We dug right in to examine William Carlos William’s minimalist Imagist style poem, The Locust Tree In Flower This poem is inspired by William’s interest in minimal / abstract art of the day (1930s). A very insightful discussion follwed our reading as students mulled over the idea of structure, meaning, and care. How does this poem describe a lifecycle? Would William’s, who was a doctor by trade, understanding of life and death be more empathetic because of what he may have seen day in and day out?
Lesson Note: I like using this poem as a starter. As students juggle words and grammar line by line to describe an object, their attention is turned ‘inside the box’ of a simple poetic form. How do we describe something using minimal words/language. What words do we use/make up?
Ms.Taylor, 8th Grade
1st Period
Walking in a Winterland
Tessa M.
Snow
Slowly
Falling
Winterland
beautiful
Very
White
SNOOPDOGE
Natalia C.
Flakes
Lightly
falling
graceful
snow
snoopdoge
lonely tree
Allysa C.
snow
fell
slowly
except
the
green
tree
Don’t Drink and Drive
Brian P.
Slowly
Driving
while
drinking
hot
coffee
Swings Go High
Alexander Y.
Starting
Frosty
Fluctuate
enough
Woodchips
quite
Beginning
just
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
2nd Period
Cars Through the Window
Marc B.
Cars
angerly
beeping
driving
as well as
shiny
loud
colorful
Gravity
Thomas F.
gravity
Jump
in
The
Pond
elegantly
kershrunk
Untitled
Ben G.
cold
quickly
walking
Among
snow
softly
stepping
creating
footsploshes
Nugs
Mayson L.
Chicken Nuggets
chicken butt
like
fluffy
pillows
quickly
falling
into mouth
perfectly
The snow through the shoes
Leyla T.
Walking
through
calmly
snow
platinumwhite
shoes
cold
whilst-still
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
3rd Period
Weird School Bus Ride
Haley S.
Slowly
Bus
Felkcold
Rarely
Tarovoo
Tissueful
Drive
Deerelk
Stupid
Almost
Busy Street
Maggie T.
Of
runoverorg
and
stupidly
big
cars
I’m
tempted
M&M Poem
Honne B.
Generously
yeetefus
on top of
clumsily
yesn
unlike
Snowy
Ellis W.
Falling
Quikcly
Coldly
Till
Frozen
Beauticold
Trees
Sherlyn C.
Very dull
Very…dead
On ground.
Under the sky.
I Missed The Bus
Lauren H.
Stop
Fast
Car
Bummpy
Drive
mad
Mom
pulled up
to school
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
5th Period
Dirty Snow On Irving
Maya S.
Overnight, stuck, gray slush. Trudge. Frozen. endlessly
Untitled
Matthew L.
Quick
squirrels
always
run
swiftly
in
white
silky
snow
Snain
Natalia D.
Early
white
falling
snain
quickly
suddenly,
everywhere
standing
snain
Whitescreams
Kara L.
Snow
Falling
towards
the
ground
quickly
whiteflakes
whitescreams
loudly
from
the
flying
blue
Birds
Kamil S.
Trung
Birdss
slowly
yeet
Ding
sran
Fqueit
Cold
Yasmin A.
Fridge
cold
delightful
gentle
beautiful
snow
shovel
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
7th Period
Untitled
Sebastian R.
People
Cool
Cold
Shiny
Walking
Slowly
fast
Warmly
around
Far
Close
Awesome
Unliving, but living in my mind
Dehne S.
Small
Sprouting
Pink
as
candy
very
fuzzy
Baby
Cactus
Fun
Luca N.
Around
playing
friends
Athletic
equally
energtic
schlosh
school
Brown Nests
Emily R.
From
yellow
slowly
swaying
hurted
trees
brown
nests
lay
peacfully
Snow Covered Tree
Olivia H.
bare
among
around
cold
snow
resting
tree
Winter Beauty
Robert S.
Brown
Tall
White
Above
From
Snow
Always
Perfect
Beautiful
Crystals
