Students crafted visual and then poetic Exquisite Corpses! Afterward, they were challenged to create a clay figure of one of their collective group drawings! Below is one such sample. Students created topics around which to craft their surprising poems, which unfold as you see below, with the poetic line preceding the new writing invisible to the group of writers crafting the poem until the entire whimsical work is revealed at the end of the process.
8th Grade students wrote Ars Poetica. An Ars Poetica is a poem that explains the “art of poetry,” or a meditation on poetry using the form and techniques of a poem.
Lesson Note: Cadavre exquis (exquisite corpse) is a collaborative writing and drawing approach first used by surrealist artists to create bizarre and intuitive drawings.
Ms. Hernandez, 7th Grade
Chicago: An Exquisite Corpse
by Riley D-D, Adalee H., Maddy J.
In the city of Chicago
In the city of Chicago
there are skyscrapers that reach the stars
In the city, it smells like hot dogs
In the city, the Bean shines like the moon
In the city the lake glistens like the sun
The city of Chicago is a place where
I grew up I grew up with the
Bean grew up with
the El, I have been born here it
is my home.
Skyscrapers, buildings, my home, and
my family/ friends all my life, downtown, the Bean
Starbucks, Lincoln Square, and my life, my home
my place.
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade
Ars Poetica
by Laila L.
Poetry is wind bypassing your ear
Birds singing a melody
The northern sky lit up the dark
blue sky
The moon glistening down on us
Everyone laughing and cheering
A flower blooming
A rollercoaster of emotions
Butterflies fluttering
Arte Poetico
por Mariana V.
La puesia para me es algo en la cual
se puede describir muchos cosas
muchos sentimientos
donde uno puede saltarse y
poder sentirse libre
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade
Ars Poetica
by Liam P.
Poetry is like the smell of fresh rain in rainforests
Poetry is love and kindness filling the air with enjoyment
Poetry is laughter when you hear the funniest joke
Poetry is like the waves and sea creatures of the ocean
Poetry is like nature, birds, animals, flowers, dancing and
swaying through the air/wind
Poetry is thoughts
Poetry is like all the stars in the sky shinning
above the tall, towering mountains.
Ars Poetica
by Rowan B.
Poetry is the small birds chirping in the wind
Poetry is the magical feeling during the holiday season
Poetry is the joy you get when opening presents
Poetry is the beauty of an open rose
Poetry is the calmness of ocean waves
Poetry is the sound of raindrops hitting the snow
Poetry is like a cup of hot cocoa after the cold.
