All posts in Haines

‘A True Account of Talking to Ballet Shoes in the New York Award Assembly’: O’Hara-style Poems

A lesson on Personification, giving human qualities to something non-human via the poem: A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island. We took a look at Frank O’ Hara’s touching and […]

‘Good Morning / Good Afternoon/ Good Night’: Small Kindness Poems

Students wrote and talked about kindness before reading the poem, ‘Small Kindnesses’ by Denusha Lameris. Lesson Note: Kindness has health benefits. Kindness not only feels good, but it can also boost the giver’s well-being. […]

‘…I get praised…’: Poems For Around The Table

A typical household object became the focus of this lesson while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps The World Ends Here. The poet James Merrill once commented that ‘we understand history from the family around […]

‘but as the rain glows…: Exquisite Corpse Poetry

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 are some images and some of the group poems […]

Cut Up Poems: Parting Action Shots!

For a final project, students used magazines and created cut-up poems! They used ‘found language’ and images to create new meanings. Here are some ‘in action’ shots of student hands working away! Lesson Note: […]

““Wake up”, “Wake up” “Wake up”, “Wake up.:” Repetition Poems

We explored the powerful device of Repetition in Phil Kaye’s poem of the same name. Some poems in our workshop are ‘after’ Kaye’s work. Lesson Note: “Repetition can make magic happen-repeat a word or […]

“La la la la la la la la Cupid melody stuck in my head”: Meditation Poems

Students participated in a short meditation and breathing exercise. I read them I Close My Eyes by David Ignatow. After the meditation, they were asked to write whatever came to mind. Classwork was conducted […]

“Kind heart. We/ Are smart. We”: Gwendolyn Brooks-style Poems

Students read Gwendolyn Brooks’ classic poem, ‘We Real Cool’ before crafting their own ‘cool’ poems using their own words and ideas for what is cool, rhyme repetition, and the short form. We Real Cool […]

“But I haven’t got one yet”: Name Poems

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts, beginning with a reading of a girl named jack by Jaqueline Woodson and Name That Means Holy in Greek by […]

“Picking up anything it devours”: Video-Inspired Poems

Students watched a bear cam video similar to the one described in the poem we studied, ‘There was this bear cam’ by critic and poet, Sandra Simonds. Sandra Simonds charts the formations and deformations […]

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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