See more Poetry Friday at Jama’s Alphabet Soup.
Most students in the middle grades know the name Lemony Snicket, so when I introduced his article from Poetry magazine, they were primed to listen. In this article, Lemony Snicket introduced adult poetry to children. He says, “Poetry is like a curvy slide in a playground — an odd object, available to the public — and, as I keep explaining to my local police force, everyone should be able to use it, not just those of a certain age.”
We read aloud the whole article. My instructions for writing were simple, “Steal a line that you like and write from there.”
The poem I wrote is a Cento, in which I took a line from each of the poems in the article.
An open door says, “Come in.”
The room I entered was a dream of this room.
I’m in the house.
I’m still here?
There is no need for you to come and visit me.
You are food. You are here for me to eat.
There will never be enough.
Nothing anyone could do to stop it coming.
The next obvious question:
“Does anyone want to be my sack of potatoes?”
Think of a big pink horse.
There are monsters everywhere.
What is it the sign of?
It is what it is.
That’s Poetry to me.
Thank you, I have enjoyed imagining all this.
Some student samples:
If I would be walking
down the road that
you told me to imagine,
would it be full of gumdrops,
and rainbows covered
in sprinkles and chocolate
fudge on a marshmallow
cloud that tastes like
strawberry icing or maybe
chocolate ice cream on the
hottest day of the year,
or would the road be
full of dark nights, but no stars
and gravestones, with lost kids,
and a grey, lonely path with
cracks in the middle
that can swallow
me up in one bite, with
eyes looking at me in
every direction?If I would be walking
down the road you told
me to imagine,
which road would I be walking?
If I would be walking
the road you told me
to imagine, would my road
include you?–Brooklyn
Electric green and red tears
reflected like rainbows over water in the daylight
right before rain
a warning of good fortune
telling us it’s okay
–Kendall
Reflections on the Teche 
Wow! Thanks for putting the Poetry magazine link in. That was great!
[…] 15. Margaret Simon (Stealing a line poetry exercise) […]
All poems wonderful, Margaret. Those endings, which I often look at because I think they’re tough to do well, are just beautifully written. Thanks for the article link too-can’t wait to read! Must have been quite inspiring!
That was a great Lemony Snicket article. He included many new-to-me poets. Enjoyed seeing the student poems too.
Love the poems. Thanks for the link to the article. Will definitely share it.
So glad to see Brooklyn’s poem alongside yours – what a treat for today!
Really really cool idea/article/poems. I think Kendall’s ‘a warning of good fortune” is brilliant and very fitting response to Lemony Snicket’s article.
What a delightful exercise! All three poems work well. Brooklyn does a very effective job of describing the two roads — I can imagine those eyes in every direction!
Enjoyed your Cento and the poems by Brooklyn and Kendall. What a fun exercise–to hear a fav author hold forth on poetry and then write in response.
Lemony Snicket sure pricks any balloons of poetry pretension in the article (which was so much fun – thanks for the link).
A triple treat, well quadruple if you include the Lemony Snicket article. I appreciate so much your creativity in working with your students. You are inspiring!
Oh my goodness – such beauty here! And yes Lemony Snicket captures kids’ attention, hands down. I love how the words can be placed randomly in various ways to create new meaning – such power there! What a transformative experience and activity for the kids!