tag-team Poetry
名称：tag-team Poetry
内容简介：
Dear Arizona,
We're supposed to be writing poems in class, and I'm the worst poet in the world. Help!
—Pitiful Poet in Pennsylvania
Dear Pitiful Poet,
For Poetry Month, our local library was putting together a booklet called Poetry from Patrons. The librarians invited everybody to write a poem for it. You could write one by yourself or with someone else. When my friend Ollie and I heard about the booklet, we got all excited about working on a project together. But as the due date came closer, it seemed harder and harder to put anything decent on paper.
“Are you planning to write a poem?” this kid Eric asked me one day as I was checking out a book at the library.
“Yeah, I’m writing it with my friend Ollie,” I said. “The only problem is that we can never agree on what to write.”
“You should try writing about something you know a lot about— something you’re interested in,” said Mr. Corrigan, who works at the front desk.
Eric nodded, pointing at his stack of books. “I’ve been reading about elephants lately, so that gave me an idea for my poem. It was pretty easy.”
I sighed. “Easy is definitely not the word I’d choose to describe how it’s been going for us!”
The next day was Saturday, and Ollie stopped by while I was helping out at my parents’ grocery store.
“We’re running low on bananas,” my mom said to my dad. “Would you mind getting a few bunches from the back?”
“I’ll bring out some oranges, too,” said my dad. “And I’ll see if any other fruit needs restocking.”
“Looks like the floor needs a little sweep,” said my mom, picking up a broom. She turned to me. “And don’t forget we need more paper bags up at checkout.”
“I’ll get those bags as soon as I’m done straightening these cans,” I said, balancing on the step stool to reach the tallest shelf.
“Wow! There’s no time to relax in this place. You all have to keep such a fast pace,” Ollie said.
I laughed. “Nice rhyme!” Then I thought of something. “You know how it’s supposed to be easier to write poems on topics you know a lot about?”
Ollie nodded. “We know a lot about this store. Want to try it?”
So we took turns making up a line at a time, and here’s what we came up with:
No time to rest. It’s go, go, go.
Reaching up high on tippy-toe.
Stacking some cans of tuna fish.
And sweeping the floor,
swish-swoosh-swish.
Piling bananas, bunch by bunch.
So many good things
to munch, munch, munch!
We decided to call our poem “Grocery Work.” My parents liked it so much that they asked us to write it down. We used markers on the back of a brown paper bag, and my dad taped it to the wall right by the cash register.
After that, poems would just pop out of our mouths spontaneously. It was like we were playing tag-team poetry games. One of us would start, and we’d take turns saying a line at a time. Our favorite—and the one we ended up submitting for the booklet—was a poem we made up while skateboarding back to our houses. We called it “Flying Home.”
Feeling like birds flying through the air,
feet above the ground, wheels spinning ’round.
There’s our neighbor on the corner with his waggle-tailed dog
and Miss May, the doughnut lady, waving “hi” as we go by.
Feeling like birds flying through the air,
feet above the ground, wheels spinning ’round.
So, dear Pitiful Poet, for starters, try writing about something you know or have a real interest in—like sports, maybe. Plus, you could ask your teacher if it would be OK to take turns making up poetry lines with other people.
Here are a few more poetry writing tips I’ve learned since then:
1. Not all poems have to rhyme.
2. If you want your poem to rhyme, you could write down rhyming words as a warmup exercise. You may see ways to connect some of the words in a poem.
3. Pay attention to what’s going on around you, and carry a notebook to jot down images and feelings. Even if you don’t write a poem right away, looking at the notebook later might inspire you to write one.
4. Don’t worry about making it right. Just write.
I hope these tips help!
Ciao for now,
Arizona
