INSPIRED BY A POET FRIEND ON YOUTUBE

Day 12 Prompt – INSPIRED BY A POET FRIEND ON YOUTUBE

Because I was writing my first “found poem” yesterday, I was searching for how others have approached finding poems. During my search, I stumbled upon a YouTube video by my poet friend, Kwame Alexander. I stopped to watch and it was excellent, as I suspected it would be. I decided I would feature it in my next prompt, after I finished writing my found poem, which was the task at hand.

The video is linked here [CLICK].

I’ve watched it three times and I feel so validated! He did many of the same things I’ve done when I have visited classrooms:

1.       He teaches the 5-7-5 = 17 syllable haiku structure

2.       He creates a word list with the students

3.       He has them write their own haiku, then read them for the class

During the video, you’ll hear him encourage the students to pick their topic that is important to them, but not use the name of the topic in the haiku. For instance, if your topic is soccer, the word “soccer” should not be in your haiku. He says “Don’t tell them; show them”. And the last line should contain an “ah-hah!”.