Lang Arts Year 1

June 2009

Miniature Word Pictures to Capture the Imagination

from Lizard Over Ice A Poetr Antho!og co!!ated " #er$ase Phinn

Poets are painters with words. They put down on paper the pictures or images which come into their mind. Some poets not only describe the shape and colour, taste and smell of things, but they also try to capture their own moods and feelings. Poets use words in a special way. They try to make their readers or listeners feel as closely as possible to the way they feel about the subject they are writing about. Like a painter, a poet looks very carefully at the subject before he chooses the best words to describe it. Sometimes the poems are long and detailed, and at other times, short and vivid. Most of the poems below are miniature word pictures where the poets try to capture e actly, in just a few lines, an image that fascinates him.

Snapshot
The gutter is edged with diamonds the birds are drinking them.
Pierre Reverdy

Thunder
I hear the drummers strike the sky.
Glenys Van Every

The Sea
Deep glass-green seas chew rock with their green-glass jaws but little waves creep in and nibble softly at the sand.
Lilith Nor an
Britain

Jellyfish
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Floating plate of misted glass ith swollen purple belly Tentacles of waving grass ! living pumping jelly
Sandra !onvey" a#e $%

The Ground
!nts !re dragging a wing of a butterfly "ee# It is like a yacht.
Tatsu&i 'iyoshi

'elvyn (ra##$ in his introduction to )o* to En&oy Poetry by Vernon Scannell$ says %&oetry is a most wonderful art' to read$ to listen to$ to attempt. It takes the gift of language and pays it the respect of fashioning it into the finest forms while retaining a grip on the human measure of life. For many$ it is dinned into their unwilling heads at school$ trailed across their noses in restless adolescence and ever after considered as part of (another) world. *et the real world has been the poet)s prime concern. !nd many of us believe that the real world has been represented more accurately and powerfully by poets than by anyone else.+

Get your o*n creative &uices stirrin#

rite your own miniature poem using just a few lines. Decide on a subject. It could be' a person % a child, clown, grandmother, busker or someone else who leaves you a deep impression a season or month of the year a festival % &hinese 'ew #ear, &hristmas, ,hingming or others an event % birthday party, football match, a competition, a performance a disaster % earth(uake, fire, flood or others a mood % anger, fear, boredom or anything you choose. 'ore ideas on the follo*in# pa#es+

Miniature Poems

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" miniature picture in words which follows a fi ed pattern is the haiku. This is traditionally a *apanese seasonal poem and is usually written as !+ syllables, and it consists of only , linesthe first of , syllables$ the second of - syllables$ the third of , syllables. The first !ine sets the scene, the second !ine introduces some action and the third !ine .fuses/ the two0 that is, it brings them together. 1enneth 1och writes that in a haiku .it is as if a beautiful, brief moment is being seen in slow motion/. Some haikus to share-

.olf
"till on his lone rock stares at the uncaged stars and cries into the night.
Judith Nicholls Britain

/ 0itter

ornin#

! bitter morning$ sparrows sitting together without any necks.

/nony ous -apan

)ai1u )ai1u .ai-ku hai-ku haicoo the pigeons

in springtime -ku hai-ku hai-ku

/drian )enri Britain

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Seasonal Haiku

Buds full, fat and green Pink blossoms trembling on trees. The warm breath of SPRING. A burnished brass face In an em t!, cloudless sk! Smiles with S"##$R heat. %urled and twisted lea&es %ar et red the cold dead earth. A"T"#N's withered hand. Bitter winds of ice Brittle grass like ic! s ikes. (ld soldier )INT$R. Richard Matthews Age 17

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hite water. ,anoes$ Flip$ frail as winter twigs$ down To black river calm. !cross still water /oices$ light laughter$ singing Drift like distant dreams. .eavy heron flies .ead-tucked$ slow-winged$ sleep-grey$ calm. 0ands$ and turns to stone. Did you see the moon "tealthy as fo1es$ slip down To the forest clouds2
(erlie 2oherty Britain

So" do #et your o*n creative &uices stirrin#+

Try writing some haiku yourself. #our short poems could be about the different times of year, but they could also be aboutoods - happiness$ anger$ fear 3 nature 3 a particular living creature$ a favourite place outdoors$ environmental concern4s53 people - young or old$ a friend or a stranger$ people you meet

3ood for Thou#ht %&oetry needs to be at the heart of work in 6nglish because of the 7uality of language at work on e1perience that it offers to us 3+
Teachin# Poetry in the Secondary School4 /n )'I vie*

Miniature Poems

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