Languid Wrenches

I know I talked about poetry but I wanted to talk about the next chapter we are reading in Poetry Matters.

The new chapter starts with this amazing quote from XJ Kennedy, "The World is full of poets with languid wrenches who don't bother to take the last six turns on their bolts." I love this idea. Right now our writer's notebooks are filled with some amazing poems. Now it is time to get to work on those poems. We have to work to make what is all ready good and make it the best it can be. This is hard work. Just like those last six turns on a bolt can be difficult. Although the work is difficult those last six turn are essential. 

The reason that I love this chapter about "crafting our poems" so much is because Fletcher gives such amazing advice. He makes the hard seem so simple. Today his advice was to "think fragments." He talked about how teachers can drill the idea of complete sentences into students heads, but sometimes a poem needs a fragment or a group of fragments. To prove the point we read the poem Subways are People by Lee Bennett Hopkins. 

SUBWAYS ARE PEOPLE
By Lee Bennett Hopkins

Subways are people-

People standing
People sitting
People swaying to and fro
Some in suits
Some in tatters
People I will never know.

Subways are people-

Some with glasses
Some without
Boy with smile
Girl with Frown

People dashing
Steel flashing
Up and down and round the town.

Subways are people-

People old
People new
People always on the go
Racing, running, rushing people
People I will never know.

After the class had read the poem, we sent them back to write. I put a picture up of New York City at night. 

The class wrote and filled their poems with fragments. Then we stopped and we went to work on one of our favorite poems. The class tried to find spots that they might use fragments to make this good poem even better. 

When we read this chapter, I always see the students work improve. They take these "simple" ideas from Fletcher and put them to work in their poetry.

I hope you are having a great week.