It’s Poetry Friday which means it’s the day when bloggers from all over share poems and poetry fun. I started 2021 very keen to do this every week – and have not done very well at that goal. But today is the day to try to get back on track.
One of the reasons I have been so busy this year is that, in the space just a few months, I was asked to create a resource for teachers to teach poetry, then wrote and compiled that resource and – voila – it was published. A big rush to get there, but I am really happy that schools all over Australia have now got this book, and hopefully are finding new ways to share poetry in their classrooms. If you haven’t yet admired the beautiful cover, here it is again:
(You can find out more about this book, here at the PETAA website)
One of my goals for this book was to share a range of poetry forms which can be used in the classroom. Some of the forms are new but others are better known – with my own little twist.
One of those forms is the diamante – a commonly known form using seven lines (explained by Kenn Nesbitt here). I started with the diamante, changed the rules and created Metamorphosis Poetry. Here’s an example:
Frog
Tadpole
fishy tail
swim wiggle squirm
growing legs and lungs
climbing onto land
hopping free
Frog
(copyright Sally Murphy, 2021)
Can you see why I called it a metamorphosis poem? That’s right- because it follows the transformation (metamorphosis) of a tadpole into a frog. It doesn’t follow the strict form of the diamante – which specifies word classes for each line (nouns, then adjectives, then verbs and so on). Instead the pattern here is only around numbers of words – except for the first and final line, which move from juvenile to adult:
Line one: one word – the juvenile form
Line two: two words
Line three: three words
Line four: four words
Line five: three words
Line six: two word
Line seven – one word – the adult form
This could be replicated with other animals which metamorphose (caterpillar/butterfly; grub/beetle,; larva/salamander. BUT, you could equally move outside of the animal world to write about other transformations. Like this:
Poem
Thought
tickling mind
forming phrases, patterns
demanding my writerly attention
lines, verses, stanzas
pencil flying
poem
(copyright Sally Murphy, 2021)
Other pairs that come to mind are story/book, bricks/house or tune/song – but I’m sure you can come up with others. I challenge you to have a go!
And, if you want to try another form, Catherine, who is hosting this week’s Poetry Friday roundup is sharing an amazing example of the Abecedarian. Go check it out! Happy Poetry Friday!
Good to see you again, Sally. This looks fun and I while I first thought “That leads to a fairly narrow range of poems,” I see your pairs expanding the possibilities!
Thanks Heidi. Yes, even I wondered at first whether there was enough there, but there are so many transformations in nature that are not metamorphosis (droplet – cloud; seed – flower, egg – chicken and so on) as well as those in the creative space, that there are plenty of possibilities.
Congratulations on your new book, Sally! It sounds wonderful. I love your Metamorphosis poems. Can’t wait to try these out with kids!
Thanks Catherine.
I love this! I’ll have to try it!
Thanks Ruth 🙂
Hey Sally, what a fun new poem form, your metamorphosis, and congrats are your new “Teaching Poetry” book! Here’s a quick try at one…
PAINTING
Sketch
scribble, wriggly
tangling, messy marks.
Erase–refine–re-think_re-sketch…
Grab brushes, paints,
paint, persevere,
painting!
Thanks!
I love it Michelle – and so very ‘you’ bringing painting and poetry together 🙂
Congratulations on this wonderful book, Sally. The students who encounter your poetry are bound to go through a metamorphosis of their own…becoming poets and poetry lovers. 🙂
Thank you Bridget – that is lovely of you.
Sally, it looks and sounds like a great book. So clever, your metamorphosis poems about frogs and about poetry.
Thank you Janice.
What fun, as Linda says! Congratulations on the publication of your book. As a kid I was a GINORMOUS collector of tadpoles, so I very much enjoyed your metamorphosis poems.
Thanks Susan. I loved tadpole hunting, too. These days I like to spot them in their natural environment on walks.
Sally
Sally, congratulations on the publication of your new book. It is a wonderful resource for teachers who are new to the field or who need to spiff up their poetry lessons. I would love to share this news with a Long Island reading association that is interested in my presentation on poetry in March 2022. I am excited that you invented a new poetic form that will be very useful for elementary teachers teaching science. Have a great week.
Thanks Carol. I love that you are keen to sahre – thank you!
Sally
oooooh! What fun! I need to try a metamorphosis poem. I love the poem that begins as an idea and then a tickling mind. Wonderful. And, many congratulations on another published work! Yikes…that is a terribly busy year. I hope when you join PF in the coming months that it’s relaxing and fun. And, I selfishly hope for some more underwater videos as swim season warms up!
Thanks Linda. Yes, I had my first quick snorkel for the spring ten days ago – but in a few weeks I will be back in LOTS, and you can expect me to share widely 🙂