In times of crisis music, art, and literature (especially poetry) can help us make meaning of our experiences, change our perspectives, and define our humanity. In Wallace Stevens’s “The Poems of our Climate” he famously wrote, “the imperfect is our paradise.” That line has been with me since I first read it as a teen and it has meant different things at every stage of my life since. Poetry, language itself, though imperfect can help us reach for more – more connection, peace, forgiveness, understanding, and kindness. April is National Poetry Month, so our blog this month will provide a variety of poetry activities for your kiddos to complete and hopefully poetry can help them make sense of this unique time that they are living and witnessing.
Also, FLOW will continue to host free writing workshops on Fridays. If you would like to join our writing session, please send FLOW a message and we will send you the Zoom invitation. Here is a poem written by Caroline in one of our recent sessions:
I am.
I am the yellow of the flowers, the moon
I am the awkward, lonely cat you drive past on autumn afternoons
I am the stroke of the pencil against thin paper
I am the gum stuck under the desk many months ago
I am the sharpest rock in the creek you played in as a child
I am the strawberry cloud of goodness that follows her
I am the wail of agony that screams on behalf of all humankind
I am the rain beating down on your tin roof
I am the broken crayon that was once the sharpest in the box
I am the gravel you find in your shoes after a long journey
I am the sweet mango tang of your $1.99 popsicle
I am the biggest rock you hope to climb
I am the broken ornament that you hung on your Christmas tree anyways
I am the fractured language you learned at birth
I am the torn up canvas shoe that sits in the lonely sunlight of you garage
I am the darkest, strangest night
And the brightest, cleanest morning
I am.
1. Have your kiddo select one of the videos of poets reading their work on https://poets.org/national-poetry-month/dear-poet-2020 and ask them write a letter to the poet about his/her work.
2. Ask kiddos to make a video of themselves reading one of their favorite poems or a poem they have written and send it to a family member or friend. FLOW will plan to hold a virtual poetry reading later this month so kiddos can read their own poems or poems by others and this is a great way to practice!
3. Ask your kiddo to write a cinquain. A cinquain is a 5-line poem that uses word count rather than syllable count. Below is the structure for this type:
Line 1: What is your topic? Write it as a single noun
Line 2: Describe the noun from line 1 using two adjectives
Line 3: write down three verbs that relate to the noun from line 1
Line 4: In four words, put down your thoughts or feelings about the noun from line 1
Line 5: What is a synonym for the noun from line 1
____________________
___________________ ___________________
_____________________ ___________________________ ____________________
_________________ _______________ ________________ _________________
__________________________