Day 3: And the Winner Is...

Our first day drawing out of our creatively conjured choosing system and she picks out the one that is her least favorite--poetry.

By the way, I suppose I should list what our numbers stand for:
1. Drawing/Painting
2. Sculpture
3. Photography
4. Design
5. Crafts
6. Architecture
7. Textiles
8. Music
9. Dance
10. Film
11. Theater
12. Poetry
13. Stories
14. Mythology/Fairy Tales
15. Masters
16. Masterworks

Right there. Number 12.

*Sigh*

But we got it done.

It wasn't so bad.

We spent a few minutes talking about poetry form. One of her favorite television programs is Nickelodeon's animated Avatar: The Last Air-Bender (which, by the way, is SO much better than M. Night Shyamalan's film version of it as to be laughable). In one episode of that show one character, Saka, engages in a Haiku competition with a teacher of Haiku.

We talked about the strict format of the Haiku (5,7,5 syllables) and a few other forms of poetry with specific format rules.

I assigned her to write a poem with our own strict format rules. (For all I know there could already be a poetry format fitting our guidelines--there are literally hundreds of them out there and no 'rule' against creating new formats at will. Isn't poetry awesome?) She was to write a five line poem with five words per line.

The hard part was coming up with a subject. We talked about how poems can be about anything--from the exciting to the completely mundane, and how it can sometimes be fun to write a poem about something so ordinary that you wouldn't normally consider creating a poem about it. Like my shoe photographs. Except in shoe store advertisements we generally don't pay much attention to our shoes. We probably wouldn't think of them when we consider a subject for a piece of art. But years ago I started taking pictures of my shoes, while they're on my feet doing different things. I have pictures of my shoes at Drum and Bugle Corps competitions and in San Francisco, as well as more mundane settings, like on a sidewalk next to a melted popsicle.



She could have chosen to write a poem about a paper towel and still made it interesting.

She didn't choose to write about a paper towel.

Instead she chose to write about something that she loves and that interests her--her pet rabbit.

My bunny’s name is Thumper.
He is a good bunny
Except when he knocks over
His food dish in mornings.
But he’s a good bunny.

That's it! It was quick and easy and got her brain thinking creatively first thing in the morning. Now she's showered and ready to go on with the rest of the day.