Lesson 3
1. The Poetry Splash
2. “Hanging Fire” – free verse
Introduction to Poetry Billy Collins
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to water-ski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
Even though poetry can be complicated, it is to be enjoyed and meaning is
created through connections between the reader and the poem.
The Poetry Splash
• Poem-specific
groups
• Discuss and
share
annotations.
• Write a claim
and provide
evidence.
• Even though poetry can be
complicated, it is to be enjoyed
and meaning is created through
connections between the reader
and the poem.
▫ He compares poetry to a color slide, a
hive, a maze, and a dark room to
show that it is difficult.
▫ He argues that poetry should be fun,
like water skiing.
▫ He also asserts that meaning is
created through a connection
between the reader and the poem by
showing the reader on the water and
the poet on the shore. Additional
support that meaning is created
through a connection between the
reader and the poem is the last two
stanzas. Readers must figure out the
meaning, instead of waiting for the
poem to reveal itself.
“Introduction to Poetry”
• Even though poetry can be complicated, it is to
be enjoyed and meaning is created through
connections between the reader and the poem.
▫ He compares poetry to a color slide, a hive, a maze, and a
dark room to show that it is difficult.
▫ He argues that poetry should be fun, like water skiing.
▫ He also asserts that meaning is created through a
connection between the reader and the poem by showing
the reader on the water and the poet on the shore.
Additional support that meaning is created through a
connection between the reader and the poem is the last
two stanzas. Readers must figure out the meaning,
instead of waiting for the poem to reveal itself.
I am fourteen
and my skin has betrayed me
the boy I cannot live without
still sucks his thumb
in secret
how come my knees are
always so ashy
what if I die
before the morning comes
and momma’s in the bedroom
with the door closed.
I have to learn how to dance
in time for the next party
my room is too small for me
suppose I die before graduation
they will sing sad melodies
but finally
tell the truth about me
There is nothing I want to do
and too much
that has to be done
and momma’s in the bedroom
with the door closed.
Nobody even stops to think
about my side of it
I should have been on Math Team
my marks were better than his
why do I have to be
the one
wearing braces
I have nothing to wear tomorrow
will I live long enough
to grow up
and momma’s in the bedroom
with the door closed.
“Hanging Fire”
by Audre Lorde
Create Meaning
I am fourteen
and my skin has betrayed me
the boy I cannot live without
still sucks his thumb
in secret
how come my knees are
always so ashy
what if I die
before the morning comes
and momma’s in the bedroom
with the door closed.
• What is the MAIN
IDEA?
• How do you know
this?
(What is your
evidence?)
• Write your own
“Hanging Fire” poem.
• Start with the following
line:
▫ “I am _________(fill in your
age)”
• Continue on, just as
Lorde did, in free verse.
• Don’t stop until you have
a minimum of 10 lines.
Your
Turn