![\"Chuck](\"https:\/\/itdi.pro\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/Chuck-Sandy192-150x150.jpg\")
\nWhat is a poem? A poem, once read and internalized, is a song that\u2019s meant to be spoken, that\u2019s meant to be heard.\u00a0 A poem is more than words, more than whatever meaning the words of the poem combine to make.\u00a0 A poem is sound, rhythm, and cadence.\u00a0 A poem is the poet\u2019s voice arranged on the page in such a way that any reader can speak with the same voice, with the same rhythm, in the same way.<\/p>\n
Please read the poem Invitation Standing <\/i>by Paul Blackburn<\/a> silently to your self.<\/p>\n BRING a leaf to me<\/p>\n just a leaf just a<\/p>\n spring leaf, an<\/p>\n April leaf<\/p>\n just<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Blue sky<\/p>\n never mind<\/p>\n Spring rain<\/p>\n never mind<\/p>\n Reach up and<\/p>\n take a leaf and<\/p>\n just come.<\/p>\n Paul Blackburn (Invitation Standing)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Can you hear the rhythm of the words and the sound the words make? Notice the way BRING<\/i> is capitalized. Notice the way each line breaks. Notice the comma between spring leaf <\/i>and an<\/i>. Notice the lack of commas otherwise. Notice the way the word come<\/i> is set off by itself, a tab away from the left-hand margin. I ask you to notice these things because this is how Paul Blackburn shows us how the poem is meant to be spoken and heard. Say BRING in a louder voice than you do a leaf to me.<\/i><\/p>\n Speed through just a leaf just a<\/i> before pausing a moment to say spring leaf, an \/ April leaf and<\/i> then pause and put some emphasis on come<\/i>.<\/p>\n Read the poem again only this time, read it out loud. If possible read it out loud to someone. Ask them to listen to the sound and the rhythm. Don\u2019t ask them what the poem is about. Just have them listen. Can you hear the poem\u2019s sound, rhythm, and cadence? Can they? My students can and then can read it to each other just the way it\u2019s meant to be read \u2013 and so can your students.<\/p>\n Take any poem you find that\u2019s full of sound and rhythm and read it to your students. <\/p>\n This Is Just to Say<\/b><\/p>\n I have eaten<\/p>\n the plums<\/p>\n that were in<\/p>\n the icebox<\/p>\n <\/p>\n and which<\/p>\n you were probably<\/p>\n saving<\/p>\n for breakfast<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Forgive me<\/p>\n they were delicious<\/p>\n so sweet<\/p>\n and so cold<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n Tell your students you\u2019re going to read them a poem. Tell them it\u2019s a dictation and that you\u2019d like them to write the poem out the way you speak it. Tell them that you want them to arrange the words on the page so that it looks like a poem<\/i>.<\/p>\n Now read the poem out loud several times so they hear the pauses and know where the line breaks are. Pause longer between each stanza so they know there\u2019s a larger space between them. Then, ask your students to compare the way they\u2019ve written the poem out with a partner and to make any corrections<\/i> they think should be made.\u00a0 Give them a bit of time to do this before reading the poem out loud again.<\/p>\n Now, show your students the poem as written by William Carlos Williams, and have them make the necessary corrections. After they\u2019ve done so, ask them to take turns reading the poem out loud in pairs a couple of times. After they\u2019ve done this ask, \u201cCan you hear all the s<\/i> sounds in the poem?\u201d and have them underline all the s<\/i> sounds they hear:\u00a0 plums<\/b>, ic<\/b>ebox, s<\/b>aving, breakfas<\/b>t, delicious<\/b>, s<\/b>o sweet, s<\/b>o cold.<\/p>\n Then, if you want, get students walking around the room saying the poem to each other.\u00a0 Tell them to be dramatic, to speak the poem as if they were speaking to someone\u00a0 – and of course they are.<\/p>\n Bring everyone back together and either ask students to whom the poem was probably written and where it might have been left or just tell them: Williams wrote the poem as a note to his wife Flossie and left it on the refrigerator (icebox) door. Ask a question like \u201cHow do you think Flossie felt when she read this? How would you feel? Your students will come up with adjectives like annoyed, upset, angry, disappointed, dismayed, let down, and devastated. At least mine did.<\/p>\n And my students – no matter how often I\u2019ve done this and no matter what group I\u2019ve done this with – have never had any trouble taking the structure, sound, rhythm, and cadence of the poem, and using this to write their own versions.<\/p>\n My favorite student-written versions of this poem over the years have been:<\/p>\n\n
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\nTake the poem This Is Just To Say<\/a> by William Carlos Williams<\/a> for example:<\/p>\n