Use the Poetry Toolbox as a model for drafting and revising your poems. Here's an example.
Pull an IMAGE from your toolbox as a topic:
1. Write lots about your topic.
2. Write lots of phrases.
3. Write lots of detailed descriptions: sights and sounds, especially
4. Compare parts of your image to something else (metaphor).
Example:
eagle flying higher than a skyscraper
white head forward with piercing eyes
wings spread out like he wants to cover the world
a mile away a fluffy brown rabbit hops, munching grass
eagle dives a hundred miles an hour
scoops up the bunny in his crooked yellow talons
squeezing tight
brown feathers are fingers (comparison)
flapping in the cold winter wind
eagle flowing flying flapping
5. Choose your favorite phrases and write them so the sound and order is interesting.
higher higher than a skyscraper
eagle flies across the skies
wings spread to cover the world
searching with piercing eyes for a rabbit or a snake
fluffy brown rabbit hops, munches, hops, munches
white head drops and wings fold
eagle dives one hundred miles an hour
to scoop up the bunny
in his crooked yellow talons
and flies, flaps, flows through the sky
with feather fingers flapping in the cold winter wind
moving forward to feast on dinner
6. Now look for places you can push in the TRICKS AND TOOLS of poets:
Tricks and Tools of Poets
Alliteration Repeated beginning consonant sounds, such as "feather fingers flapping"
Assonance Repeated vowel sounds, such as flies across the skies
Repeated words Repeat words for effect, like "hops, munches, hops, munches" to show the rabbit doesn't know the danger
Vivid verbs Action words like flies, spread, searching, hops, munches, drops, fold, dives, scopp, flaps, flows
Nifty nouns Specific nouns (persons, places, things, ideas); instead of dog, say German Shepard; instead of fast, say 100 miles an hour; instead animal, say rabbit or snake
Personification Giving life to something not living; such as saying the feathers are fingers
Onomatopoeia (ah no mah toe pee ah) Words that sound like the sound they make, such as Bam! Pop! Bang! slap gurgle Phzzzzt
Simile Comparing two things that are different and finding a similarity -- write it using like or as , such as comparing how high the eagle flies to how a skyscraper is. The eagle flies as high as a skyscraper .
Senses Write all sights, smells, tastes, texture, feelings about your topic
How might it smell, taste?
How might it feel if you touched it?
Ideas from the poem: piercing eyes; white head; crooked yellow talons; munching grass; flapping in the cold winter wind
Rhyme Repeated ending sounds, such as fold, cold; poems do NOT need to rhyme
Line breaks Wherever you want the reader to pause or look carefully at a phrase, put a line break there (hit return).
7. READ others' poems and find the tools/tricks they used; use their MODELS.
Read the poem below. Notice how the author changed the poem to add some tricks of a poet.
What tricks were used?
higher higher than a skyscraper
eagle flies across the skies
wings spread to wrap the world
peeking with piercing eyes for a rabbit or a snake;
fluffy brown rabbit hops, munches, hops, munches
white head drops and wings fold
like a thunderbolt, he's bold --
bold to dive one hundred miles an hour
Whoosh!
he snares the hare
in his crooked yellow talons
held tightly like a vice
and flies, flaps, flows through the sky
with feather fingers flapping in the cold winter wind
moving forward to feast on dinner
high up in the Ponderosa Pine
whose branch reaches out awaiting
his glide home with food to feast on.
8. Now, work with the beginning, ending, and title to hook everything together. Also, add punctuation and capitalization.
And here is the final version:
Eagle Flight
Higher, higher than a skyscraper,
Eagle flies across the skies
Wings spread to wrap the world
Peeking with piercing eyes
for a rabbit or a snake;
Fluffy brown rabbit
Hops, munches,
Hops, munches;
Eagle's white head drops and wings fold
like a thunderbolt, he's bold --
bold to dive one hundred miles an hour --
Whoosh!
He snares the hare
in his crooked yellow talons
held tightly like a vice
and flies, flaps, flows through the sky
with feather fingers flapping
in the cold winter wind,
moving forward to feast on dinner
high up in the Ponderosa Pine
whose branch reaches out awaiting
his glide home with food to feast on;
still high as a skyscraper.
by Sunrae Shadows
9. Now, it's your turn!