pictured is Meredith Emshoff
Found: Poetry in
Literature and Life
by Rhoda Wahl, E-M
English Instructor
While students at Exeter-Milligan School are reading good
stories, they are also discovering that poetry is often disguised as prose.
Those seemingly endless rows of sentences, and pages of paragraphs, are
bursting with poems just waiting to be found. Found Poems, in fact, are
poems created from words and phrases taken from text.
While reading Alas Babylon, by Pat Frank, American
Literature students discovered that the description of the setting (Fort
Repose, FL) could also be described poetically.
Fort Repose
By Meredith Emshoff
A river town
in Central Florida
Riverfront estates
with boats tied to
docks
idyllic life
for Lt. Randolph
Rowzee Peyton
Ordered to protect
river from Indians
shot game
caught fish
instead.
Freshmen English students are currently studying the
elements of poetry, and experimented with rhyme schemes by writing parallel
poems. Parallel poems are written in the same style, and sometimes the
same theme, as other poems that interest us. The poem they paralleled is
“Sick” by Shel Silverstein.
Sick
By Jack Dinneen &
Janey Due
“I cannot go to
school today,”
Said little Peggy Ann
McKay.
“I am too tired to
get up.
I think I’m going to
throw up.
My skin is very
itchy;
My eye is really
twitchy.
My joints won’t even
bend.
I think it may be the
end.
There’s a clot in my
bloodstream;
This is very extreme.
I have a very fast
heartbeat,
And I have very cold
feet.
I just got out of the
shower,
But I still don’t
have any power.
WAIT! Today is
Saturday.
I feel well enough to
play!”
All students in Mrs. Wahl’s English classes are reading
books, and journaling about the elements of fiction. This quarter, they are
describing the character traits of the protagonist in a biographical poem.
Maybe you’ve read one of these books, and will recognize these characters.
Berry
by Kaitlyn Clift
I am Berry
Son of Mumma
Who needs help
Who loves his family
Who sees darkness
around
Who hates deceivers
Who fears losing the trust
of the Mallard
Who dreams of having
a better life.
Who has found poems
of depression and sadness
Resident of the
planet Earth.
From Black Juice
by Margo Lanagan
Ty Lewis
by Sam Zeleny
I am Ty
Brother of Thane
Who needs Thane to
get better
Who loves his life,
living with his brother
Who sees Thane
playing on Jet’s Field
Who hates how the FBI
watches
Who fears that Thane
won’t be able to play again
Who dreams of making
the Raptor’s football team
Who has found poems
of laughter
Resident of New York
Lewis
From Deep Zone by Tim
Green
