What better way to get to know each other than collaborative poems? For our first week together, the students at Taft read two rather curious poems: “Long-Term Memory” by James Tate and “Tell Me Poem” by Lisa Jarnot.
We talked about the pleasure of surprising language and surprising logic showing up on the scene in a poem that otherwise seemed as if it might belong to our own reality. Then we surprised ourselves with exquisite corpses.
Here’s the rules:
1. All poems started with “the first thing you should know about…”
2. Poets worked in groups of 3 or 4, each writing one line at a time, and then passing it on. Each poet wrote about 2 lines per poem.
3. Each poet can only see the line directly before theirs when writing, so you aren’t quite sure what’s come before. Surprise!
Ms. Foley’s 8th period
Collaborative poems by the 8th grade class
The first thing you should know about this place
Its big and loud like a dragon’s firey breath.
Its full of magic and happiness, wonder and
People twerking to Miley Cyrus at Disneyland
I have never felt the thrill of a roller coaster.
I have been around earth.
I flew into a yellow church.
I like a canary yellow shade of color.
The first thing you should know about this place
Unicorns have merged with dragons and you must run.
They have big horns and shoot fire, very scary
And they don’t like mice that like carrots,
Way too orange,
Way too ugly.
Don’t forget human faces
Those are even scarier
Than fire breathing anteaters
Ms. Taylor’s 6th period
Collaborative poems by the 8th grade class
The first thing you should know about me
Is that you’ll never really know me
I’m hidden, I vanish out of sight
Then I come back with a pony.
And after I will eat its tail
Then it will be small and frail
Oh my, I can barely see
The sparkly purple stars outside
I wish I could fly to the moon.
The first thing youshould know about me
Is that I am very, very tall
Just like a huge tree
I’m 70% mango juice
But I’m not that delicious, just kidding I taste very good.
A cat tried to eat me once
But the cat wasn’t fast enough
I eat the organs of 20 foot spiders
I kept a 20 foot spider as a pet but then it died.
Ms. Asvos’s 7th period
Collaborative poems by the 7th grade class
The first thing you should know about me,
I like to observe bananas in my spare time.
They are so shiny and sweet.
Like the sun inside of an apple.
It is golden from the rays.
Golden, yet green as a pear, that’s shaped like an orange.
Yet is an orange really an orange?
But then what do we know what is what?
How should we know about what is?
The first thing you should know about me
Is that I am scary
And I was once in a tree
I am awesome I blow your mind!
I am a god
I am Kevin and I’m… AWESOME!
So fear me, innocent mortal before I take your soul
I am a demon I cano not be told
I am a made king
I am the shield!
