Cultural Identity Poem Draft
During period one:
This morning write a poem about an aspect of your culture or a ritual or observation from one of your hegemonic groups. Your speaker should be the mouthpiece for your experiences. Don't feel like you need to grasp at the giant ideas--what does the experience you chose to write about mean? In a single "cultural" moment what does it mean to be you? Or part of your group or clan or tribe or gang? Or what might it mean to recognize your place in the world?
What you'll need is a strong setting. How is your room (or a room in your house) a reflection of who you are and what your family values, for example? How is the setting significant to the speaker of your poem? If you can't answer this, make the setting significant.
TIPS/RULES/GUIDELINES:
The Operation by Anne Sexton (our speaker reacts to her mother's death, and her own operation to remove a tumor)
Grandmother Eliza by Nora Dauenhauer (the speaker remembers her grandmother)
Tiger Mask Ritual by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (the speaker is transformed by a primitive ritual, connecting to ones ancestry and heritage or culture)
City Moon by Francisco Aragon (the speaker experiences a connection with nature and his city)
Cutting Greens by Lucille Clifton & my dream of being white by Lucille Clifton (the speaker pays homage to her culture)
Her by Billy Collins (life in the suburbs)
Eating the Avocado by Carrie Fountain (a mother feeds her baby)
There is no wrong way to write a cultural poem. Everyone's experience and subject matter will be unique. It's okay to get personal. Avoid overdramatizing your poem. This is not a life or death situation, but a subtle understanding of your (or your speaker's) own place in the world. You may tell a story, use fictional elements like dialogue, use traditional phrases or family sayings or idioms, etc.
When you finish your poem draft and have read the models, go back to your "How It Feels to Be You" essay that you started last class and continue writing it.
This morning write a poem about an aspect of your culture or a ritual or observation from one of your hegemonic groups. Your speaker should be the mouthpiece for your experiences. Don't feel like you need to grasp at the giant ideas--what does the experience you chose to write about mean? In a single "cultural" moment what does it mean to be you? Or part of your group or clan or tribe or gang? Or what might it mean to recognize your place in the world?
What you'll need is a strong setting. How is your room (or a room in your house) a reflection of who you are and what your family values, for example? How is the setting significant to the speaker of your poem? If you can't answer this, make the setting significant.
TIPS/RULES/GUIDELINES:
- Allow your speaker to witness a single significant action, tradition, or cultural moment that is unique to you, your family or family members, your group, your "homies" or your own personal experience.
- Describe that moment using different kinds of imagery (choose at least one, but you can mix them: visual imagery, sound imagery, tactile imagery, gustatory imagery, kinetic imagery, olfactory imagery...)
- Allow your speaker to reflect on the meaning of this action. Your "volta" or turning point should come near the very end of your poem (if not the last shocking line...where your speaker realizes something significant--perhaps something now found that had been missing in one's life, a recognition of belonging, for example.)
- Your poem must be at least 10 lines in length. It can be longer than 10 lines.
- Proofread and then print out your poem draft with a title.
- You may choose to submit this poem to the contest today or tomorrow. If you do, let me know what day and time you submitted your work, and you will receive extra credit. NOTE: it's a good idea to have a friend (or a teacher) look over your work before submitting it. You must follow these guidelines: http://www.childrenswritersguild.com/anna-c-price-poetry-prize-guidelines/
The Operation by Anne Sexton (our speaker reacts to her mother's death, and her own operation to remove a tumor)
Grandmother Eliza by Nora Dauenhauer (the speaker remembers her grandmother)
Tiger Mask Ritual by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (the speaker is transformed by a primitive ritual, connecting to ones ancestry and heritage or culture)
City Moon by Francisco Aragon (the speaker experiences a connection with nature and his city)
Cutting Greens by Lucille Clifton & my dream of being white by Lucille Clifton (the speaker pays homage to her culture)
Her by Billy Collins (life in the suburbs)
Eating the Avocado by Carrie Fountain (a mother feeds her baby)
There is no wrong way to write a cultural poem. Everyone's experience and subject matter will be unique. It's okay to get personal. Avoid overdramatizing your poem. This is not a life or death situation, but a subtle understanding of your (or your speaker's) own place in the world. You may tell a story, use fictional elements like dialogue, use traditional phrases or family sayings or idioms, etc.
When you finish your poem draft and have read the models, go back to your "How It Feels to Be You" essay that you started last class and continue writing it.
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