Published by admin on 17th October 2009
Whether you’ve got them, in denial about them, or way too young to care about them, I’m not talking about those crinkly crow’s feet that grow around your eyes, or the grooves around your mouth. While laughter may be the cause of those lines, we really will be talking about various poetry forms that start snickers: those that fall into the comedy genre.
The forms I will talk about first are sometimes equated with nonsense poetry. In fact, many are used when creating poetry for children. While creating depth is essential in all poetry, it must go to the back of the line and allow meter, music, and rhythm be at the head of the class for these poetry forms.
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Published by admin on 16th October 2009
When I look back at my life and see how it has changed in the last ten years, I, for one, can see the power in poetry (and the enormous power that is released when someone follows their dreams). Ten years ago, I was the typically lost 35 year old. I had a young family to raise and was struggling to hold down a high-powered job in the logistics industry. The pay was good and I worked very hard. I’d come home at night very weary but I still had trouble sleeping. My addictions (to gambling, nicotine and alcohol) were increasing in magnitude and my soul was becoming less than happy with the direction my life was taking. Sure, I had the nice house, attractive wife and beautiful children, high-paying job, good holidays and everything else that goes with a “successful” career. But I was not happy. In truth, I was stressed to buggery and on Monday mornings my heart was heavy. Friday nights I felt better but the week had taken it’s toll and it was not until Sunday afternoon that I started to feel “normal” once again, but then the whole weekly cycle would start all over again … And then things started to change, and all it took was one poem.At school I found writing poetry remarkably easy. I was always quite creative growing up but I think most kids are. As you know, no one can make a living out of poetry 
) so that is why I found a career in logistics. As a consequence I did not write again for 20 years. At a management course we were encouraged to get in touch with our artistic side.That inspired “What If?” a few months later, the rest followed. For me, this period demonstrated the absolute life changing power of poetry. For the record, this was it, a questioning look at those middle-aged tremors that I was experiencing. What If ?
What if my hair falls out and I end up bald as a coot? What if I do not make budget and he hires a smarter suit? What if I get so fat, I can no longer touch my toes? What if my wife left me, for a younger man she chose?What if my boy is gay and likes the look of a bum? What if my girl is also that way and never becomes a Mum?What if I saw my doctor? And he said “You have got the big C”, and what if I was run over, walking out of his surgery?What if they pressed the button, on every mortal soul? What if there was hell on earth, when man played his final role?What if there is no heaven and it’s all been a big bluff? What if there is a heaven and I was not good enough?What if it’s all been for nothing, but to procreate? Well, I have had such a lovely time, I will just put my trust in fate …A Gift of Poetry A few months prior to writing this I’d put myself on a leadership course, where I had learned many skills to get me through my increasingly hectic days. They included time and stress management, negotiation, team building etc. Most importantly, in a revealing couple of days they got us to question ourselves, and I mean really question ourselves. Who are you? Where are you going?
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Published by admin on 7th October 2009
There are so many ways to experience poetry. Nodelman (1992) offers eight suggestions on how to do so. For each of his suggestions (used as subheadings below), I will provide writing activities that I have used with children to provide them with the opportunity to experience poetry. It should be noted that I approach poetry with children in the way suggested by Purves and Monson (1984, p. 91), i.e.,
To ease people into poetry,…it should be thought of as language at play: play with words, sounds, type faces, punctuation, syntax, images, metaphors, and ideas. It is serious play, of course, but still play, and play should produce pleasure.
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