15 Apr At Home Teen Craft-A-Long: Poetry Writing
Last week at PGTPL, we created several different kinds of poems to celebrate National Poetry Month. Now you have the opportunity to work your creative muscles and write your very own unique poems!
Blackout Poetry
The goal of blackout poetry is to create new meanings from written works. First, take a page out of an old or unused book or magazine. Skim the page to find words or phrases that speak to you, then circle them with a pencil. Finally, black out the rest of the page with a Sharpie or black marker. The resulting poem will be unique to each person and can be abstract, literal, serious, or silly. Have fun and create as many blackout poems as your heart desires!
Haikus
According to poets.org, a haiku is “a form that originated in Japan, is traditionally composed of three lines with seventeen syllables, written in a 5/7/5 syllable count, and often focuses on images from nature” (“Glossary of Poetic Terms”).
Your haiku doesn’t have to be about nature–it can be about anything! Just make sure that the first line is composed of five syllables, the second line is made up of seven syllables, and the third and final line is made up of five syllables. An easy way to figure out the syllables that make up a word or sentence is to speak out loud and clap whenever you hear a vowel. For example, the word “library” can be read as li-bra-ry, which is made up of three syllables.
Haiku Example:
The sun in the sky
And the flowers in the ground
Make life beautiful
Shape Poetry
This poetry technique combines drawing, writing, and creativity! Draw a picture of something (e.g., a flower, a skateboard, a slice of pizza, etc.) on a piece of paper and write a poem about that thing inside or around it.
Ransom Note Poetry
The concept of ransom note poetry is slightly similar to that of blackout poetry. However, instead of circling words or phrases and blacking out everything else, you are going to cut letters or words out of magazines and arrange them to create a poem!
We hope you enjoy these poetry writing activities! Try taking a little bit of time each day this April to practice strengthening your creative expression. As always, we would love to display your arts and crafts (including the poems you have written) in the Teen Central Gallery! Bring your pieces to Teen Central or send digital files to teencentral@plainfieldlibrary.net.
