Living Words:
Poetry Workshop
PRESENTED
AT
Mills Park Middle School
BY
Phillip Shabazz
Poet’s Name:
________________________________________
Language Arts Teacher:
______________________________
Language Arts Class Period: 1
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Table of Contents
Don’t Worry if Your Job is Small by Anonymous . . . Page 3
The Drum By Nikki Giovanni . . . Page 3
Ars Memoria By Phillip Shabazz . . . Page 3
Monday Writing Activity: things that make you who you are . . . Page 4
Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep by Mary Elizabeth Frye . . . Page 4
We Wear the Mask By Paul Laurence Dunbar . . . Page 5
The Negro Speaks of Rivers By Langston Hughes . . . Page 5
Tuesday: Descriptive Poem . . . Page 6
Meet Crystal by Phillip Shabazz . . . Page 6
Wednesday Writing Activity: Memoir Poem . . . Page 7
A Get-Together by Phillip Shabazz . . . Page 7
Thursday: Poetry Contest . . . Page 8
Figurative Language And Poetic Terms . . . Page 9-10
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Don't Worry if Your Job Is Small
BY ANONYMOUS
Don't worry if your job is small,
And your rewards are few.
Remember that the mighty oak,
Was once a nut like you.
The Drum
By Nikki Giovanni
daddy says the world is
a drum tight and hard
and I told him
I’m gonna beat out my own rhythm
Ars Memoria
By Phillip Shabazz
I come with earthy fire in artful art
fiery moon in heartful heart
I go with winter wind in curly hair
ice flower in golden air
I come with cloudy joy in rainy rain
morning sun in painless pain
I go with bluest flow in endless stream
last night’s star in deepest dream
I come with boom and bang in stormy storm
butterfly in flawless form
I go with seaside songs in rare rainbows
fading in shaded shadows
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Monday: Writing Activity
Write a poem about things that make you who you are. Your passions, interests,
quirks, pet peeves, loves, hates, etc. are all topics you may think about pursuing.
Limit your poem to *10-25 lines.
Do Not Stand At My Grave And Weep
by Mary Elizabeth Frye
Do not stand at my grave and weep:
I am not there; I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sun on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.
When you awaken in the morning’s hush
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight.
I am the soft star shine at night.
Do not stand at my grave and cry:
I am not there; I did not die.
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We Wear the Mask
BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
BY LANGSTON HUGHES
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the
flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln
went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy
bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
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Tuesday: Descriptive Poem
Write a poem that describes someone: it can be a family member, a friend, a
stranger, a famous person, an imagined person, a character from a book, or a
mythological figure. Include several things that stand out about the person. **Use
Figurative Language. Limit your poem to *10-25 lines.
Meet Crystal
She’s a flame in my heart,
and loves a good time
and tells me: Friday is for movies,
Saturday is for dance hall,
and Sunday is for worship.
Her smile is candy to my eye.
When she blushes her cheeks turn strawberry red.
I’m like slow your roll, when I check her cherry lips,
and long tips on her fingernails, her skin
mango with a touch of coconut.
She keeps her hair twisted like licorice,
packs peppermint in her purse,
loves homemade cookies for snack.
Her eyes are chunks of chocolate.
Sometimes, I just stare at them forever
and lose myself for the moment.
Afterschool and homework
I get on the phone and talk like a prince
into the flower of her ear.
Crystal, this honey of mine, open and smart;
but sometimes she can be stuck up,
like she’s a legend in her own mind,
like a Hollywood diva
with a soft face that’s sometimes cold
when I hug her.
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Wednesday: Memoir Poem
Write a poem about a memory. Choose an incident that calls up strong emotions and
one which you had to face a problem. Ground the memoir in a place. Include other
people, and things that stand out in the setting/situation. Say how you felt, and why.
Here’s an example. Limit your poem to *10-25 lines.
A Get-Together
Mom dipped the spoon into the carton of vanilla and chocolate ice
cream, and then put scoops of it in the bowls for us. “The music’s too
loud; turn it down,” she said.
There was a bunch of knocks on the front door. When they saw me,
here come all these girls dancing in jeans and in skirts, and wearing
perfume. I smiled, but moved out of the way ’cause my boy Fred was
already sniffing and trying to get up on one of them.
Balloons bounced above our heads. Rap music bumped on the
box. Big-Tip laughed over a cup of cocoa with a couple of cuties. TwoHead sat with his girlfriend Donna on the couch. Bo took off his jacket to
play a video game. Fred was already dancing with one of the honeys. I
looked out the window at the sunset.
Mom had made a one layer chocolate velvet cake. A red candle
burned like a prayer in the middle of it. I kept looking out the window. I
thought about Crystal.
I closed my eyes, and the words, “I wish she was here” slipped across
my lips.
Excitement flew like a spaceship through the air and the rumble of
rap music turned my friends into party animals, and they danced and
laughed and talked and flirted like crazy.
I took a deep breath, turned around, and walked over to the cake. I
wanted to blow out that red candle for good luck, and make a wish about
Crystal, but I didn’t. “That’s silly. We broke up. Stop tripping,” I said to
myself. “Don’t be silly.”
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Thursday: Poetry Contest!
Use one of the following prompts to write your poem. Use at least 5 types of
figurative language found in this packet. Note: Limit your free verse or rhyme
poem to *10-25 lines.
Statement Poem: Write a poem about how you feel about racism, poverty, violence,
war, peace, pollution, bullying, and crime. Don’t get preachy.
Persona Poem: Write a poem from the point of view of an animal, a place,
something in nature, or a manmade object such as a bottle, a table, a lamp, a spoon,
etc. Ground the poem in a setting.
Definition Poem: Write a poem in which you define something. Include its features,
nature, actions, strengths, weaknesses, and meaning. Compare it to something else
to highlight your point of view. Ideas: friendship, life, peace, happiness, truth, trust,
fear, anger, love, or joy.
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Figurative Language & Poetic Terms
Simile is a figure of speech which compares two unlike things, by using the words
like or as. Example: The Dead Sea gleamed like a field of sapphires in the sun.
Metaphor is a figure of speech which compares two unlike things without using the
words like or as. Example: Her eyes are diamonds in the sunlight.
Alliteration is the repeated consonant sounds occurring at the beginning of words
or three words. Example: Wide-eyed, we waited for the door to open.
Personification is a figure of speech which gives the qualities of a person to an
animal, an object, or an idea. Example: The leaves complained about the pollution.
Hyperbole is an exaggerated statement used to heighten effect.
Example: She’s sneezed about million times.
Idiom is a phrase that refers instead to a figurative meaning that is known through
common use. Examples: see eye to eye, under the weather, it’s raining cats and
dogs, piece a cake, slow your roll, on pins and needles, flew off the handle, toot your
own horn
Allusion is a figure of speech, in which one refers indirectly to an object or
circumstance that has occurred or existed in an external context. Example: He was a
real Romeo with the ladies.
Irony refers to a difference between the way something appears and what is actually
true. Example: The traffic cop got his license suspended for unpaid parking tickets.
Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds to set the mood or add music to a poem.
Example: Johnny went here and there and everywhere.
Theme is the main idea of a poem.
Tone is the mood created in a poem.
Scene is the place where an incident in real life or fiction occurs or occurred.
A narrative poem tells a story.
Rhymes are words that sound the same in a poem.
Voice is the poet's style and the quality that makes his or her writing unique.
Verse is lines and stanzas in poetry.
A Couplet is two lines of verse. It is the simplest form of poetry.
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Character is the dramatization of a character’s actions, words or thoughts.
A line is a group of words in a stanza.
A stanza is a group of lines in a poem.
Free Verse is poetry without rules or rhyme.
Rhythm is the beat in a poem.
A lyric poem expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet. It does not tell a story.
Plot refers to the drama of a character, situation and conflict.
Structure means how the poem is set out on the page.
A Line Break is the end of the line of a poem.
Pattern is where the lines of a poem are used (as in rhyme or syllables) to form an
image to illustrate the poem's theme or subject.
Repetition is using a sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza to pattern a poem.
Word Choice is when the poet uses words that are specific and accurate.
Details advance the features and ideas of a poem.
Imagery is what the words of a poem make the reader 'see' in their imagination.
Meaning is the way a reader interprets a poem.
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