Poetry Friday posts are with Leigh Anne at A Day in the Life
Last week my students and I studied the poem “A Letter in October” by Ted Kooser. In response, some of us wrote golden shovel poems. A golden shovel is a poem that uses the line of another poem stretched out down the right hand margin. The writer then fills in words to create a whole new poem. This method of writing a poem forces the writer to use enjambment in an interesting way. Today I am sharing two student responses as well as my own.
I lay still in my bed in the moonlit night
A sweet blowing breeze passes in
And out filling my room with its
soft and warm thick
Scent of snow and hushed winter
Whispers wrapping me in a chilly jacket.
–Erin, 6th grade
You are sitting. Watching
while birds fly around the
trees. The sun going down, light
fading. You hear kids walk
down the street. The sun is down,
everybody collecting the candy the
people are giving out. You look at the hill.
You see something, a pumpkin. You carve it.–Andrew, 5th grade
Every day I drive by a mighty oak tucked between the frontage road and the highway, Mr. Al. In South Louisiana, the oldest oaks are named and cataloged and cared for. Mr. Al has had an interesting journey as he was transplanted by the state highway department about 3 years ago. He is thriving in his new home.
Mr. Al in October.
An oak tree spreads its mighty wings then
beckons us to see
another way the
world can be. Light
dances with the leaves, a casual step,
strong and easy, bouncing out
the noisy beats upon.
-Margaret Simon
Reflections on the Teche 