I am nearing the end of the month and I feel like I am drying up! There are plenty of poetry forms left for me to choose from, but sadly, I feel that I am losing stamina. I have new respect for the writers who have been blogging daily for years!
Today, in my parched mood, I turned to a great resource for children and teachers. The Poem Generator shows a model of a poem and provides a fill in the blank form. Once you fill in the blank, you click "create my poem" and voila, your poem is created, modeled after a specific form or mentor poem. I feel a little bit like a cheater using this for my NaPoMo challenge, but it is a great tool to get beginning writers started.
I chose to do a "Love that" poem. I am tempted to say that the mentor text for this poem is Sharon Creech's Love that Dog. But, then I remembered that Sharon's character in this clever chapter book written in poems, uses popular poetry as mentors for his writing. Sharon's "Love that Dog" poem was really inspired by Walter Dean Myers.
Love That Boy
By Walter Dean Myers
Love that boy,
like a rabbit loves to run
I said I love that boy
like a rabbit loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
“Hey there, son!”
like a rabbit loves to run
I said I love that boy
like a rabbit loves to run
Love to call him in the morning
love to call him
“Hey there, son!”
He walk like his Grandpa,
Grins like his Uncle Ben.
I said he walk like his Grandpa,
And grins like his Uncle Ben.
Grins when he’s happy,
When he sad, he grins again.
His mama like to hold him,
Like to feed him cherry pie.
I said his mama like to hold him.
Like to feed him that cherry pie.
She can have him now,
I’ll get him by and by
Like to feed him cherry pie.
I said his mama like to hold him.
Like to feed him that cherry pie.
She can have him now,
I’ll get him by and by
He got long roads to walk down
Before the setting sun.
I said he got a long, long road to walk down
Before the setting sun.
He’ll be a long stride walker,
And a good man before he done.
Before the setting sun.
I said he got a long, long road to walk down
Before the setting sun.
He’ll be a long stride walker,
And a good man before he done.
After using the poetry generator, I came up with this:
Love her
By Melinda Harvey
Love that daughter,
like a camel loves its water
I said I love that daughter
like a camel loves its water
Love to call her in the morning
love to call her
“Hey there, daughter!”
I am sure you notice that my version is much shorter than the mentor text. This is more proof that the generator is a great tool for beginning poets. Take a look at this website today and you'll be generating poems for dinner!
Love That Dog is one of my favorite books. I love how the boy, Jack, changes over time. I also love how his teacher, Miss Stretchberry, never gives up. I mean in the beginning Jack does not believe boys write poetry! Never heard of this poetry generator site and will check it out. Camels and water and daughter. Very interesting composition. I think it is challenging to write a version of this poem. My kids have tried and it is not easy so bravo, again, to you, Mrs. Harvey from your number 1 fan!!! I imagine you must be a lot like Mrs. S. yourself. I wish I could write like Sharon Creech!!! And I wish I could have a kid write so passionately they could convince an author to come for a visit to the school. Now that would be cool! I am going to meet Allan Wolf at IRA. I wish I knew what other MM Poetry people are going to be there. There is a poetry event called an Olio at night. He will be at that, though I am not sure what Olio actually means. However with poetry, who cares!! Allan will be signing at his publishers so I will get a copy of Titanic for sure. April Wayland will be there, too. She sounds like someone I would love to get to know. She is on the Six authors who write blog. I will keep you posted.
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