Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Haiku with apologies to Weird Al

I slaved by the stove
Creating a balanced meal
Eat it, just eat it.

Lean meat and veggies
Put a salad on the side
Don't want Leftovers.

New recipes stink.
If you don't like it today
Eat it tomorrow.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Amazing what happens when I demo for the class

These are partial ABC poems. Choose a letter from the alphabet and the four letters that follow. Write an acrostic using those letters. Here are a couple of examples.

Winter in Wisconsin
Extreme weather
Frost
Great sledding
Hills of snow
Icicles

Recess
Leaping
Making
Noise
Outside
Playing

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Teachers can do and teach, too.

I wrote this to demonstrate/model the Acrostic Poem form for my class. They had brainstormed words pertaining to the citizenship theme of "compassion" and were preparing to write acrostic poems on the theme.
For a piece created spontaneously in front of an audience, it's not bad.

Across each line
Contains words or phrases
Rarely (really, almost never) rhymes
Only use words that make
Sense.
To write an acrostic,
It helps to think about
Compassion.
Poetry has many forms.
Others are Haiku, verse, and Cinquain.
Enjoy these examples.
Maybe you'll like this one!

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Music soothes

Music soothes.
Breathing slows.
Shoulders relax.
Mind is open, yet restful.
The rise and fall of a phrase shapes a melody and a memory.

Music calms.
Blood pressure settles.
Pulse steadies.
Listening continues.
Listeners smile, relax.
Rhythm draws in the body.
Lyrics reach the soul in symphony and sympathy.

Music inspires.
A voice becomes an instrument
Produces more than sound
Reaches
Touches
Connects.

And finds
Peace.