Collaborative Learning Activity: Poetry Writing

We sat around a table with interesting objects we had brought from home. A community of poet wannabes. Or poetry machines, Randy Marshall our chief instigator cheekily called us. He led us to write poems inspired by the stories we shared about the items. A good activity that I could use one day with my students, if Randy doesn't mind.

Poetry writing sharpens our minds and writing. I like the opportunity it provides for us to be precise and playful with words. It is a great learning activity to try in classes. I recommend it highly, not just in literature classes.

Here is mine, slightly edited from the first draft written on Feb 4 evening.

Some of the objects of inspiration: jade cat, brass bell, seagull feather, my red macrame knot

Objects of Interest

A friendship in Beijing
Solidified by a dark green jade cat
"An exotic city," R professed
Her love for that Forbidden City
Swiftly the gemstone transported me to my unspoken grief

"The first one was damaged
The second one stolen"
So a third ring her mother offered
A sparkling aquamarine set in silver
A symbol of T's childhood in Japan

Where has this bottle roamed
Whose lips have pursed against this rim
A chipped whiskey bottle top
Plucked from the grounds of Rappahannock Station
A decade and a half in L's keeping

A brown seagull's feather
From the shores of a Polly Island Beach
She recalled the loudness of the placidity
Life had become too big and clamorous
The ocean could swallow H
Like a hushed hiccup no one knows
Everything will be okay

Soft crystal clear peals
Of a miniature brass bell
With claws and etched with flowers
A gem found at Paul's Place of timeworn treasures
A renewed friendship from M's years in graduate school

I unveiled my dad's prosperity-red macrame knot
Don't weep, I will be brave
"My dad used it as a key-holder"
Words slow and deliberate, I uttered
Him who I can no longer hold
His effects, his assets, my objects of affection