Wednesday, February 09, 2011

rocking the poetry, 5-year-old style

i'm not the biggest poetry fan, big geek though i may be (see previous post). you could definitely say that i appreciate it, but i'm just not going to plop myself down with a fat volume of poetry and get lost for hours in the complex swirls and dives of the language. sorry. i wish i could, but the truth is that most of the time, i just plain don't get it.

but i do love imagery. i love when an author finds just that perfect word or phrase that puts me right there, almost on the verge of using my sense of touch or smell. that i more than appreciate. that i can get very, very much.

rachel usually has a weekly creative writing-type assignment, something that she creates and dictates to me, i record it, and she can then illustrate it and decorate it however she wants.  (that's usually when our story-writing takes place.) this week she had to write a free verse poem. our curriculum gave some examples and a simple outline of how to go about this. (because i had no earthly clue how to introduce this. i hated writing in school.) the assignment wanted us to start off by think in terms of imagery. ("the sunset is like a...," "the teddy bear is soft like a...," what does it make us think of/feel?) next, we needed to pick a subject to write about.

here is one of the many examples that were given for us to read through together:
the leaves fall
like big pennies,
and the sidewalk catches them.

here is the formula we were to strive to follow:
title of poem
a noun and a verb (what does the subject do?)
a simile to describe the noun and verb above
a final thought that further describes

here is rachel pamela's first free verse poem from the depths of her little soul:

pretty dress story﻿

my pretty dress walks
like a girl who has legs and a face,
but not any arms.﻿

considering i don't usually "get" poetry anyway, i was pretty darn proud. :)﻿


Joy for the Seasons said...

Super sweet!

Jessica said...

Nice... although the "not any arms" part scares me a little.

andiewade said...

i was thinking maybe it was a sleeveless dress since it didn't have any arms... but i'm not sure where that leaves the face. :)