PoetryCreative Writing 2019

Journal

How do you relate to the word poetry?

Unit Introduction

Essential Questions

● Circling back to the beginning of the year, how is poetry a form of storytelling?

● What is the role of the poet (artist) in society?

● How does poetry mirror culture? ● How and why do we analyze poetry? ● How has poetry changed over time?

Why milk and honey?

Because it’s AWESOME, and...● It’s important to read an anthology in its entirety because the

poems purposefully work together to tell a story.● Themes and topics within this collection are important to engage

with, and mirror current culture. ● We don’t talk about these themes and topics enough...and we

aren’t going to shy away from difficult material just because it’s uncomfortable.

● Rupi Kaur started as an Instagram poet before she ever published a book, and ended up self-publishing because she was denied so many times by publishing companies.

● #1 New York Times best seller, sold over 1 million copies● It’s accessible, popular, modern, and courageous

Norms and Expectations

● We will NOT read every single poem during class, however you will read the anthology in its entirety. If you don’t feel comfortable reading every single poem due to content, then skip it at your own discretion.

● Be the mature adults you are, and if you’re not, I will ask you to leave (...but seriously).

● There are people in this class who are very excited about this book, so let them be! Don’t ruin it.

● Be open-minded and courageous (I believe in you)● If you don’t agree with everything addressed in this book...that’s

fine! There is SPACE to talk about it and show up as yourself.

On THAT note, let’s get comfortable with getting uncomfortable...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QijH4UAqGD8

Stop and Write...

Luvvie encourages us all to be dominos. With that in mind, how will YOU be that domino that falls? What are YOU going to do to initiate change?

Who is Rupi Kaur?

● 26 year old, self-published, poet and artist born in Pujab, India. Kaur immigrated to Canada with her parents at the age of four.

● Author of two collects of poetry (milk and honey and the sun and her flowers)

● Kaur shared her poetry online before she ever published a book

milk and honey

Topics and Themes: Love, Sexuality, Trauma, Healing, Femininity, the Female Experience, Innocence vs. Experience, Power, Rape, Silence, Abuse, Power, Self-Worth, Relationships

Style: Short lines with heavy weight, all lowercase letters

Structure: Split into four parts that together tell a story

Art: Rupi’s own drawings (art was her first love)

What do you hope readers get from your poetry?“i hope they find peace. i hope they find the words they are looking for, for the feelings they are feeling. i hope they can read the words and their hearts can sigh in relief and think ‘yes. this is exactly what’s happening to me and i’m glad i can finally make sense of it’ because that is what i’ve needed for so long, and it’s all i want to provide.”

How do you feel your identity as a woman of color influences your poetry?

“i think who you are is everything. and so when who you are is invisible, butchered, undesirable, and so on, it can do a lot of damage. so being a brown woman growing up in the west, where the ideal woman was white, sent me on a terrifying journey.

i was already doubting who i was because . . . women like me were not represented at all. anywhere. so i had no one to look up to. that looked like me. that had parents like mine. that spoke my language. that carried my strong punjabi features. it all happens subconsciously. you are convinced you are ugly. and even if you know you’re beautiful, you think you cannot be beautiful enough.

those experiences pushed my work. i was forced to ask myself the difficult questions. i had to look at myself in the mirror, make a list of things i disliked about me and write about those so i could learn and figure out ways to fall in love with them. so that i could show other brown women why we need to celebrate the things that make us unique.”

What is the meaning of the title of your collection, milk and honey? “i chose the title because of my attachment and history with both milk and honey . . . growing up there was no such thing as tylenol. [my dad] and mom would give me a spoon of some honey with ayurvedic medicine. or mixed in with milk. both of those are central to my upbringing, and more so they’re central to my community.

when i think about my people and all the struggles they’ve gone through, from the genocides we’ve faced and all we’ve lost, i think we’re as smooth and sweet as milk and honey. my father also told me once that honey is the one thing that does not die. no matter how long it’s been sitting in a jar, ten years or a hundred, honey, in its natural, raw and unrefined state lives forever, and i think that’s just about the most beautiful thing.”

“the hurting”

● Trauma, neglect, rape, and objectification of women● Importance of the ongoing process of healing● Promotes the idea that we are not born broken and

hurting, the world teaches us to be. This begs the question...WHO is doing the teaching?

● How does Kaur use the human body as a representation and physical manifestation of pain?

This poem is on p. 33 in your book. Read the following poem, then free write for five-ten minutes in your journal. Use the following questions to help you if needed.

How does this poem make you feel?

Can you personally relate to this poem? If so, how?

How does the art in this poem enhance the meaning?

How does the repetition influence the meaning?

Looking Ahead

Finish “the hurting” by Monday (04/01)

Poetry Quiz: Tuesday (04/02)

Begin thinking about a poem you want to explicate! Get ahead!

Portfolio: To be discussed on Friday!

Journal-Friday 03/29

Today is the cultural assembly! According to Google, the definition of the word “culture“ is as follows:

“the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group.”

Do you think this is an accurate definition of culture? If not, what would you add or change? Additionally, what is YOUR culture? Or, how do you relate to this word?

Essential Questions:

● How do YOU relate to the word “culture?” ● How has culture been claimed, stolen, or

reclaimed? ● How do the three poets we read today

speak to the topic of culture? ● In what ways is culture a form of

storytelling?● How does milk and honey communicate

culture?

Today’s Poems

“Culture and the Universe” -Simon J. Ortiz

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53440/culture-and-the-universe

“If They Should Come for Us” -Fatimah Asghar

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/92374/if-they-should-come-for-us

“Hide Your Shea Butter”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzcwWMqRjl8

Poetry Writing Prompt #1: Culture

“these are my people…”

Use this prompt to write a poem or spoken word piece that relates to the topic of “culture.” Consider your own culture, and WHO as well as WHAT that includes. Use any of the pieces we read today as inspiration for your writing.

Poetry Writing Prompt #2:

“...lost in translation”

Write a poem using the phrase above as your inspiration. When thinking about this phrase, consider what in your life feels “lost in translation.” Is there something about you that you know you will be rarely known and understood in? Is there a feeling or story you struggle to share? Is there a familiar feeling of a metaphorical barrier of some sort?

Write about it!

Community Monday 04/01

Journal

Read the poem “If They Should Come for Us” by Fatimah Asghar. How is this poem similar or different to the two poems we read on Friday?

Business and Corporation Project Winners

Period One: Brandon and Michael Lee

Period Five: Marshall and Robert

Period Six: Tie! (Split Points)

Gallery Walk

There are five poems around the room. Silently, take the next 25 minutes to spend time analyzing each poem. You can respond any way you like-reflection, analysis, pointing out literary devices, writing down statistics, drawing, etc. Spend approximately five minutes with each poem.

Questions for Discussion...

1.) How are these poems related?2.) What did you notice about the content

and/or style of these poems?3.) Which poem is your favorite and why?4.) How does Kaur use the human body as a

metaphorical and physical representation of pain?

Red Tuesday

Journal How do our bodies tell a story? (The way we talk, what we look like, scars, figure, etc.) In what ways does this tie in to our identity? How do assumptions people make about us sometimes contradict our identities?

C W

Maybe my most important identity is being a son -Raymond Antrobus

my motherasking howto open a tabon her laptop,to email a photo,calling to ask—can you changethe lightbulbat the top of the stairs?my motherspending hourshelping me finda doctor’s form,a hearing aid battery,anythingmisplaced, my mother

who keeps leavingher keys in the doorsor on the walls,who keeps sayingI might have to changethe locks, motherof self-sufficiency,of beads and trolleys,of handlebars,short-temperedspiteful mother,mother of resistance,licorice and seaweedon the table,lonely mother,mother

needs-no-man,mother deserves my

cooking,deserves a long

sleep,a cuppa tea, a gardenof lavender mothers,all her heads up,mother’s toothfalls out, motherdyes her hair,don’t say grayingsay sea saltand cream, remedy,immortal mother.

Lucille Clifton https://vimeo.com/36987057

“Accent” Yaw Kyeremateng

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9obCZ-Fhog

Carrie Mae Weems “Kitchen Table” -1990

Background and Info.● Carrie Weems started photographing herself every day at the kitchen

table. When she started this project, she didn’t think it would become a famous piece of both art and literature.

● Combination of performance, narrative, art, photography, and literature● Goal: Focus on the dynamic and complex lives of women● Weems comments that her body is a “landscape to explore the complex

realities of the lives of women.” She believes women are underrepresented in the world, and in art, especially women of color.

● Other people in the photographs are random neighbors, friends, etc.● Weems believe that the text and images exist independently, and side by

side as complements.● Not so much about race as it is about the black experience and

representation.

Your TaskCreate your own “Kitchen Table” series! Think about a space in the world that you find yourself in often, or a physical thing that you sort of operate around, such as the kitchen table (but you can’t choose this). With the help of digital photography, you are creating three photos that correlate with three narrative pieces written by you in a poetic like style.

Due April 12th: Rough draft of narrative (three pieces), and your photography vision statement.

Digital photography will then take your narrative and vision statement, and use their creative discretion to take three pictures. You will review these pictures, then revise/edit your narrative, and give them feedback for final revisions. This will be part of your five poems you are turning in for credit.

Writing Prompt #3: Rupi Kaur talks about the way she had to make a list of all of the different parts of herself she didn’t like and learn how to love them. Clifton wrote an entire poem dedicated to one part of her body in an effort to celebrate herself. Kyeremanteng talks about how is accent is an integral part of his identity.

When you think about your own identity, what parts feel essential? What parts feel easier to love? What parts feel critiqued (whether directly or indirectly)? Chanel this energy and write a poem about it. Perhaps it’s an homage, or maybe use Wade’s line “when I let go/of who I thought I had to be” as a starting place!

Journal

Think about your most favorite food and describe it in detail. How does it smell? How does it taste? What does it look like? The more detail the better!

Imagery

What is imagery?

Visually descriptive or figurative language (often using the five senses).

W C W

Ten Minute Poetry!

1.) Read your poem all the way through with your group. You decide how.

2.) Share any initial observations.3.) Identify the structure, literary devices, sound

devices, rhythm and rhyme.4.) Think about the overall meaning and how this piece

relates to the topic of food (and culture).5.) Choose one person to share with the class.

Imagery Writing Practice

You are going to write two-three stanzas of imagery inspired by the various food around the room. The three foods

represent three different things: comfort/home, culture/unfamiliar, roots/grounded. Each stanza should be

about 5 lines in length. Don’t just pay attention to how it tastes, but also how it looks, smells, etc. Do you have any memories associated with this particular food? We will all

start together, and then you will have the remaining time to write individually.

Food is ( )

In your next two lines, answer the following question:

What is the purpose of food?

Writing Prompt 4: Food Poetry

Use one of the stanzas you wrote today as a starting point for a poem!