I'm Sorry and I Just Sued the School System- Prince EA

Group Slam

"Letter to your Flag"

A variety of Spoken Word Poems

"Text Me" submitted by David O



"Times I've Been Mistaken for a Girl"  submitted by Autumn






"To the Boys that one Day May Date my Daughter" submitted by Max




"I am Not Black, You are not White"  submitted by Baptiste


 "Love Letter" by Sarah Kaye submitted by Millie




"No More Heroes" submitted by Tsholo


"Smile" submitted by Zoya

Simile Poem - "Thinking About You"

LISTEN CAREFULLY, 
A SPEW OF WORDS COMES FROM THIS POET'S HEART. 
CAN YOU RELATE???


  

What makes this a good poem?

Social Justice, Emmett Till

THE STORY OF EMMETT TILL (you can find more information about Emmett Till at this link)

THE STORY OF EMMETT TILL IN A LONG AGO 
WRITTEN SONG AND
A NEW SPOKEN WORD POEM.

The Poetry of Protest Against Human Rights Violations

The Death of Emmett Till 

Was down in Mississippi not so long ago
When a young boy from Chicago town
Walked in a Southern door

This boy's fateful tragedy
You all should remember well
The color of his skin was black
And his name was Emmett Till

Some men, they dragged him to a barn
And there they beat him up
They said they had a reason
But disremember what

They tortured him and did some things
Too evil to repeat
There were screaming sounds inside the barn
There was laughing sounds out on the street

Then they rolled his body down a gulf
Amidst a blood red rain
And they threw him in the waters wide
To cease his screaming pain

The reason that they killed him there
And I'm a-sure, it ain't no lie
'Cause he was born in black-skin barn
He was born to die

And then to stop the United States
Of yelling for a trial
Two brothers, they confessed
That they had killed poor Emmett Till

But on the jury there were men
Who had helped the brothers commit this awful crime
And so this trial was a mockery
But nobody there seemed to mind

I saw the morning papers
But I could not bear
To see smiling brothers
Walkin' down the courthouse stairs

For the jury found them innocent
And the brothers, they went free
While Emmett's body floats the foam
Of a Jim Crow southern sea

If you can't speak out against this kind of thing
A crime that's so unjust
Your eyes are filled with dead men's clay
Your ears must be filled with dust

Your arms and legs
They must be in shackles and chains
And your mind, it must cease to flow
For you to let our human race
Fall down so God-awful low

This song is just a reminder
To remind your fellow man
That this kind of thing still lives today
In that ghost-robed Ku Klux Klan

But if all of us folks that thinks alike
If we gave all we could give
We could make this great land of ours
A greater place to live

Madiba Poem

"An Issue in our City"

ANOTHER ISSUE ORIENTED SPOKEN WORD POEM.

WHAT ARE THESE KIDS SAYING?

"Let My People Glow" by Lebohang Masango

Somewhere in America

Sarah Kaye "Hands" - Lilah "I am Different - Telling Lies Poem

Part of Body POEM

Now, using Sarah's poem as inspiration, write a poem about a part of the body that we never really think about, but take for granted.  Hands - Feet - Eyes - Fingers - Head - Hair, etc, etc.

Telling Lies

Telling Lies Poetry

A different way of looking

One of the pleasures of writing poems is that you can tell lies without getting into trouble! It’s just using your imagination.

• Each member of your group will write three lies about the something other than the sea (the sky, the moon the stars, the sun, the clouds etc. can also work well)

• Be wild and imaginative with your lies avoiding the obvious or the dull (the moon is made of cheese).

A few examples of what they could write are:

The sea is made of blue ink and green paint

The sea hates it when it’s drawn as a wavy line.

The sea is cold because it hasn’t got a coat on

The sea going up and down is a sign it’s still breathing

The sea feeds on rubbish but even he can’t manage it all

If you smack the sea it will splash you back

The sea has a small cousin who is a pond

The sea will wave to you when you turn to leave

As you can see, what starts off as a lie becomes a mix of word play, sometimes truth, and off-the-wall creativity. It gives a chance to use imagination without forcing it and with a sense of fun.

Your group will perform/read the poem aloud - reading each member’s own line.

Spoken Word Poem Guidelines and Link to Organizer

LINK TO SPOKEN WORD ORGANIZER

GUIDELINES FOR SPOKEN WORD POEM    

DUE May 21 (BD) May 22 (EFH)

SPOKEN WORD poetry is poetry that is written on a page but performed for an audience. Because it is performed, this poetry tends to demonstrate a heavy use of rhythm, improvisation, free association, rhymes, rich poetic phrases, word play and slang. It is more aggressive and “in your face” than more traditional forms of poetry.

Solo or with 2 or 3 partners

2 to 4 minutes

Must have an overall theme - cannot be random

Must come from a place of angst, a place in your heart, - passion is the driving force

Minimum 6 stanza w/6 lines in each stanza

Must memorize

USE exciting words - refrain from the mundane

CUT out the fat

USE poetic tools and figurative language that help you create rhythm

            Alliteration, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, similes, personification, repetition, line

            Length, etc

READ aloud and make changes

PRACTICE with your group - be dramatic and passionate

Kid Poems and "If I had Only Known

If I Had Known

Related Poem Content Details

BY ALICE MOORE DUNBAR-NELSON

  If I had known

  Two years ago how drear this life should be,

  And crowd upon itself allstrangely sad,

  Mayhap another song would burst from out my lips,

  Overflowing with the happiness of future hopes;

  Mayhap another throb than that of joy.

  Have stirred my soul into its inmost depths,

                    If I had known.

  If I had known,

  Two years ago the impotence of love,

  The vainness of a kiss, how barren a caress,

  Mayhap my soul to higher things have soarn,

  Nor clung to earthly loves and tender dreams,

  But ever up aloft into the blue empyrean,

  And there to master all the world of mind,

                    If I had known.

Asha Christensen and Wm Carlos Williams

Today:

Poetry Packet
A poem to listen to and
A poem to write!

• Write this next poem in your notebooks
• Think about it
• Write about it
• What does it mean
• Share
• Write your own poem in the style of William Carlos William

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

An Invitation to Present

INVITATION

TO GRADE 8 SPEAKERS AND POETS TO PRESENT

AT YOUR
PROMOTION CEREMONY ON JUNE 2

Current students who

have a motivational message relating to school

or

a nostalgic message covering your 3-year MS experience

are invited to audition for the privilege of speaking on behalf of the 8^th grade during the ceremony.

If you are interested, have a look at the following calendar:

1)     Speak to Ms. Moreau by May 11 if you are interested;

2)     Have an idea of what message you might like to relay to your classmates and if your presentation is a speech or a spoken word poem and check in with Ms. Moreau once a week on your progress;

3)     Practice, rewrites, refinement and memorization by June 1 – you will work with Ms. Moreau on rewrites and refinement.

Poetry Calendar and Assessment

DATES YOU MUST COMPLETE THE LESSONS IN THE POETRY PACKET:

MAY 3 (B&D)
MAY 4  (E,F,&H)
POETRY VS PROSE 
ABSTRACT VS CONCRETE

MAY 10 (E,F,&H)
MAY 11 (B&D) 
ONOMATOPOEIA
ALLITERATION AND ASSONANCE

MAY 17 (B&D)
MAY 18 (E,F,&H)
PERSONIFICATION
SIMILE & METAPHORS
ALLUSION (YOU HAVE DONE THIS DURING THE SPEECH UNIT)

MAY 23 (B&D)
MAY 24 (E,F,&H)
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

MAY 28, 29, 30, 31
SPOKEN WORD PERFORMANCES

FLIRT AND SARAH KAYE

F.L.I.R.T.

F.L.I.R.T

F Form/ Structure	Can you make any comments on the way the poem looks on the page? Does each stanza (paragraph) tell you something different?
L Language	What examples of interesting language can you find? (persuasive language, emotive language, short or long sentences)
I Imagery	How does the poet paint images in the reader’s mind? Can you find examples of metaphors, adjectives, adverbs, similes, personification.
R Rhythm / rhyme	Does the poem have a rhythm? Do any of the words rhyme? Can you find any examples of alliteration or onomatopoeia?
T Theme/ topic	How would you describe the main ideas or message of the poem? What is it trying to tell the reader?

Sarah Kaye: "If I Should Have a Daughter"

If Poem for Fun

IF POEM

• Begin with the prompt “if” and imagine the possibilities in life, both now and in the future.  
• Any word can follow the word if, the most common being “I”.  
• But challenge yourself to find another word, especially a noun, i.e: if pigs flew; if the world; if dolphins; etc.  
• Use your imagination.  
• Be silly or serious.  
• Here are a few examples of IF poems.  Use YOUR BLACK NOTEBOOK TO work out your poems, which should probably be at least 4 TO 6 STANZAS OF 4 TO 6 LINES EACH.
•  

'if' by rudyard kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will, which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

 “if” by Donna Moreau

If I were 100 years old

My hair would be thin

My teeth would be gone

My mind blown apart

By all the strange wonders and evil things

I’ve seen in my long, lonely, and lovely life

If I were 100 years old

I would be too old to enjoy

My food

My kitties

My man

Maybe they’d be waiting for me somewhere in the clouds

If I were 100 years old

I’d lose my walker

Toss out my glasses

Throw off my granny gown

Strap on my leathers for

ONE LAST TIME

Hop on my Harley

Rev up the engine

Throw it in 6^th and for

ONE LAST TIME

RIDE MY WAY INTO

ETERNITY

Now This - Gun Laws

Dylan Roth Walks into a Bible Study