Poetry Portfolio
About this project: You are going to put together a portfolio
containing several poems and illustrations. The poems will be
original works created by you but each will require a specific method
or format. For each poem you will be required to write, you will
have instructions for the specific method and format for the poem.
Part of your evaluation will be on how well you follow directions to
produce each poem.
Portfolio is due Friday, April 20, 2012.
Portfolio Requirements: Your portfolio must include each of the
following items.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A creative cover and bindings that reflect your personality
Table of contents (Include titles and page numbers)
Personal Poem (mandatory)
I Am… Poem (mandatory)
Six more poems from the choices given (not including the two
listed above).
 You will have a total of eight poems!
 Each poem must be decorated or illustrated in some way.
(You may use computer art)
 All poems must be typed or written in ink. No pencil, colored
pencil, or crayon. You may use any colors you like, it does not
have to be written in black ink.
Rubric for Poetry Portfolio
Not
Acceptable
4
Weak
8
Average Strong Excellent
20
12
16
1. Poems are
creative and
sincere.
2. Instructions for
each poem are
followed.
3. Poems are
typed or written in
ink.
4. Poems are
presented neatly.
5. Poems are
illustrated.
6. Cover is
creative and
neatly done.
7. No more than
two spelling and
grammar errors.
8. Shows best
effort.
9. Portfolio is
complete.
10. All work is
original.
200 points total
#1 Personal Poem (Introduction Poem--Mandatory)
#2 “ I Am” Poem (Mandatory)
Answer the following questions about yourself. Try to be yourself. Be
insightful, original, and creative. Then using your answers, play with the
wording and turn each of your answers into a verse of your poem.
For each line of your poem, complete the sentence with something that is true and
describes you. This poem is a way for you to express yourself and a way for me
to better understand who you are as a person and what motivates you. Take the
poem you have written in class and transfer it to nice paper, decorate it, and make
it presentable.
1. Tell your name.
2. What is your real name (not necessarily the one you go by, but the
name you wish were yours, or a name that you feel is true for you)?
3. Name the animal inside you. Explain your choice.
4. There’s an object inside your heart. What is it? Explain its
significance.
5. There’s a word written on your forehead. What is it? Explain.
6. Tell about a sight you love. Tell about a sight you hate.
7. What is your favorite time of day? Why?
8. If your hands could speak, what would they say?
9. Tell about something you remember from your childhood.
10. Tell a phrase or saying your mother/father/grandparents said to you
often (this may be in another language besides English but must have a
translation).
I am (two special characteristics)
I wonder (something you are actually curious about)
I hear (an imaginary sound)
I see (an imaginary sight)
I want (an actual desire)
I am (the first line of the poem restated)
I pretend (something you pretend to do)
I feel (a feeling about something imaginary)
I touch (an imaginary touch)
I worry (something that really bothers you)
I cry (something that makes you very sad)
I am (the first line of the poem repeated)
I understand (something you know is true)
I say (something you believe in)
I dream (something you actually dream about)
I try (something you make an effort to do)
I hope (something you actually hope for)
I am (the first line of the poem repeated)
#3 Metaphor Poem
#4 Four Haiku--This counts as only 1 poem
Steps for Writing a Metaphor Poem
Write four haiku
1. Make three columns on a paper.
• In the first column make a list of abstract nouns such as “beauty”,
“justice”, “love”
• In the second column make a list of colors. Make them interesting such
as “sulphurous yellow”, “violet”, “peacock blue”, “fire-engine red”
• In the third column make a list of concrete nouns such as “shoe”,
“tree”, “bird”
The characteristics of a Haiku are:
Line one – five syllables
Line two – seven syllables
Line three – five syllables
A Haiku is usually about something in nature
#5 Eight Line Poem
2. Make interesting connections between the columns.
Example:
Abstract Noun
love
anger
persistence
imagination
jealousy
Color
sulphurous yellow
gleaming ebony
cancerous green
magenta
fire-engine red
Concrete
bird
shark
shoe
flame
butterfly
(Note: Make a long list of each to give you more ideas. Change your lists
as you think of combinations.)
3. Choose one of the combinations you’ve created and write it as a
metaphor.
•
•
Then add a second line beginning with that or which.
Finally, add a third line beginning with and or but.
Example: Jealousy is a fire-engine red flame
That singes a relationship
And destroys trust.
Imagination is a magenta butterfly
Which flits around in my brain
And tickles my thoughts
Make up four or more metaphors and put them together into a poem
Respond to the following with one word, a few words, or a phrase- not complete
sentences. Don’t number your answers, but write them on separate lines so that
they are arranged in the form of a free verse poem. Don’t name the things that
you are writing about, except for item 3. Just describe each thing so someone can
understand your feelings about it. Be sure to give your poem an original title.
 Describe the ugliest animal you can think of. Write a phrase or two about the
particular characteristics you dislike in this animal. Don’t name it.
 What do you feel like inside when you are very angry?
 Describe the color that is most displeasing to you. You may name it, but add
some words which indicate why you dislike it.
 Describe the odor of a skunk or burning trash.
 Describe a dump or an overflowing garbage can. Tell how it looks and/or
how it smells.
 Describe the sound of music that you dislike intensely.
 Describe the taste or texture of a type of food that you really dislike. You
may wish to compare it to something else to indicate your feelings.
 Describe something that frightens you.
#6 Color Personification Poem
When poets write personification, they make things seem like people. It is
a type of metaphor because it implies anything is a person. For this poem
you will first need to choose a color. Then you will need to give this color
human traits. When describing the color, use pronouns such as she, he her,
him, his and hers instead of its. You will want to tell what the color hears,
touches, sees, inhales, exhales, tastes, smells feels, knows, remembers,
speaks, eats, understands, tells, thinks, etc.
Example:
Purple
Purple inhales light like a vacuum eating up dust
And storms around with his head in the sky,
Snapping at the stars.
Purple keeps firefly candles,
While listening to an orchestra of crickets.
When purple gets angry,
Lightening flashes out of the sky.
His eyes, like moons,
Watch over earth
In a grizzled band of color
By Daniel Kervan 13
Orange
Orange blazes with intensity
Hot and scorched
On a blackened playground
Soundless, fiery fingers
Play the bones of the dead
Burning orange fumes
Coalesce in the parched dry throat of the weary.
Tasteless fire dances along the toungue,
Blistering with every step.
By Kelly Koechel, 16
#7 Acrostic Poem
Write an Acrostic Poem using the word METAMORPHOSIS.
Metamorphosis is the change that a caterpillar makes when turning into a
butterfly. Use this poem to describe how you have changed in eighth grade, or
how you expect you will change from middle school to high school. It does not
have to rhyme or have a regular rhythm.
# 8 Concrete Poem
A concrete poem is a poem where the words are arranged on the page to
make a shape that suggests the topic of the poem. You may write your concrete
poem about any topic. The poem doesn’t necessarily have to rhyme, and does not
have to have regular rhythm. “400-Meter Freestyle” on page 854 in your book is
a concrete poem.
# 9 Elegy
An elegy is a formal poem that reflects on death or another solemn
theme. Its purpose is to memorialize a person or reflect on a subject. An elegy
may or may not have end-rhyme. It may or may not have a regular rhythm.
Write an elegy with at least twelve lines.
#10 Ode
The purpose of an ode is to celebrate a single object or idea. This poem
can be about any subject, it doesn’t necessarily have to have rhyme or rhythm.
Your ode needs to be a minimum of 10 lines long.