What is a poem?

• What is the difference between poetry and prose (paragraphs)?

• What is the difference between a poem and just talking?

• Remember the 3 Fs: feeling, flow, figurative language

A Song in the Front Yardby Gwendolyn Brooks

OriginalI've stayed in the front yard all my life. I want a peek at the back Where it's rough and untended and hungry weed grows. A girl gets sick of a rose. I want to go in the back yard now And maybe down the alley, To where the charity children play. I want a good time today. They do some wonderful things. They have some wonderful fun. My mother sneers, but I say it's fine How they don't have to go in at quarter to nine. My mother, she tells me that Johnnie Mae Will grow up to be a bad woman. That George'll be taken to Jail soon or late (On account of last winter he sold our back gate.)

But I say it's fine. Honest, I do. And I'd like to be a bad woman, too, And wear the brave stockings of night-black lace And strut down the streets with paint on my face.

Acoustic versionI have been good all my life.My life is easy.I want to know what it is likenot being good all the time.

WonderbreadBy Alfred Corn

Original Loaf after loaf, in several sizes,And never does it not look fresh,As though its insides weren’t moistOr warm crust not the kind that spicesA room with the plump aroma of toast. Found on the table; among shadowsNext to the kitchen phone; dispatchedFedEx (without return address, though).Someone, possibly more than onePerson, loves me. Well then, who? Amazing that bread should be so weightless,Down-light when handled, as a meDying to taste it takes a slice.Which lasts just long enough to reachMy mouth, but then, at the first bite, Nothing! Nothing but air, thin air…Oh. One more loaf of wonderbread,Only a pun for bread, seductiveVisually, but you could starve.Get rid of it, throw it in the river – Beyond which, grain fields. Future food for the justAnd the unjust, those who love, and do not love.

Acoustic versionWonderbread looks good.It’s on the table by the mail.I want to eat it.It tastes like nothing.

Class poem rules

• Each line must begin with a verb• Each line must include a color• Each line must include a feeling

Poetry Slam Poem Ideas• Write about something that happened to you

and how it affected you• Write about a social issue, such as gay rights,

being pro-life/pro-choice, or protecting the environment, and how you feel about that issue

• Write about someone important in your life• Write about an emotion you feel, like love,

hopelessness, or pride• Write about how other people act and your

feelings about it