Rhymes and Alliteration

What is your favorite phrase? What are your favorite rhymes or alliteration in this poem?

What Poetry Is: An Ars Poetica
by Taylor Mali

Sound Haikus

Sounds of the State
curated by Stephanie Rowden and Katherine Weider.

Features the sounds of Michigan - places, memories and experiences from all over the state.
Listen to a few and tell us about what you heard. How are they like haikus?

Metaphors for Life

How would you describe life?

The Life
by Mystic

In life what is is what will be.
All you got is your people, your self, and your family.
Love, loss, struggle, laughter, joy and pain:
Such is life.
Come on, come on.

Repetition in Poetry

Finish the sentence: Being a __________ is
_______________________________.

How does the repetition change the way the poem sounds?

Being A Woman Means
by Mystic

Being a woman is fulfilling the things
your mother was too busy raising you to complete.
Being a woman is taking all the pain and anguish
you've ever felt and translating it into beauty.
Being a woman is knowing when you're broken
and finding the tools to put yourself together again.
Being a woman is remembering how to love yourself
when the man you gave everything to...forgets.

Sound Portrait

What sounds did you hear and how did these sounds create an image for you?

Gently Pasteurized
He’s lying there asleep.
I told him he could
that I didn’t mind.

cocoon, metamorphisis and butterfly

He was sleepy
and he had after all gotten up
in the darkest hour of the night’s tired regime
because I had had some silly bad dream.

in my own darkness

He’s wearing that soft dark blue
shirt of his that I seem to like so much.
He looks so good in blue.

i’ve spent my whole life in the dark and then i was thrust into the light

He’s lying there asleep.
His body precariously thin left room
for two, room for me too.

interphase, prophase and metaphase

Not even an arm’s reach away,
he sleeps better than me,
falling away from this daylit decor;
his soft breathing turning into a light snore.

(doors closing)
Your skin looks different when you’re under fluorescent light
but you seem the same and I don’t know why
but you always see right through me and
(doors closing)

He’s wearing that soft dark blue
shirt of his with its long sleeves.
He looks so good in blue.

I can only make like the dying baby dinosaur sound..
(lafont palaza)

Last night I had had some silly bad dream.
All I had to say was
“Could you come down here for a moment...please”

well alright alright all right, okay

don’t know why i was so scared
scared by how scared i was
scared he wouldn’t care.
i hadn’t even said please and he was right away there.

(lafont palaza transfer section
to the yellow and green lines on the upper level
doors on the left)

I’m analyzing it too much you know.

and though i know you care you were careless
it hurt because you always had so gently treated me
you thought you might could be
good to you and good to me as friends best.
i’ve only ever wanted for your happiness.

It was either that or tic tac toe and I picked tic tac toe.

This is great it was really great to see you again..
like what do you want from me?

he was wearing that dark cotton blue
shirt of his that’s hardly remarkable.
he looks so good in blue.

I don’t know what else to say.

he’s lying there, even in his sleep he’s still right there.

Not Just Another Recorded Poem

What kind of metaphors build up the imagery in this poem?
Why do you think this poem was titled Gypsy?

Gypsy
One day I was 15 trying to find a place to stay
running from something I never wanted so bad.

Some girls have walls you just can't break down.
You proved other girls have none at all.
And, you finally figured out how to get through each one.

But, I'm not just any girl. I stay on the move.
I can pack up my things on the notice of a transfer call
and I'll be back to get my mail later.

I had a wall that no one got through,
because there was a door
I decorated the threshold just for you.

When you knocked, I answered.
But, you didn't have a message to share
and more questions than I could answer.

You came in just for a look around and walked out.
That's why I stay on the move and make it hard for you to find me.
I don't need a father, a brother or a partner.

The next day I was 25 and I had two jobs and two degrees
and I was still running from something I never wanted so bad.

Not The Way Most Poems Sound

Listen to the first few minutes.  Laurie Anderson creates poetry
and music with prerecorded words on her violin.  How does this
sound different from what you had thought poetry was?

Langue D`amour by Laurie Anderson

Let's see. Uh, it was on an island. And there was this snake.
And the snake had legs. And he could walk all around the island.
Yes. That's true. A snake with legs.
And the man and the woman were on the island too.
And they were not very smart.
But they were happy as clams. Yes.
Let's see. Uh...then one evening the snake was walking about
in the garden and he was talking to himself and he saw the woman
and they started to talk. And they became friends.
Very good friends.
And the woman liked the snake very much. Because when he
talked, he made little  noises with his tongue, and his long tongue
was lightly licking about his lips.
Like there was a fire inside his mouth and the flame
would come dancing out of his mouth.
And this woman liked this very much.
And after that, she was bored with the man.
Because no matter what happened,
he was always as happy as a clam.
What did the snake say? Yes! What was he saying?
OK. I will tell you.
The snake told her things about the world. He told her about
the time there was a big typhoon on the island
and all the sharks came out of the water. Yes.
They came out of the water and they walked right into your house
with their big white teeth.
And the woman heard these things. And she was in love.
And the man came out and said: We have to go now!
And the woman did not want to go. Because she was a hothead.
Because she was a woman in love.
Anyway, we got into their boat and left the island.
But they never stayed anywhere very long.
Because the woman was restless. She was a hothead.
She was a woman in love.
And this is not a story people tell.
It is something I know myself.
And when I do my job, I am thinking about these things.
Because when I do my job, that is what I think about.

Sounds Like What It Describes

Click on the link to hear this poem.
Does it sound like a hopscotch or jump rope song to you?
How does that compare to what the words say?

Harlem Hopsctoch
by Maya Angelou

One foot down, then hop! It’s hot.
Good things for the ones that’s got.
Another jump, now to the left.
Everybody for hisself.
In the air, now both feet down.
Since you black, don’t stick around.
Food is gone, the rent is due,
Curse and cry and then jump two.
All the people out of work,
Hold for three, then twist and jerk.
Cross the line, they count you out.
That’s what hopping’s all about.
Both feet flat, the game is done.
They think I lost. I think I won.