Review and Critical Analysis
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| 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.
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| 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/
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