Every Day Poems

homage to my hips these hips are big hips they need space to move around in they don't fit into little petty places. these hips are free hips they don't like to be held back. these hips have never been enslaved, they go where they want to go they do what they want to do. these hips are mighty hips. these hips are magic hips. i have known them to put a spell on a man and spin him like a top! Lucille Clifton Bathroom Visitor A horsefly travels the world of my bathroom. Stops at the kitty litter box on occasion for refueling. One thousand round trips including the bathtub area, and buzzes past the toilet bowl. Steady pilot, good mileage. Frequent flier miles. I swat his journey to an abrupt end. Michael Lee Johnson Dream Deferred What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode? Langston Hughes The Plum Apology Poem This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold William Carlos Williams

These poems are examples of everyday poetry, poems that make the mundane extraordinary. They are accessible yet substantive, leaving the reader ripe to comtemplate simplicity.

(15 Minutes)
Get together in your s-l/writing groups. As a group, choose one of these poems that resonates with the group and discuss the following questions. What is it about the poem that speaks to you? Does it challenge your notion of poetry? If so, why? What images and phrases stand out to you? What makes the poem powerful and meaningful?

(30 minutes)
If you brought fieldnotes from your service-learning site, use those. If not, use the fieldnotes from Friday's "Observation on the Mall" assignment. Trade fieldnotes with a group member. Use highlighters or markers to highlight or underline powerful words and in your partner's fieldnotes. Choose language that "pops", citing interesting, fresh phrases.

Take your fieldnotes back, and write the chosen words or phrases on small slips of construction paper. Play with them, arranging and re-arranging to your liking. Add/ subtract or invent words if necessary to create your own Every Day Poem grounded in the experience of a moment.Once you have it set, glue the words to a larger piece of construction paper. In class or afterwards, type and post your poems to your blog space and keep your physical copy in your daybook.