Poetic Form - Concrete Poems: Wet Cement

Raczka, Bob. 2016. Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems. New York: Roaring Book Press. ISBN 9781626722361

Review and Critical Analysis

Image courtesy www.bobraczka.com/#/wet-cement

Bob Raczka’s Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems is a delightful collection of 21 concrete poems about everyday objects and experiences. In the opening, Raczka explains his “word paintings” in which he uses both the arrangement of letters in the poem titles and the layout of words in the poems to create meaning for each poem in the book. These “word paintings” take the form of clocks, icicles, mazes, and even a tree shedding its leaves. Raczka skillfully takes poems about movement, like “Orbiting,” “Hopscotch,” and “Pop-Up,” and magically recreates the motion with words fixed to a page. Even the title Wet Cement suggests that, at least in this book, concrete poetry has movement.

The richness of Raczka’s poems does not stop at his creative use of form. The poems use both rhyme and rhythm to extend the wordplay to an auditory experience as well. He uses traditional rhyme (The poem doesn’t have traditional lines to distinguish end rhyme from internal rhyme.) to show the contrast between a teacher and students’ views of the last bell of the school day in “Clock.” The poem explains “The clock on the wall says it’s five ‘til three but the kids in my class say it’s five ‘til free.” In other poems, like “Takeoff” he uses both traditional rhyme (“heaven”and “seven”) and slant rhyme (“twelve” and “himself”) to recreate the Wright brothers’ first flight. In addition to rhyme, poems like “Dominoes”use a strong, driving rhythm to move readers in the fast pace of cascading dominoes. The poem begins “JUST ONE PUSH/ HERE WE GO/ FOLLOW THROUGH/ FEEL THE FLOW” and carries the exact same rhythm throughout. The powerful rhyme and rhythm make “Dominoes” a favorite of my high school students who read this for a March Madness contest.

In Wet Cement, Raczka plays with poetic shape, he plays with sound, and he plays with the meaning of words. His use of metaphor takes some of the not-so-ordinary subjects of poems and brings them down to earth. For example, in “Dipper” he compares stars in the night sky to fireflies in a jar, and in “Tunnels” he make refers to the subway as “A CITIFIED-JUST-SLIDE-INSIDE-AND-TAKE-A-RIDE ELECTRIC MOLE.” Raczka also employs pun in “Hanger” which provides a humorous look at what a clothes hanger might think about “hanging out.” His use of one or two significant devices in these short poems create an approachable way to introduce and allow children to play with figurative language without picking a poem apart, over-analyzing it, and destroying their innate enjoyment of poetry.

The concrete poem form is carried all the way through Wet Cement...literally. The table of contents in the front of the book is shaped in the form of a table, and the copyright information in the back of the book is in the shape of the letter C enclosed in a circle. In between, Raczka’s book maintains the focus on “word painting” so much that the book contains no illustrations. Instead, the visuals are created through the use of black and white on each spread. Most of the pages are white text with black typography; however, the poems involving nighttime and stars reside in white text on a black background.

Raczka’s concrete poetry is appealing for readers of all ages. The short poems and everyday topics make the poems approachable for young readers. Their shape, however, may pose a challenge for younger readers. Some of the poems require turning the book, using a mirror, or reading the page from top to bottom. Older children will enjoy the wordplay and the challenge of figuring out how to read the poem. In fact, some of my high school boys needed hints to figure out “Hopscotch,” even after they decoded the title.

The sparse layout and everyday topics of Wet Cement make Raczka’s poems seem simple and effortless, making readers feel like anyone can write concrete poems. In fact, the last poem “PoeTRY” encourages readers to “TRY” poetry. Any attempts at will quickly reveal the clever wit and creativity that Raczka puts into his concrete poetry. Maybe everyone can write concrete poetry, but it is not as easy and it looks!

Example Poem
Takeoff

Wright on course,
headed for heaven.
One two three four
five six seven

eight nine ten
eleven twelve
Wright back down,
but proud of himself.

Image courtesy www.bobraczka.com/#/wet-cement

Activity
Share with students the feelings you had the first time you did something exciting like riding a bike, flying in an airplane, or even jumping on a trampoline. Have them imagine what it would feel like if they did something no one else had done before.

For older children who will surely know about the Wright brothers, you may want to jump right into the poem, projecting it with a document camera so they can see the shape of the title and poem as you read. After you’ve read the poem, you could invite students to read it together. Then see if they can guess who the poem is about.

Younger children who may not be familiar with the Wright brothers may benefit from a brief introduction to their claim to fame. Then after reading the poem aloud and viewing the poem, ask students to see what clues about flying and airplanes they see in the shape of the poem and title.

As an extension, students can write their own concrete poems about common objects they are familiar with. Encourage them to think of items they use or see every day and are very familiar with like books, pencils, or even sports equipment. Children may wish to use an online tool like Read Write Think’s Theme Poem Creator to format their poems. Printed poems can be collected for a class poetry book or taken home to share with family members.

Sources
International Literacy Association and National Council for Teachers of English. 2017. “Theme Poems.” ReadWriteThink. Accessed February 26. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/theme_poems/

Multicultural Poetry: Yum! MmMm! Que Rico!: America's Sproutings

Mora, Pat. 2007. Yum! MmMm! Qué Rico!: America's Sproutings. Pictures by Rafael López. New York: Lee & Low. ISBN 9781584302711.

Image courtesy Amazon.com

Review and Critical Summary
Pat Mora's Yum! MmMm! Qué Rico! includes fourteen haiku celebrating delicious foods native to the Americas. From corn and tomatoes to chocolate and pineapple, Mora includes a variety of treats for young readers. With each tasty poem, Mora includes a short factual description of the food, its history, and even its modern use.

The seventeen syllable poems abound with sound devices.  Mora employs alliteration with corn leaves that "sprout silk-snug house" and a tomato that "squirts seedy-juicy splatter" as well as the assonance of a cranberry that "simmers then POPS! in hot pot." In "Pecan," Mora creates the sound of a person cracking and eating pecans with instances of onomatopoeia like "crack," "munching," and "crunchy." The use of sound imagery gives readers a food experience that makes use of more than just the expected sight and taste imagery.

Yum! MmMm! Qué Rico! creates a multi-sensory experience with one of my favorite types of figurative language -- synesthesia--or the use of sensory language that evokes the sensation of a different sense. For example, the first poem, "Blueberry" opens with the line "Fill your mouth with blue," suggesting the when eating a blueberry, one can use his or her tongue to taste and feel the color blue. This same device pops up again in the poem "Chile," when the narrator's dad says, "Mmmm! This heat tastes good."

This book of poems will have special appeal for Spanish speaking students. In addition to the Spanish phrase qué rico in the title, Mora also includes other Spanish words like luna in "Pumpkin" or dulces  in "Prickly Pear," providing opportunities for Spanish speakers to be the experts in pronouncing those words or translating them for the other students.

Mora's engaging language is made even more beautiful with the captivating artwork by Rafael López. Whether its a chocolate castle floating on a cloud or a giant personified pineapple dancing with maracas, each full page spread is fancifully illustrated in bright colors that embrace the sense of the food. The people depicted in the illustrations represent the diverse population of the Americas, as well. The characters have a variety of skin tones, hair colors, and even hair types. While most of the characters are children (as one might expect in a children's book), some of the illustrations include multi-generational families with parents and grandparents. The artwork, like the food described in the poems, reflect the diversity of the Americas.

Example Poem

Peanut

Smear nutty butter,

then jelly. Gooey party

my sandwich and me.

Activity
To introduce this poem to students,  ask for volunteers to share their favorite food. After students offer their favorite foods to the group, explain that you are going to share a poem about your favorite food. You might even give the students some information from the facts about peanuts before reading the poem. After you have read the poem aloud, ask the students to guess what your favorite food is.

As an extension, students could use art supplies to draw or glue pictures of their favorite foods onto paper plates. They may also want to try their hand at writing a haiku about their favorite food on their plate.

NCTE Award Poetry: Marilyn Nelson

Nelson, Marilyn. 2015. My Seneca Village. South Hampton, NH: Namelos. ISBN 9781608981977.

Image courtesy Amazon.com

Review and Critical Analysis
Marilyn Nelson is the 2017 recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Nelson's previous works, Carver: A Life in Poems and A Wreath for Emmett Till have garnered Nelson significant recognition as a National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honor Book medalist, Coretta Scott King Honor Book medalist, Printz Honor Book medalist, and a Lee Bennet Hopkins Poetry Award Honoree (Nelson 2017).

Her 2015 book My Seneca Village tells the story of a multicultural community in Manhattan in an area that was taken over by the city government to become a part of Central Park. Set in the years 1825 - 1855, Nelson reveals the history of Seneca Village through a series of forty-one poems narrated by a community of characters, ranging from a bootblack to a young schoolboy to historical figures like Maria Stewart and Fredrick Douglass. Nelson based many of the events in the poems on what her imagination conjured after reading census records from Seneca Village, but some of the events are fictionalized accounts of real historical occurrences. Such events are indicated with italicized notes at the end of the poems with the factual information available.

My Seneca Village has a table of contents listing every poem. Following the table of contents, Nelson includes a "Welcome to Seneca Village" to explain the community and how she became acquainted with the villagers that eventually narrate her poems. On the right side of each spread, Nelson sets the scene for the poem, explaining what she "sees" or introducing a character or setting. The poem is then printed on the left side of each spread. The book closes with a helpful "About the Poems" section in which she explains the varying formats and rhyme schemes she uses. Her explanation is very helpful for people (like me) who may not recognize the structures and rhymes of classic poetic styles or for budding poets who want to try their hand at writing a terza rima sonnet or a found poem.

The majority of the poems are composed in quatrains with various rhyme schemes and styles. For example, the opening poem "Land Owner" uses both exact rhymes like  "wage/sage" and "vote/boat" and slant rhymes like "work/talk" and "Canal/heel" in each stanza. Other poems, like "Sisters of Charity" use what Nelson calls "conceptual rhyme" where the connection between the words is not a shared sound, but a shared idea. In "Sisters of Charity," she uses opposites to form the conceptual rhyme, pairing concepts like "day/night," "more/less," and "poor/rich."

Nelson works in several other poetic forms in addition to the rhyming quatrains. She includes sonnets like "Address" and "Pigs on the Ice" as well as a poem written to imitate a wedding announcement. In "The Park Theatre" and "The Shakespeare Riot," both poems about Shakespearean plays, Nelson pays homage to the iambic pentameter of William Shakespeare. She even invented a poetic form for one character, and all poems narrated by that character take on the form she calls "Tildie."

The language of My Seneca Village maintains a more conversational style, reflective of characters narrating their daily lives. But even within these conversations, Nelson drops in tantalizing bits of alliteration and imagery to create strong images for readers. For example, in "Council of Brothers," the youngest of five brothers refers to "a growling gut" and "wearing Hugh's smelly, outgrown, leaky boots," creating an image of the impoverished life the young men have been living.

My Seneca Village is recommended for children in fifth grade and up. The lack of illustrations, more complex vocabulary, and cover of muted colors clearly mark this as a book for older students. In the library, this book would probably need special promotion, for its outward appearance truly belies the fascinating history and skilled poetry inside.

Example Poem
15¢ Futures
Epiphany Davis, 1825

I set up my cash box and my bones and cards
on Broadway, most days, offering what I see
of what's to come. For a donation, words
fall from my mouth, surprising even me.

Uncle Epiphany doesn't forecast death
or illness worse than gout or a broken bone.
The sailors stop. They listen with caught breath
as I tell them some girl's heart is still theirs alone.

(... or not. Young love is such a butterfly.)
Girls come, arms linked, giggling behind their fans.
The sad come. Uncle Epiphany does not lie.
I close shop, and come back up here to my land.

It's a new world up here, of beggar millionaires:
neighbors who know how we all scrimped and saved
to own this stony swamp with its fetid air,
to claim the dream for dreamers yet enslaved.

I'm Epiphany Davis. I am a conjure-man.
I see glimpses. Glass towers ... A horseless vehicle ...
An American President who is half African ...
Until you pay me, that's all I'm going to tell.


Activity
This poem would work well with an 8th grade U.S. history class, especially as they begin to study events leading up to the Civil War.  To introduce the poem, set up the historical context, explaining when and where Seneca Village is set. Ask students to share what they know about the time period, and then read Nelson's vision for the scene and provide students an introduction to the narrator, Epiphany Davis. Since the poem is longer, I recommend providing students a written copy of the poem so they could read along.

After reading the poem aloud, determine if students know what the word "epiphany" means and explain if they do not. Have students share if they believe Epiphany Davis really has epiphanies. What makes them question him? What makes them believe him? Invite students to think of other parts of modern American life (other than skyscrapers, cars, and President Obama) that Epiphany and the other residents of Seneca Village might find surprising.

As an extension, students may want to choose other historical figures like Clara Barton, Abraham Lincoln, or Wilbur Wright to write a monologue about what type of "glimpses" of the future that person might wish see. These monologues could then be shared as part of a living history event students share with younger grades, parents, and the community.


Sources
Nelson, Marilyn. 2017. "About - Biography." Accessed February 14. http://marilyn-nelson.com/bio.html.

Florian Poetry: Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars

Florian, Douglas. 2007. Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars. Orlando: Harcourt. ISBN: 9780152053727.

Image courtesy Amazon.com

Review and Critical Analysis
Douglas Florian's Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars is a beautiful informational book of 20 poems about all things space-related.  The text has many of the expected features of an informational book, such as a table of contents, a glossary of terms, and suggestions for further reading, but this book is so much more than just an informational book.

This book is first and foremost a poetry book. Florian's poems all have a strong rhyme and rhythm to them. For example, the first poem, "Skywatch" begins "On a clear night you might try/To gaze upon the starry sky." While both the rhyme and rhythm are strong throughout the book, Florian varies the rhyme scheme and rhythm to keep the poems from becoming to sing-song and predictable. Additionally, the poems include strong imagery and figurative language, like a description of the sun's "Scalding-hot surface" or the comparison of a comet to "A dirty snowball of space debris."

The artwork that accompanies each poem--also by Florian--adds another layer of richness to the writing. The illustrations of goache, collage, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags create vibrant scenes for readers to explore. Not only does the artwork depict the space element serving as the subject of the poem, the rubber stamp lettering labels other features like moons, geographical features and other key components. My favorite spread is for the poem titled "A Galaxy." The background is a deep navy blue, nearly black, that looks like the abyss of outer space. The poem itself takes the shape of a spiral galaxy, and other galaxy shapes, like barred, elliptical, and egg-shaped galaxies, are depicted in beige with bright orange outlines. The visual effect is stunning, and the additional shapes provide the opportunity for readers to explore the concept further. The illustrations--combined with loads of space facts and fun poems-- make this a book of poetry that readers will want to sit down with and explore. Older children may even want to look up some of the names incorporated into the design to figure out why the names are included.

Young readers will love the strong rhyme and rhythm of Florian's poems in Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars. These traits make it a perfect book for reading aloud or call and response readings. Plus, the witty, whimsical nature of some of the poems will draw children in as well. For example, in "Pluto," the poet explains the dwarf planet's demotion, saying "Pluto was a planet./Till one day it got fired."  Florian's comparison of a black hole to a "Cosmic broom" and then wishing he had one for his room will delight younger readers as well. This book is an excellent support for the science classroom.

Example Poem
Venus

Scalding-hot surface
Nine hundred degrees,
No creatures,
No trees.
Poisonous clouds
Of acid above.
Why was it named for
the goddess of love?

Activity
Every poem in this book could be used in an astronomy unit in the science classroom. I can see the poems serving both as introductions to plants, constellations, and black holes or as reviews to see what students remember about previous lessons. The possibilities are endless!

One way I would consider using the planet poems like "Venus" is to use them as part of a check for understanding before assessing knowledge of a particular planet. I would introduce the poem by asking children, "What do you know about the planet Venus?" After giving the group a chance to share everything they can remember, I would read the poem to them at least two times--one time to give them the opportunity to simply enjoy the poem and another to have them listen for facts. After discussing what the poet chose to include and leave out, students could then use both Florian's illustration and other pictures (both realistic and artistic) of the planet as inspiration to create their own illustration of the planet Venus. The illustrations could then be incorporated to a trading card design for display.

African American Poetry: Locomotion

Woodson, Jacqueline. 2003. Locomotion. New York: Puffin Books. ISBN 9780399231155

Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review and Critical Analysis

Jacqueline Woodson's Locomotion gives readers a glimpse into the life of eleven-year-old Lonnie Collins Motion, or as his mother nicknamed him, Locomotion. In his short eleven years, Lonnie has faced more tragedy than most people face in a lifetime. His parents died in a fire, and he has been separated from his little sister, Lili. With the help of his foster mother, Miss Edna, and his teacher, Ms. Marcus, Lonnie discovers writing poetry as a vehicle to grapple with his grief and to rebuild his sense of hope.

The verse novel explores a variety of poetic forms including haiku, sonnets, and epistle poems. Some of the poems, like "December 9th," "Epitaph Poem," and "The Fire," are expressions of Lonnie's grief over losing his parents. These poems are filled with the images of firemen, smoke, and things he remembers about his parents--all the images that cloud his mind. Despite the tragedy that afflicts his past, Lonnie also expresses a clear hope for the future in poems like "Lili's New Mama's House" where he describes the joy he feels when he visits his sister or in "Rodney" when Lonnie is filled with pride when Miss Edna's son comes home and calls him "Little Brother." Lonnie's optimistic hope will draw readers young and old, inspiring those with their own struggles to find a way to work through the hardship and move toward a hope-filled future.

Example Poem

"Me, Eric, Lamont & Angel"

Once I saw a house fall down on a lady, Lamont says.

That ain't nothing, Angel says. Once I saw this dog

get hit by a car. He went way up in the air and

when he came down again,

he got up and ran away. But he stopped at the corner,

Angel says.

And died.

Eric squints up his eyes.

Looks out over the school yard.

The sky's real blue and no wind's blowing.

I shake my head, trying to shake that dog out of it.

Once I saw a little boy, Eric says, all mysterious.

And then in my dream, he was a man.

We all look at him and don't say nothing.

Far away, I hear some girls singing real slow and sad

Her mother, she went upstairs too.

Saying daughter oh daughter

what's troubling you . . .

That ain't no tragedy, Angel says, giving Eric a look.

More than what Lonnie seen, Eric says, grinning at me.

In my head I see a fire. I see black windows.

I hear people hollering. I smell smoke.

I hear a man's voice saying I'm so sorry.

I hear myself screaming.

Never seen nothing, I say.

Activity

To introduce this poem to young readers, I would ask if anyone had an experience where someone made an assumption about you when they had no idea how you really felt. I might also ask students if they have experiences in their past that they have hidden from their friends, teachers, or even parents. I would ask students to share how they felt when the people around them did not understand their situation. After reading the poem aloud, I would invite students to compare Lonnie's reaction to his friends with their own reactions.

School Poetry: The Brimstone Journals

Koertge, Ron. 2001. The Brimstone Journals. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. ISBN 9780763617424

Image courtesy of Goodreads

Review and Critical Analysis

The Brimstone Journals depicts high school life through the eyes of 15 members of the Branston High School Class of 2001. Through 97 journal-like poems, each character reveals the violence they face everyday, from Kelli--the cheerleader who breaks up with her controlling boyfriend--to Lester--who is bullied by the school’s jocks on a daily basis. Amid all the turmoil is an angry young man named Boyd. Boyd’s rocky relationship with his alcoholic father and his dangerous new friend Mike lead him to make a list of names. Now everyone could be in danger--not just those on the list.

The typically short, inter-related poems of The Brimstone Journals are titled with the name of the character who is narrating, each character designated by their distinct script. The free verse poems are not particularly lyrical, having a more conversational rhythm and language pattern. Koertge does, however, sprinkle in several strategically placed strong images or metaphors along the way. For example, Tran’s first poem, where he discusses his relationship with his father, ends with a poignant observation, “His dreams are a box I can’t put down.” Otherwise, the most prolific device is the rhetorical question. As the teenage narrators wrestle with their own thoughts and feelings, they express their confusion with many, many questions, like the sex-crazed Rob who asks, “If it isn’t a game, why does everybody/keep score?” As a whole, the poems draw their power from the raw emotion of their teenage narrators and the troubling darkness they face. The poems only provide glimpses of the characters, leaving the reader with vignettes rather than fully-developed characters.

The Brimstone Journals was named an American Library Association (ALA) Quick Pick, and aptly so, for the first poem, narrated by a overweight young man named Lester, describes how he likes to hold his father’s gun while he’s naked, imagining what would happen when the people who bully him saw he had a gun. This shocking start drew me in immediately, and I expect it would have a similar effect on students. Because of the violence and language, this book is most appropriate for high school students. The Brimstone Journals is one of those books librarians and teachers should put into the hands of a reluctant reader who is not so sure they would like poetry, especially if he or she likes darker books and movies. It is a fast and interesting read that could promote some very helpful and meaningful conversations about relationships between teens and the adults in their lives.

Example Poem

"Tran"

Since I have only acquaintances and no
true friends, I come to school in the morning
and let the building tell me things.

In this way I am like the Native Americans
who could taste water, listen to earth, read
sky.

I listen to what is traveling through wires,
dripping from overhead lighting radiating
from computer screens, oozing from outlets
in walls:

who lied who kissed who drank who smoked
who struck wept contaminated bought
Sold doted barely survived.

This passionate residue is called “the buzz.”

What a violent country: “He kissed
me so hard.” “I was so wasted.” “I hate
her so much.” “I love him to death.”

The students even call this well-appointed
and modern high school Brimstone,
a reference to their Bible and to the end
of the world. (28)

Activity

To introduce this poem to teenagers, ask what types of things they might hear if they just stood in the hallways and listened? What noises would the empty building make? What words or phrases would they hear from teachers? from students? Then ask students to consider what types of conclusions an outsider might draw about the school based on the things they could hear. As they listen to the poem read aloud, have students make note of the different things Tran hears in his school. How does their school compare to Trans? As an extention, students could use the different sounds and words they brainstormed earlier to write a poem about their own school.