Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. – Leonard Cohen

1. Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. – Leonard Cohen

2. Who are you from = People Backup Plan: write down the following: Most important family member, random person you see in town who fascinates you, mentor (not in your family), someone from your childhood no longer in your life who was important. Where are you from = Places/Settings Backup Plan: favorite room in your house, favorite place outside of your house, classroom in this building that feels comfortable for you, most vivid travel destination, place you used to play as kid. What are you from = Experiences Backup Plan: time you disappointed someone, pull out something from your backpack and write out three memories associated with it, a moment you were scared, a moment you felt really alive, something you remember from last weekend. ?

3. “Who You are From” Developing Prompts: Figurative Language • Choose one of the “who’s” from your archeology journal. • Similes – about the person or one of his/her characteristics A. _______________ is like… (some kind of food) Example: Dad is like a hard-boiled egg OR Dad’s laughter rises like the steam off of coffee. B. ____________ is like… (some kind of sound) Example: Mom is like the squeak of a rocking chair or Example: The way she looks at me is like the breaking of glass in the storm. Modify that simile with either an adjective or phrase Example: Mom is like the squeak of a well-worn rocking chair Mom is like the squeak of a rocking chair that is made of soft birch

4. D. _______________ is like… (something from one of your textbooks) Example: He is like the future conditional tense in French. C. _________________ is like… (an unnamable color) Example: My nana has knees the color of right underneath Heaven. – Zora Howard 3. Extending and developing: Take one of your best starts and write for five minutes. You might continue extending the metaphor or move into telling a story related to your simile. If you get stuck, just start describing the person from head to toe or try out some other similes (compare to a season, song, smell, formula, etc.)  the swan is beautiful,
But not like Lorie at 16, when
Everything was possible—no
More like Lorie at 27
Smoking away her days off in her dirty kitchen,
Her kid with asthma watching TV,
The boyfriend who doesn't know yet she's gonna
Leave him,

5. The Swan at Edgewater Park • Ruth L. Schwartz • Isn't one of your prissy richpeoples' swans
Wouldn't be at home on some pristine pond
Chooses the whole stinking shoreline, candy wrappers, condoms
     in its tidal fringe
Prefers to curve its muscular, slightly grubby neck
     into the body of a Great Lake,
Swilling whatever it is swans swill,
Chardonnay of algae with bouquet of crud,
While Clevelanders walk by saying Look
     at that big duck!
Beauty isn't the point here; of course
     the swan is beautiful,
But not like Lorie at 16, when
Everything was possible—no
More like Lorie at 27
Smoking away her days off in her dirty kitchen,
Her kid with asthma watching TV,
The boyfriend who doesn't know yet she's gonna
Leave him, washing his car out back—and 
He's a runty little guy, and drinks too much, and
It's not his kid anyway, but he loves her, he
Really does, he loves them both—
That's the kind of swan this is.

6. “What You are From” Developing Prompts: Imagery 1. Choose one of the “moments” or “experiences” from your archeology journal. 2. “Splice” just five seconds of that moment – the five seconds of that moment that are the most interesting. Sight (you can list these out) What you see directly in front of you. What you see (or can imagine seeing) in the background (INCEPTION-style) What you can almost see on your periphery Sound (you can list these out, too) What you hear directly in front of you. White noise directly in the place you are. The sounds in the distance.

7. Where You are From Developing Prompts: Nouns, Adjectives, Figurative Nouns

8. The Things Emily Carries LIST OUT NOUNS Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Chewing gum wrappers. School handouts. rubber bands. A stuffed dog. blood stains. Two rocks. Pencils. AvrilLavigne. Asthma inhaler. A feather. pink ribbons. Someone's phone number.

9. Add Modifiers Six Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Chewing gum wrappers. School handouts, two weeks overdue. Three rubber bands. A five-inch-tall stuffed dog. Four small blood stains. Two smooth, gray rocks. Four pencils with no lead and no eraser. AvrilLavigne. Asthma inhaler. A feather. Fourteen pale pink ribbons. Someone's phone number scribbled on a Heath Bar wrapper.

10. MAKE EMOTIONS OR EVENTS INTO NOUNS Six Yu-Gi-Oh cards. Chewing gum wrappers. School handouts, two weeks overdue. Three rubber bands. A five-inch-tall stuffed dog. Four small blood stains. Two smooth, gray rocks. Fourth-grade intrigue. Four pencils with no lead and no eraser. Righteous indignation. Stories. AvrilLavigne. Asthma inhaler. A feather. Fourteen pale pink ribbons. Playground news. Someone's phone number scribbled on a Heath Bar wrapper. Eight secrets. Head lice, once. Plans of her own.

11. 1. On a blank piece of paper, write down three “lines” that seem to have potential. Instant Feedback 2. When you get your first peer’s paper – star the piece of language that is most interesting to you. 3. Second peer’s paper,same thing. Star the piece of language that is most interesting. This can be the same one already starred. 4. Third peer’s paper – put on your analytical hat and for one piece of language on that sheet, try out one of these sentence starters: Based on this line, this poet seems interested in exploring… While this line is most literally about___________, it seems to also be suggesting something about….

12. 5. For your final peer’s paper, take one of their lines and add on two more lines that seem to be in the spirit and style of their line.

13. Next Steps (Aka Your Homework) • Forty-five minutes of writing work on your own poem. Build forward from what you have and/or try out some more poetry prompts (http://www.pw.org/writing-prompts-exercises). • Forty-Five minutes. Select a professional poem to work with analytically. This can be a poem you have read before but cannot be one you have worked with in an academic class (e.g. No “We Never Know” or “My Papa’s Waltz”). My two favorite sites for finding poetry are poetry180.org and poetryfoundation.org (you can search by topic, poet type, year published, etc.!) a. Print your poem b. fill up the entirety of the white space with some or all of the following: Key facts about this poem: questions with arrows pointing to specific parts of the poem (e.g. Why does she include an enjambment here? What’s up with this word in the title) let someone else have the poem and write ideas drawings or translations of key words or lines Global Sentence: Author name seems interested in exploring ________ Interesting facts about the poet or poem that you find out Global compound sentence: Author name seems intetrested in exploring _____________ AND __________. critic’s quotations or ideas about the poem or poet global complex sentence: While AUTHOR name seems interested in exploring __________, she is also exploring _______________________________. Definitions of key words The speaker of this poem is most likely….