Module 3: Poetic Form - Zombie Haiku

Bibliographic Information
Mecum, Ryan. ZOMBIE HAIKU. Cincinnati, OH:F+W Publications. ISBN: 9781600610707.

Summary and Analysis

Mecum focuses on the form of haiku for this humorous, and at times grotesque, collection. It begins with a journal entry of a boy named Chris, possibly the last human, locked in an airport bathroom with "a journal, a pen, and an arm of a dead man who came alive and died again." Following the form of haiku, all poems are short with the 5 syllable first line, 7 syllable second line, and 5 syllable 3rd line pattern while at the same time telling a new scene from page to page. The pattern remains even as the main narrator turns into a zombie. The quality of these poems is high as they are definitely original, use language in a unique way, and leads the reader to imagine very detailed images and scenes.

These poems have a special audience. Their appeal is mostly in the grotesque topics of flesh eating zombies and decaying flesh, but even those readers who may not care for the images can enjoy the creativity and, at times, humor. They stimulate a variety of thoughts as the narrator's day began just like any other day, but then proceeds to get worse and more unusual. Teenagers and adults will both like these poems, though the gruesome details may lead to some not finishing the book.

Illustrations are more than sketches in this twisted book. There are blood splatters, photos of the living dead, hair folicles, and finger nails. In other words, this is a poetry book that draws the reader into the plot both with the text and the visual elements.


Highlighted Poem

Our group slowly thins.
One by one, we slip away.
off looking elsewhere.

Nothing left but bones
Blood stains each building corner
which some of us lick.

Down the empty streets,
my gurgles echo off walls
to which I moan back.

Connections

Instead of focusing on the theme (zombies), which would probably not be age appropriate for most groups, one could teach haiku or on the transforming of the narrator. Other methods would be to choose a theme and have all the students write a haiku based around that theme. Thus creating a class anthology. I also really enjoyed how this can provide a great example to the variety of poetry out in the world. It needn't all be nature poems or contemplating poems, but sometimes they are simply entertaining and a fun read. It would be difficult to find someone who says they don't like poetry to not enjoy poetry a bit more after reading this book.

Module 2: Florian Poetry - Zoo's Who

Bibliographic Information
Florian, Douglas. ZOO'S WHO. Ills. by Douglas Florian. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc. 978-0152046392.

Summary and Analysis
This collection features poems that are short, sweet, and to the point. Animals are described in funny rhymes, educational lines, and short stanzas. Common knowledge is shared as well as a few possibly unknown facts. Florian takes a visual element with his writing to include a dip or curve in a word with shaping the letters which children will find amusing in pattern. While most poems rhyme in small sentences, there seems to be a rhythmic pattern specific for each animal. Each poem takes on stereotypes of animals (or what we imagine the animals to be like). In the case of The Tortoise this is seen with pauses in the poem that seem to portray a slow motion, much like how the tortoises move. These poems would be short and simple enough for any child to memorize over time if read. The poems flow in ones mind or off of one's tongue if read aloud. They are comfortable to read and to say.

Douglas Florian also illustrates the corresponding painting with each poem. They are often simple, yet fitting for each. What is a hidden gem in each is that he incorporates other types of art in his paintings - clippings, typed words, and partial pictures which, along with the poems, makes every page unique and stimulating. With the illustrations and entertaining poetry, this collection is quality for parents and children.

Highlighted Poem
The Tortoise

Patience.
Persistence.
The will to endure.
The tortoise
Has taught us
All this
And more.

Connections

This collection could easily be incorporated in different elements of a school day or library program. First, writing brief poems about animals or reptiles may provide a child with not only a poetic experience, but as most kids like animals it would also provide the opportunity for read aloud poems or repeat poems. This would encourage the social aspect of poetry that is often neglected. Another way to incorporate this collection into a lesson plan or program would be to focus on Florian's paintings of using mixed media. Children could create their own paintings or collages of any subject and write a poem of their art. It would still be inspired by Florian, but it would be a different way to focus on this poet, showing students that there is more than one way to appreciate poetry.

Module 2: Multicultural Poetry - Dizzy in Your Eyes

Bibliographic Information
Mora, Pat. DIZZY IN YOUR EYES. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978375843754.

Summary and Analysis
This collection is about love - the good, the bad, and the unreturned all focused on the teenage years (remember the drama?). Alternating between points of view, the reader is aware of the gender of the speaker at times and other times the reader will not know if the point of view is that of a young man or woman. Some poems ask questions that could be asked by both teenage boys and girls, all dwelling on confusion, curiosity, and insecurities. The thoughts are age appropriate for a young adult book and at times even for adults. The ideas are relative to contemporary problems and times, while the topic of love is, of course, timeless. The focus of love varies among love for people, love for freedom, and love for relatives, but the sense of joy is felt in most poems. The writing also alternates from short five line poems, to a list, to a poem with indended spaces and blank spaces. The variety of writing style indicating the variety of love.

Plots focus on secret cruches, first kisses, hand holding, want, and insecurities. In other words, the poems are perfect for first glances, first loves, and first heartbreaks. From the commonness of crushes to the excitement of something new, the various feelings of love are mentioned throughout the collection with lines such as "Do boys really imagine all of us without clothes/ What if no one wants to touch me because I'm too fat" from Doubts and "No one has ever felt like this. Ever" from Hands. The emotions evoked are fitting for the age in which this collection was intended. While teens will read through most of these poems easily, they will also be introduced to a variety of different poetic formats.

An added element to Mora's collection is that the poems are always on the right page, no continuation on the back but onto the next right page. This leaves the left side available to the visual of grey patterns; however, there are left sided pages that sometimes offer definitions of elements of poetry. This allows the reader to learn a poetic term (English or Japanese) and style then having an example on the next page (the right one). She also uses the occassional Spanish word to illustrate the speaker or someone sharing a memory. In Conversation/Conversacion the Spanish is one half of the conversation between an American boy and a Spanish speaking girl as they meet. The poetry in this collection covers most elements of love, but the important part of this collection is that they cover the elements of love from how teenagers think of love.

Highlighted Poem
Mora offers definitions of different poetic terms and then writes a poem using the element as an example. In Dear ______, she offers a Letter poem.

I write what I can't say out loud.
I'm trying not to think about you, but
I can't resist.
My mind drifts to your slow smile,
how it moves
from your lips to your eyes-
or is it the reverse? How it lifts me
from my ordinary self.

Do you ever want to hold my hand?

When we're talking, and others join us,
when you laugh with them, I feel tangled
up inside, angry. I struggle not to be rude.
I want to be alone with you.
I love our aloneness.

When I listen to music, I imagine
slow dancing with you, and you whisper
into my hair, "You are my one true love,"
and I smile
and know
why people write music and paint
and dance, lifted as if they can fly,
because this ache
crashing inside
needs to be free.
Sometimes, love
becomes a melody
others hum for years.

Connections
Obviously this would open the door for teenagers to write and express themselves. However, as most teens do not want to openly announce their inner thoughts that project would be better used in a journal format. Instead, teens could have the opportunity to write any poems of love. As with this collection, they could write about the different types of love focusing on friendship or paternal if they have not experienced, or do not feel comfortable writing about romantic love.

Module 2: NCTE Award Poetry - X.J. Kennedy and The Forgetful Wishing Well

Bibliographic Information
Kennedy, X.J. THE FORGETFUL WISHING WELL. Ill. by Monica Incisa. New York, NY: Athenuem.0689503172 (only original ISBN given).

Summary and Analysis
The 88 pages of poetry offered in The Forgetful Wishing Well focus on the people, hardships of growing up, and animals. Some poems focus on these ideas in real life while others are whimsical, made up ideas. The book is divided into sections: Growing Pains, Creatures, People I know, Family Matters, Wonders, In the City, and All Around the Year. Aspects are so unique in the made up scenarios or creatures that at times the poems seem to be from two extremes, which makes it all the more appealing as the reader is on a journey back and forth with reality.

Written in 1985, the poems will still entertain an audience today. Their creativity, wonder, and (for some) realism will hit upon a memory or dream for most readers. The lengths vary, which lets the reader have a break between the longer poems and most poems are brief, diverse, and alternate between rhyming and story telling. In the section of "People I Know" creative names are used to cover diverse types of people, but each poem offers similar stories.

Monica Incisa illustrated each section's title page. With sketches made of a black pen they appear both quick and thoughtful. She chose a poem from each section to illustrate, representing the whole collection. With Wonders it is a boy with a fishbowl on his head, commical,but also telling of of how reading provides nourishment to the mind of a child much like food to the fish in the fishbowl.

Highlighted Poem
Flashlight

Tucked tight in bed, the day all gone,
I like to click my flashlight on,
Then climb in under with my feet
And shine a moon out through the sheet.

I'll throw a circle on the wall,
Move close up to it, make it small,
And then yank back and make that moon
Blow up-an instant light-balloon!

Each flashlight battery, slid out,
Looks piglike with a silver snout
And like two pigs parading, they
Need to line up and look one way.

Ben Franklin with a kite and key
Attracted electricity,
But they must not be also-rans
Who put up light in little cans.

Connections

As this collection is divided in topics in which we can all relate, it would provide an opportunity for children to write a poem about different aspects of their lives. For anyone who finds poetry difficult to understand or difficult to write this would give the chance to try different approaches to writing. One never knows which type of voice they will use for creative expression until it is tried. Kennedy's poems offer the variety of expression.