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Inspired by Project 1,2,3 originated by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and continued by her daughter, Lisa challenged us to make a metaphorical poem from an object/image. Many of us took the challenge. To see more poems, click over to Lisa’s blog to read more posts.
I brought this idea to my students and combined it with a lesson from Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s book Poems are Teachers, “Make Metaphors” on page 136. We looked at model poems and talked about how an object can become a metaphor. In one class, I passed around a paintbrush and said, “A paintbrush is…” In another, I blew bubbles and said, “Bubbles are like…” Each of these inspired beautiful responses from my kiddos.
- A paintbrush is your imagination.
- A paintbrush paints your path.
- Bubbles are sparkling rainbows.
- Bubbles are in orbit flying around Saturn.
As I wrote with my students, I grabbed a pink marker and made three swirls on my paper. Back at home with a little time to craft (snow day!), I cut and pasted pink swirls in an art journal. Thanks, Lisa, for the fun prompt.
Swirl of pink
sparkle-sky
diamond bright
stars of night
Swirl of pink
puffy parting clouds
play peek-a-boo
with the sun
Swirl of pink
licky-lick
sticky-lip
lollipop
–Margaret Simon, 2017
After we wrote and shared our poems, Andrew had an idea. “Why don’t we take a line from each of our poems and make a new poem?” Sounds like a great idea. Here’s the resulting poem.
To dream it, all you have to do is start.
Don’t erase yourself from the real world.
Paint your true colors.There is no fright.
Not to lose but to gain.Flying high above
a swirl of pink puffy parting cloud,The sea is my world.
The sand is my happiness.–Caneview GT Allstars
Reflections on the Teche 