Making a List, Checking It Twice

Most of us like to make lists, especially at this time of year. A great way to make a list and write a poem at the same time is to make a List Poem.

It's as simple as it sounds: you can make a poem out of a list of things, ideas, sounds, smells, favorite words. You can think of a theme and make a list that relates to the theme.

That's what Eileen Spinelli did in her poem, "Creativity," in Falling Down the Pages: A Book of List Poems (published by Roaring Brook Press).

"Creativity"

An artist takes:

colored pencil

piece of yarn

wooden slat from

some old barn

sidewalk chalk

or spool of wire

can of paint

or junkyard tire

twig or twine

or river rock

seed or seashell

woolen sock

bar of soap

or paper heart

and turns it

happily

to art.

Perhaps you have:

a shard of plate

a hinge from someone's

garden gate

a scrap of quilt

or rusty screw...

then you can be

an artist too.

A List Poem doesn't have to rhyme. "Walking Home from School I See" by Rebecca Kai Dotlich (from the same book) rhymes only in the last line:

"Walking Home from School I See"

A bus with a flat tire.

Pennies in a puddle.

Baby birds.

Fat worms.

A pair of pigeons.

A crooked gate.

A mailbox spray-painted pink.

A bulldog wearing a raincoat.

A bumblebee.

A reflection

in a window--

me!

Have a great time making lists and turning them into poems! With thanks to my writer friend George Shannon for giving me the book Falling Down the Pages.

Perspective

The dictionary defines perspective as, "A particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view." In other words, it's all about how you look at things.

I took a photo of these awesome Douglas firs at Camp Yeomalt Park near my house. I happened to look up, and saw how the perspective of the trees was different from what I was used to. Although I'd walked past these trees dozens of times, I saw them in a new way. I had a new point of view.

Having a new perspective on an object that you see everyday can help your writing. It helps because you're learning how to really see, not simply walk past an object (or tree) because--ho, hum--it's part of your background.

Try this exercise on perspective. Find an object in your house that you see nearly everyday. Now change your perspective of it. If it's your refrigerator, lie on the floor and look up at it. If it's your baby photo, tip it upside down. If it's your toothbrush, hold it by the wrong end. If it's your kitchen clock on the wall, pull up a chair next to it (with an adult's permission) and look at it from an inch away.

What new things can you notice about everyday objects? That's the fresh perspective, or point of view, we want to bring to our writing.

Have fun looking at objects. And don't forget to look up at the trees.