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ABOUT POETRYWITS
Visiting Poets/Writers in the Schools

Guide: Rose Where Did You Get That Red? by Kenneth Koch

Using Koch's innovative ideas, this project envisions each poet working with the same class for three hours, divided up as one hour a week for three consecutive weeks, or as near to three consecutive weeks as schedules can manage. By the end of the time each student will have written a poem or several poems to share with the poet and the class. Students can adopt a pen name if any are more comfortable that way.

The first week the poet presents a poem for the class to study and model in their own writing. During this process the poet asks many questions and accept many answers. He or she provides more examples and then gives a broad assignment with various "prompts" to help the writers dive in. One suggestion is that students try not to use rhyme, since that often results in forced constructions. (In my experience some students will chose to use rhythm anyway.)

The poem that is chosen to model will be taken from one of the famous poems or common forms in the English /American lexicon. It will be geared to the grade level of the class. For example: second graders study one of Basho's haiku, read a story book based on that and then write their own haiku.

During the second session the writers will be helped to look at ways to revise their work and make it more exciting by using their senses, colors, questions, foreign words, similes, metaphors, puns, wit, drawing and more. Again, the poet gives examples and asks the students to revise or write another poem. Class members to may read what they have written, if there is time. The poet can work with students individually if they have something to discuss privately.

The final week involves a celebration of the students' work. The students read their work, or the poet reads it for them if that's preferred, and there is a juice and pretzel snack (or other treat, if that's possible) to celebrate. It's more fun if various classes can get together for this reading. Poetrywits would then like to publish as many of these poems as possible on the website.

The poets are chosen from interested poet laureates and other published poets from the Montgomery and Bucks County region. These are people who often have classroom
experience and wish to volunteer more time because poetry thrills them and they want to ignite more creative work.

Please get in touch with me if you have further questions.

~Elizabeth Rivers, PoetryWITS

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Sponsored by The Montgomery County Poet Laureate Program