Write Night: Poetry

Perhaps tonight for Write Night, we'll think about poetry, about the poems we love, the poems we hate, the poems we've written, the ones we've yet to write. We can tell stories about writing poems (or not writing poems), about the teachers who inspired us to experiment with poetry, the teachers who stifled our creativity, the poems our students have written that mattered, the poetry lessons gone wrong. Or, as always, we can completely ignore the prompt and write whatever we want. Below, I've included some quick poetry forms for people who may want to play with the poetry. Consider posting your own favorite poetry forms or prompts. And remember the prompts we used in the Summer Institute. We re-wrote fairy tales as poems from the perspective of a character. We re-told stories. Loosen up, and let's plan on having some fun with poetry. Or not.

Apology poem: Write an insincere apology along the lines of William Carlos Williams's "This is Just to Say"

Biopoem form: (Consider writing this form about other people)
Line 1: first name
Line 2: four traits that describe you
Line 3: brother/sister/son/daughter/husband/wife of . . .
Line 4: lover of . . . (name three people or ideas)
Line 5: who feels . . . (three feelings)
Line 6: who fears . . . (three items)
Line 7: who would like to see . . . (three items)
Line 8: resident of . . . (city and state)
Line 9: Last name only

Dramatic Monologue: Write from the perspective of a particular character, perhaps another teacher or an administrator or a student or a significant other.

Haiku form: A three-line poem, usually focused on nature, with a five/seven/five syllable count.

Limerick: A five-line poem, usually funny, sometimes bawdy, with an AABBA rhyme scheme.

Ode: Consider writing an ode to a body part or to food or to something not typically praised.

Pantoum Form
a First line
b Second line
c Third line
d Fourth line
b Second line
e Fifth line
d Fourth line
f Sixth line
e Fifth line
c Third line
f Sixth line
a First line

Years Ago: Write a poem that focuses on your life (or something else) in five year increments.