All posts in Larry Dean

Out of the Pastoral

David Baker’s poem “Pastoral” evoked some interesting conversations this week. First of all, with its use of blank space, it created opportunities for various interpretative readings by student volunteers—some with pauses, others who chose […]

Remember to Write

“Remember” by Joy Harjo was this week’s selection. After hearing it read aloud, we wondered who the speaker might be—the poet, or someone (or something) else? One of the first elements of poetry we […]

Keeping Quiet

For our second week, we read “On Quiet Feet” by Nikki Grimes. Students noticed how different it looked from last week’s selection, being only a single stanza and with much shorter lines. We decided […]

Eating Words

As always, it was a pleasure to be back with the students at Skinner West! Everyone was excited and eager to begin. I introduced myself as well as the program and went over what […]

You Cento Me

It’s been an incredibly fun and insightful residency at Volta, but unfortunately, today was our last class. I reminded the students that in addition to teaching poetry, I write it as well, so I […]

100 Per Cento Efforts

We had our final poetry classes this week. Since one of the initial things I mention when we begin a residency is my own status as a ‘working’ poet, I brought in one of […]

Hope Springs Eternal

Emily Dickinson’s “‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers” was our focus this week. We talked about its multitudinous use of em dashes, unusual capitalization, and rhyme, but especially its central metaphor comparing a bird […]

Hope for the Best

For our penultimate session, we read and discussed Emily Dickinson’s “’Hope’ is the thing with feathers.” Students have taken note of em dashes in previous poems, but not to the extent they appear here; […]

Personification Up

Last week, we read and discussed Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The Guitar.” In class, we’ve previously examined how some writers choose personification from among many literary devices. However, the title musical instrument isn’t the only […]

Personifications of Interest

We’ve previously examined how writers use personification as one element among many in some of the poems discussed to date. On the other hand, personification is the focus of Federico Garcia Lorca’s “The Guitar.” […]

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I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET