers

The maqueno he ate for breakfast

And his dad who hasn’t come home

Since before his last birthday.

He looks back to his shoe-shine kit

And his stomach sinks again

As he smells the dust mixed

With stale cerveza.

He blackens those images

Like he blackens shoes

And pulls his long sleeves

Even longer over his wrists.

The shop ladies gossip

Outside their tiendas and

The little boy knows that

They could be talking about

Anyone’s dad and anyone’s

Tia Rosa and anyone’s

Shoe shine kit.

The dirt crunches under his

Dusty jeans and

None of it matters

As long as there is

One more customer

At the end of the day

So that the angry Military Macaw

In the trees above him

Will screech at

Someone else and leave

Him in the relative peace

That comes from

One more pair of

Shiny shoes.

Music Monday Proposals

Okay everybody!

When my kids were little and they wanted a new pet, we would have them write a proposal.  The proposal had to give lots of details about taking care of the pet, costs, time requirements, cleanliness, and noise.  It had to address each of these areas with solutions that convinced my husband and I that the child was responsible enough to handle that new pet without it becoming a nuisance to the rest of the family.  If the proposal appeared to be missing anything that we had concerns with, we would reply with our concerns and have the child resubmit their improved and more complete proposal.

Although you do not have to feed or clean your songs that you want us to listen to, I am going to require you to convince me with that same type of proposal.  In other words, it will have to use reason to CONVINCE ME to play your song.  If it is professional, evidence-packed, appealing, and persuasive it won't hurt either. 

So, here are the rules for Music Monday Proposals:

1. It must be emailed or typed and include the standard heading and font style and size.
2. It must include a URL link where I can preview the song ahead of time.
3. It must include enough information (one solid paragraph or poem will suffice) to convince me.
4. I reserve the right to return your proposal to ask for additional information that I feel I need before I am convinced.
5. Experiences (either in story of poetry format) where the song was influential, life-changing, or brought some kind of specific benefit to you would be acceptable.

Good Luck!

Food Poem Assignment

Here is a suggestion for this week's menu entree.  You can do this or another writing option from the Menu Entree Options page.

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Food Poem - Brainstorm

Macaroni

Macaroni and cheese

Macaroni and tomatoes

Macaroni killing the disposal in St. George

Macaroni killing the disposal in California

Macaroni necklace strung on yarn

Macaroni glued onto a paper in kindergarten and again onto an empty soup can in 3^rd grade

Macaroni Grille where I learned to say how are you in Italian in the bathroom

Macaroni salad that Doug made for me when I was pregnant the first time

Macaroni with food coloring, I can’t remember why.

Dumping the cheese into the boiling water along with the Macaroni

Stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni

Elbow macaroni that looks nothing like my elbows

Macaroni used for a teeny straw

Top Ten Days of Macaroni

Day One: The day we ate macaroni and cheese AND macaroni and tomatoes for dinner for the 134^th time in my life.  It was a staple in my house growing up.  I guess we always had macaroni and we always had cheese and tomatoes. 

Day Two: The day my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Wall, had us glue macaroni to make a picture of a turkey.  I was very impressed with myself, even if my paper wrinkled with the extra glue. And Eric Yoxtheimer showed us that if you smeared your fingers in glue and let it dry you could make it look like you were peeling your fingers off.  Which was much more exciting than the macaroni turkey.

Day Three: The day I made too much macaroni for my big family and had to throw it down the disposal, which coughed, spit, sputtered, backed up, and then splutted it all out the sides of the pipes under the sink.  It took me 2 hours to clean up all the soggy macaroni and well over a year to stop feeling guilty for ruining the plumbing in the St. George family condo.

Day Four: The day I did it again in the Laguna Beach family condo.  What was the definition of idiot?

Day Five: The day I made a macaroni necklace in Sunday School.  I’m sure it was a symbol of salvation or charity or something.  I just remember it was hard to get the red yarn through the curvy holes and when we were done, the yarn left fuzz on my tongue when I tried to crunch the macaroni while I waited for Sunday dinner.

Day Six: The day I glued macaroni to an empty Campbell’s Tomato Soup can to make a pencil holder for my mom.  Even though I worked for many tedious minutes in 3^rd grade art class to get the macaroni design just right, it still didn’t turn out to be worthy of how much I loved My Mom.

Day Seven: The day I went with my friends to Macaroni Grille.  The day I tasted balsamic oil and vinegar on French bread.  The day I wrote on the table cloth in crayons.  The day I learned how to say how are you in Italian.

Day Eight: The day my sisters and I were babysitting our little brothers and discovered that if you got your head clear down by the bowl of milk, you could use a macaroni for a straw.

Day Nine: The day I noticed that elbow macaroni looks nothing like my elbows.  Or anyone else’s for that matter.

Day Ten: The day when I was big enough to make dinner, but not big enough to know that I should take the cheese packet out before I dumped the box into the boiling water.

Day Eleven: The day when I was in my first trimester and green as the old carpet and Doug made me his mission-famous macaroni salad.  I haven’t been able to look at any macaroni salad the same way since.

Okay, eleven.  And overall, macaroni has been a general disappointment in my life, but maybe I’ve just been using it the wrong way.

Color Poem Assignment

Color Poem Assignment

Write a 20-line poem using a color.  DO NOT RHYME.  Complete the brainstorm first and then follow the example.  Assignment must be  handed in typed, using Times New Roman or Calibri, 10-12 point font, and standard margins.  Assignment must include the standard heading in the left-hand corner with your name, teacher’s name, class and period, and date.  10% will be deducted for not following these specific instructions.  10 points extra credit will be given for turning in the brainstorm (also typed) with the assignment.

Brainstorm

For each of the following list at least FIVE in your journal:

List 1: What things LOOK (your color)?

List 2: What things SOUND (your color)?

List 3: What things SMELL (your color)?

List 4: How does (your color) FEEL?

List 5: What makes YOU FEEL (your color)?

List 6: What things TASTE (your color)?

List 7: What EXPERIENCES or IDEAS seem (your color)?

List 8: Can you think of any (your color) PLACES?

Example:

1.      middle of the night, bats, Santa’s boots, Johnny Depp’s goatee, missionaries shoes, dinner party dress and shiny pumps

2.      wind, silence, quiet sobbing, empty room, big cold forest

3.      burnt toast, diesel exhaust, campfire smoke, new rubber tires, permanent marker

4.      depressed, lonely, blank, without friends, classy, evil, sophisticated, shivering

5.      an empty house when I come home, debt, temper tantrums (mine or others), funerals, problems that don’t seem to have a solution

6.      black tie mousse cake, very dark chocolate, licorice, burnt toast, the bottom of the spaghetti sauce pan that I left on the stove and forgot.

7.      the time between my sister’s death and her funeral, Halloween, depression, Gothic, black tie affairs

8.      cemetery, caves, formal dinner and dance, Edgar Allen Poe’s house, anywhere you are reading Wuthering Heights – shiver.

Now look at your brainstorming list and select the ideas that make the strongest comparison for each sense. Use each of these ideas to create the lines of your color poem.

Your poem should be at least 20 lines long.  You will be graded on original ideas and form, so be sure to think past the obvious things that are your color and be sure to vary the beginning of each line of the poem.

(Sample)

Black

It’s the color of three o’clock,

when only the insomniacs are up

surfing the abyss of the web

musing over tints in Johnny Depp’s goatee,

and shades of sleek party dresses and

shiny pumps

made for a Hollywood runway,

not this lonely shade of night.

It’s the smell of permanent marker –

overwhelmingly reminding you of

the empty house

after the yard sale posters

are stuffed into the outside garbage can

along with memories

of the friends you are

leaving behind.

It’s the feeling between

“Time of death: six fifty-seven, Tuesday”

and the burnt funeral potatoes

that were supposed to somehow

soften the fact that your afternoon

was spent in a blur at her graveside

and you are suddenly not afraid of ghosts

but longing for a glimpse of one.

It’s the silence

of a blank Christmas morning

when Santa’s boots only

conjure images of coal

and all the well wishes in the world

leave a hole, empty,

filling you with voiceless sobbing

and the Color of Black.