The Unchosen Poems
They sit and wait
hidden in books
some still scatter words
not yet crafted
to even live
as a poem yet.
All waiting
and waiting
to be chosen.
Pick me!
Pick me!
they cry
waving their arms
I have something to say!
The children. . .
they need to know me!
But, oh. . .
I squint my eyes
and shake my head
You are
too confusing
too long
and those rhymes?
no. . . I can’t even.
I don’t want the children
to believe that
poems
have to rhyme
you are fun
but. . . no.
Always
they pout
she chooses her pets
Wild Geese
A Snowy Evening
An Apology
What do they have
that we don’t?
It’s so unfair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I like to believe that poems choose me and I don’t not choose them. But, after this poem made it’s way out of my pen this morning, I realized that yes, I do have my favorites. They are chosen over and over to teach whatever I might need to teach that day. My class pets that I pick on the most are my memorized poems. They sit at the ready until I call them up for their duty. I’m sure the unchosen poems think they are spoiled.
The neglected poems were screaming at me this morning, begging for attention. “You are so lazy”, they cried. “Give the children something new!”
Ugh.
When the truth speaks, it hurts.
I do rely on these chosen poems and yes, perhaps they do need a rest.
And, those rhyming poems?
Personally, it was those bloody rhymes that damaged my own beliefs about what poetry really is. In my classroom, I encourage students NOT to rhyme because immediately they are all trying to force feed these words into their poems just to make a rhyme. Poems fall apart. The rhymes take away the heart and meaning of what they are truly trying to say. If a child is composing a poem about her dog dying, the last thing she should be thinking about is, “What rhymes with dead?”
Action Plan: Branch out beyond what I already know and believe. Use a poem I don’t connect with personally. Perhaps it is meant for a child in my room and not me.
Play with rhymes, but not too soon.
And, for Pete’s sake, memorize some new poems. Those Wild Geese and Snowy Evenings need a rest.
Shari 🙂
I’m participating in the 2016 NaPoWritMo (National Poetry Write Month) and hoping to blog about poetry for 30 days in April. Please join me and others by visiting their site!
Islands of My Soul 
Yes we all have our favorites. I am a fan of meter. I don’t always need rhymes though. I enjoyed this poem and your message after. #LoveandInk to you.
LikeLike
I like your poem, very imaginative. And, I do like rhyme poems that flow naturally. I often write rhymes that just seem to write themselves. I think all forms of poetry are good and should be tried. Thanks, enjoyed my visit. Best wishes to you in the NaPoWriMo challenge.
LikeLike
I am no fan of rhyme, at least not end rhyme. I too have my favorites that I trot out again and again–certainly at the expense of finding new poems. I find it very hard to want to share poems that I don’t connect with, but I love the idea that a poem could be meant for someone else in the room, not me.
LikeLike