Copy and paste your ‘Vibeboard’ here for inspiration

Poem 1 - Decatur High School Poem
Prompt: Write a 21+ line poem reflecting on your high school experience. -Incorporate sensory language - sight smell taste touch sound 

My High school experience

Freshman year was a beginning of a new feeling

With a pandemic impacting the world

Schools went online with students isolating

This feeling felt like a new world has begun

Sophomore year got the world coming back to normal

Schools have gone back to in person

Pandemic was still around but less concerning 

Students had to walk around with masks

Wasn’t an easy and normal feeling for anyone

Junior year was like a normal life with a long stretch of pandemic

This was the year everything was becoming normal

Nobody had to worry about the pandemic anymore

Everyone was starting to socialize with each other again

But this year didn’t last long as it was over as quick as lightning

Senior year was the most difficult time of high school

 With so many challenges to face with time going by

This year went by just like Junior year in a blink of an eye

With so much stress in our minds with months going by

The challenges I had to face was finally overcome 

Now it’s all set to close out the final moments of high school

With moving forward, more new challenges will I be having to face

Don’t Go Past Here

Over the next few weeks, you’ll be writing your own original poems - each in response to a specific prompt, style, or format. You’ll keep track of your poems here!

Poem 2: 

Copy Prompt Here:

“Write a 21+ line poem addressing your designated theme - Include at least one of the following poetic devices: Imagery, Symbolism, Metaphor, or Alliteration”

Who was I

A person created by God

On this small earth

Where billions of people walk

With a light to greatness

And a darkness full of evil

I grew around both

Fighting for myself

Had full of emotions

Always having to fight to get my ways

Never was a problem for me

I always find my way

It’s a way we survive

It’s a way we live

That’s all

I don’t do what others do

Never seen life that way

Always wanted to be myself

Now i see the view

I take it 

I am him

Poem 3: I - Kendrick Lamar

Copy Prompt Here: “Write a 21+ line poem including your identified borrowed words or phrases. Highlighting those words/phrases as you use them."

To deep in my mind

Maybe it’s because of

 Maybe i’m to paranoid 

“But an enemigo never drown me”

So i’m gonna keep going 

I will still be standing 

“Though I’ma do it ‘til I get it right”

No matter what

Even if i’m alone

But why has it never been easy

Dealing with problems

Ever since an adolescent

Wondering where it began

So I ask God

“Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?”

I wonder if it’s normal

It’s one way to build yourself

Than miracles occur later

Blessed by God’s work

Should have never

Over thought about it

Problems are normal

But having God in life

Makes it better

Poem 4: Form Poem

 Copy Prompt Here:Write a 21+ line poem that adheres to the ‘form’ your group determined for your poet. The form we chose is Memoir

Poem 5: 

Copy Prompt Here: Write a 21+ line poem that explores what ‘Being’ and ‘Unbeing’ mean to your poet.Include 1 ‘Being’ quote from your poet & 1 ‘Unbeing’ quote in that paragraph.

To Be

Is to be able to see

Seeing through your past

Knowing your struggles

Changing your Routines 

To change yourself

Instead of

Meeting the same people

and

Spending time with

People who are stagnant themselves

This breaks the cycle 

Of feeling stagnant

“Wings begin to emerge, breaking the cycle of feeling stagnant.”

Is this good

Knowing it’s bad

You still decide to do bad

To not look for a better way

To never wanted to change

Maybe even not wanting

To learning for your mistakes

Only thinking about yourself

“The butterfly represents the talent - the caterpillar sees the butterfly as weak and figures out.”

Poem 6: 

Copy Prompt Here: Write TWO 11+ line poems, one exploring BEING according to your poet - the other exploring UNBEING. After each poem, include 2+ sentences explaining how your poem conveys that concept. Include a quote demonstrating that term from your poet in each.

BEING

Is being yourself

Not trying to be

Like others

Even if life gets tough

From the way you 

Were raised 

Or the way you are

You make it better

By learning from 

The mistakes in the past

Not to repeat which

That brings success

A stronger mindset

This is being 

To Kendrick

To break the stagnant

This is Being according to Kendrick Lamar because in my poem it says that Kendrick was suffering through a lot of suicidal thoughts, depression and just growing up in Compton where a lot of gangs were affiliated and he knew that if he did not stay near stagnant people or repeat his cycle he will be better him.

Unbeing

Is to never change 

Who you are

You go around to 

The same people

Who are stagnant

As what Kendrick

Has said

keeping the same cycle 

breaks the cycle 

Of feeling stagnant

This is Unbeing because Kendrick demonstrates the troubles of keep the same cycle stagnant as it was clarified for the Being part but the unbeing is an opposite of what Kendrick wants from us and it shows what he means by it all.

Poem 7: 

Copy Prompt Here: Free Poem

Being a soccer player

Is a beauty of life

Studying for tonight’s soccer game

Will make you shine

Bright as a sunshine

Which ever way

The game goes

Even If you fall short

Don’t accept the failure

Aggression is always the key

To winning game matches

Never put real hate

Unless it’s needed

For your team

But

Having a peace 

And a positive mindset

Can get you to Varsity

Part 2 - Revisions

Part 2 - Revisions

In this section, you will identify 2  poems to edit and revise - after revision, you will reflect on the impact your revisions had on that poem:

For your revisions, choose 3 from the list below to apply to your poem:

Poetry Revision Strategies

-less is more: cut 10% of the word count (this may take some rearranging of syntax)
-write it backwards: last sentence first, first sentence last, etc.
-write it in anaphora or cataphora
-change point of view: 1st person to 3rd, or 3rd to 1st, etc
-write a more interesting first line
-write a more interesting last line
-focus entirely on sound, letting the narrative loosen a little if needed
-rewrite it with all sentences of five words or less
-find an abstract and make it specific
-choose a pertinent detail and expand upon

-add more physical detail
- change a metaphor (make sure it seems meaningful to the content)
make a metaphor (make sure it seems meaningful to the content)
pacing – what is the period of time that passes in this paragraph? speed this up, or slow it down
-add dialogue

Organize them like this:

Poem 1:Free Poem

Original Poem:

Being a soccer player

Is a beauty of life

Studying for tonight’s soccer game

Will make you shine

Bright as a sunshine

Which ever way

The game goes

Even If you fall short

Don’t accept the failure

Aggression is always the key

To winning game matches

But having a peace 

And a positive mindset

Can lead to greatness

Revised Version:

write it backwards: last sentence first, first sentence last, etc

 change point of view: 1st person to 3rd, or 3rd to 1st, etc 

write a more interesting first line less is more: 

cut 10% of the word count

I have a greatness

For positivity 

I lose some matches 

I win some matches

I never take failure 

As an option

I study everyday

To shine as a player

That’s beauty

Of a soccer player

(Write this here for easy comparison)

Revision Response Paragraph: I decided to write it backwards because the first part of the poem has a whole talk of 3rd person view while the second part had a 1st part which has two different meanings. 

So the 3rd person view poem has about 14 lines, the revised version has about 8 lines. I decided to cut some lines on the revised version because it had the whole meaning of a 1st person view.

The original clearly is a better version especially to the reader since it’s in a 3rd person view and it has like a motivation I would say as a sports player so it helps the reader understand it and build from it.

Poem 2:“Write a 21+ line poem including your identified borrowed words or phrases. Highlighting those words/phrases as you use them."

Original Poem:

To deep in my mind

Maybe it’s because of

 Maybe i’m to paranoid 

“But an enemigo never drown me”

So i’m gonna keep going 

I will still be standing 

“Though I’ma do it ‘til I get it right”

No matter what

Even if i’m alone

But why has it never been easy

Dealing with problems

Ever since an adolescent

Wondering where it began

So I ask God

“Why God, why God do I gotta suffer?”

I wonder if it’s normal

It’s one way to build yourself

Than miracles occur later

Blessed by God’s work

Should have never

Over thought about it

Problems are normal

But having God in life

Makes it better

Revised Version:

-Add more physical detail

Rewrite it with all sentences of five words or less

-write a more interesting first line

Deeply in my mind

Maybe it’s because of

 Maybe i’m to paranoid 

“But an enemigo never drown

 Me”

So i’m gonna keep going 

I will still be standing 

“Though I’ma do it ‘til

 I get it right”

No matter what

Even if i’m alone

But why has it never been 

Easy

Dealing with problems

Ever since an adolescent

Wondering where it began

So I ask God

“Why God, why God do

 I gotta suffer?”

I wonder if it’s normal

It’s one way to build 

Yourself

Than miracles occur later

Blessed by God’s work

Should have never

Over thought about it

Problems are normal

But having God in life

Makes it better

Revision Response Paragraph: Adding an interesting first line, it made the poem sound like the person has been too long in their mind that it causes them to overthink which is where I see adding physical detail comes in because it helps the reader understand where the person is going from.

I decided to rewrite this poem into all sentences with five words or less because it just was an easy option. Nothing much really changed compared to the regular one. It just made some of the sentences start and end with one word for example like “But an enemigo never drown and then it starts off a new sentences line with Me”, since that’s how the quote ends.