Things I Know Sept. 15

Today we read the poem "Things I Know" by Joyce Sutphen. We noted that the poem has a "turn" in it in the final two stanzas when the speaker of the poem says, "I slip/ through the fence and into the woods,/ where I know everything: trunk/ by branch by leaf into sky." Up to that point, the poem was about small concrete images (sensations) that the speaker knew from the farm, but with the turn the speaker shifts our focus to the continuity and oneness of the natural world and how knowing is really part of our being in the world and being a part of the world (the trunk is connected with the branch bone, the branch bone connected to the leaf bone, the leaf bone connected to the sky bone).

Another name for poetry is verse which means "to turn." Once a poet has learned to use concrete images to create a sensory experience for a reader, her next task is to get those images to add up to something meaningful, avoiding the dangerous pitfall of hitting her reader over the head with a moral-of-the-story anvil. Introducing a turn is essential to making it all "add up." The turn shifts our perspective, enlarges our field of view, contextualizes the poem. In jokes, it is the punchline. A poem without a punchline is just as sad.

We continued hearing students read their poems and providing feedback. This is a critical process for all involved for honing our poetic ears.

So far students have completed one assigned poem. By Wednesday, they should complete another. By Friday, a third. One of the next two poems needs to be an imitation of "Things I Know." Please write about something you know intimately, just as the speaker in this poem knew the farm, something you have spent hours, and days, and even years doing so that no one else could know it the way you do.

Poetry Circle Sept. 8

Today we held our first poetry circle for students to read aloud their first poems and receive feedback from their classmates. For now, feedback involves identifying the phrases, words, and images that are most effective. Helping other writers to know which parts of their writing are effective is very valuable. If no one is talking about some portions of a poem, the author should question whether those lines should be kept, cut, or revised.

No new homework. Feel free to continue to work on your first poem or draft additional poems. Those who did not get to share their poems today will have an opportunity on Wednesday.