Word Scramble Poem
Today’s prompt is inspired by Angelo Geter, AKA EyeAmBic, the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Rock Hill, SC. Before we dive in to the lesson, I want to share a couple of my favorite poems of his.
In his collection More God Than Dead, he chronicles his journey into widowhood after tragically losing his wife, and deals with themes of grief, mental health, resilience and acceptance.
As a warm up to the lesson, show students this performance of “Alive” on Button Poety’s YouTube channel.
Here is a link to the Slides for the lesson, some of which are pictured below. To edit them, go to File –> Make a Copy.
The mentor text poem for today’s lesson and prompt is “My Wife is Dead” from his collection More God Than Dead.
Heavy stuff. Beautiful heartbreaking heavy stuff.
Time to take a closer look at the craft of the poem.
Next, students will use it as a mentor poem for creating their own word scramble poem.
Students will repeat this same process with another set of 10 words. They will choose one of them to move forward with and start drafting.
I can’t wait to see what they come up with! I hope you order Jeter’s book (get a signed copy for only $14!) and get to know his work — it’s powerful and inspirational and I have so many poems in his book saved for future lessons and prompts.
Do you have a poetry activity, lesson, or prompt to share? Email me at msmith@lncharter.org to be featured on TeachLivingPoets as a guest author. I’m always looking for new ideas!
Yours in poetry,
Melissa
