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Tuesday, April 3, 2018

POEM #3- "I Am Book"- a mask poem


Day #3. One of the poets I'm learning from this month is Amy Ludwig VanDerWater over at The Poem Farm.  Amy has published several books of children's poetry-- Forest Has a Song, Every Day Birds, and  Read, Read, Read (I need this one!), and most recently, With My Hands: Poems About Making Things.

Amy also has a new professional book, Poems Are Teachers, that was released in October. Each day this month, she is writing a poem about the constellation, Orion, using a different technique from Poems Are Teachers. On April 1st, Amy wrote a "list" poem. On April 2nd, she wrote a "story" poem. Today, she wrote what she called a "mask," or "persona" poem. In that format, the author takes on a new point of view. I decided to try my own mask poem tonight. So here it is!


"I am book"

I am book

I am home to…
        stories
        songs
        information
        images
        insights
        dreams
        desires
        delights
        magic
        marvels
        escape

You can…
      undress me
      bleed me fluorescent
      annotate
      agree
      argue
      review
      recycle
      reuse
      even slosh coffee across my pages.

But please don't…
     fold back my covers
     turn down my corners
     drool on my pages
     smudge me with flaming hot cheetos
     accept my ideas blindly

     and
     please
     please
     please

     don't ignore me.
 

I am book.

I am your friend.

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2018

10 comments:

Vanessa Vaile said...

I'm camping (Camp NaNoWriMo) rather than poeming but I like to do online poetry bombing in April. You've heard of yarn bombing; this is the same but with poems online, a cross between bombing and broadsiding. The idea is post them where poems aren't expected -- and to be read by people who usually don't read.

Ramona said...

"I am your friend." Beautiful words for ending this lovely personal poem. I love your theme for the month!

Ramona said...

Persona poem (sometimes I hate auto correct.)

Cathy said...

I just love this one, Carol. A delightful rhythm created by thoughtful word placement and short lines. You make me just want to curl up with my book today.

Cathy said...

I had to go back one more time to reread. This time I laughed over "smudge me flaming hot Cheetos." Cheetos, Doritos, and fudgy brownies probably don't make the best reading snacks. The line that really caught me this time, however, was please don't "accept my ideas blindly." This is so hard to teach and, for reasons quite obvious today, essential.

elsie said...

I love reading writing that is through a mask. Your flaming Cheetos made me laugh. That detail so specific has the punch you need. I think this is a format students could do easily. A wonderful mentor text for writing through a mask.

Linda B said...

Every part is wonderful, Carol. I like the "don'ts", too, but also that lovely idea "undress me". Very true about reading a book, isn't it? I bet that study hall class would love this, maybe have ideas to add?

Amy LV said...

This is marvelous. I imagine books every hopping off of their shelves saying, "Yep! That's true! Listen up!" I do fold corners, I must admit. But no flaming hot cheetos! The alliteration and list format here is great too, with the mask point of view. I so like showing students how poets use MANY techniques in one poem. xxxx

Anonymous said...

Captures the essence of books! I wish everyone could hear books talk like that!

Glenda Funk said...

"Smudge me with flaming hot Cheetos" is my favorite image. I must admit I've scarred many books w/ food. This is a fun poem. You've given me an idea for my AP Lit students. Thank you!