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Lesson: Persona Poems
One style of poem I enjoy reading is the persona poem. See the word person in persona? That’s the key to the meaning. Persona poems are about people. They can be written from the first (I, We) or third person (he, she, or the person’s name) point of view.
My poems in Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within are written from the first person point of view. Notice the word I. I used the word I to give voice to the teenage characters. Each young person tells his/her own story. As an actor pretends to be a character, the poet pretends to be the subject of the poem, taking on that voice.
The song “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles is an example of a persona poem put to music. Lyrics are poems. Songwriters are poets.
Edgar Lee Masters wrote Spoon River Anthology as a collection of persona poems. Masters gave voice to the people of the fictional valley of the Spoon in his collection. I give voice to a composite of the teenagers I taught in my collection.
Put yourself in the place of the homeless man on the street or the elderly man or woman in the nursing home or the teen being bullied. Or share what it’s like to be you or one of your friends stuck in your house during the time of the Coronavirus. How are you feeling about not being able to go to the prom or graduation?
What do you think doctors, nurses, health care workers, teachers, grocers, old people set apart from their families, or small business people in your community would like to say? Say it for the person’s point of view. Give the character voice. Life’s a matter of perspective. Capture the voice of the people you know or have met.
Have you heard of the term personification? Personification is a type of figurative language. See the word person in personification? Personification is the giving of human characteristics to non-human objects. For example, the wind whistled my name. Challenge yourself. Write a persona poem. Use personification someplace in the poem.
For parents or teachers using Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within in the classroom, I’ve provided a lesson plan helps below:
OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES:
The student will be able to identify with characters from the book and write their own persona poems.
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Copies of Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within.
SUGGESTION:
Parent or teacher, if you wish, you may choose to omit poems you do not feel are about a theme or subject matter appropriate for your tween or teen. A very few of the poems may be about edgy topics, but they are handled in a manner which will enable you to discuss the theme as you would like to address it.
OPENING OF LESSON:
Teacher/parent will define personification and persona poem. Teacher or student will read a few sample poems.
Teacher/parent will tell students the play is about a group of seniors in a rural high school in New York State’s Adirondack Mountains or allow students to read a few of the poems and determine the setting for themselves.
GUIDED PRACTICE:
Students will read the selected poems and discuss whether they can identify with any of the characters, and why they identify with or see the character in a friend. Teacher/parent will ask if students in cities could relate to any of the same issues.
INDEPENDENT WRITING:
Students will write one or more persona poems about themselves, a friend, or someone living through the pandemic, giving voice to the character.
INDEPENDENT READING:
Students will read Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters, note the similarity in the persona poems to Backpack Blues poems, and discuss similarity of themes and issues to current issues. When was it written? Is it a classic? Do they think Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within has classic themes?
More lesson plans will follow in days to come.
Delayed
Good Morning!
Delayed–a word most of us hate. Whether it’s waiting for my Amazon order, waiting for my flight, waiting for a response to a query, waiting for the publication of my book, waiting for the cable man, waiting for the stock of toilet paper to be replenished, or waiting for an end to the coronavirus, I hate to wait. Right now I feel as if my whole world is delayed like a flight home for Mother’s Day.
In The Shape of Poetry, Peter Meinke, Florida’s Poet Laureate says, “Delayed gratification is more complicated than you thought.” He was referring to the response to a submission of a poem, but it could be one of many things today. For example in Florida, unemployed workers seeking unemployment benefits have suffered from delayed gratification, and everyone in the world is waiting for a vaccine.
Since it poetry month, my post today deals with the delays poets deal with on a daily basis. Poets send queries to publishers. A query resembles the dreaded cover letter we used to send when applying for a job. The purpose of the query is to ask a publisher to consider publishing our poem. Usually, cover letters got responses relatively quickly. The applicant learned whether or not he would get the job. Not so with poetry. Some publishers do not respond unless they plan to publish the poem. Even if the publisher wants the poem, the poet might not hear whether the poem submitted to a publisher has or has not been accepted for months.
According to Mr. Meinke, we are working on other poems by the time we get the response. He adds we may “barely remember this one.”
If you are planning to write and publish poetry, be prepared for delayed gratification. Don’t expect a quick response. Consider this time of waiting for the end of Covid-19 as practice for waiting to hear from an agent or publisher. I thought pausing for a response to a query was the worst wait ever, but I know better now. Putting our lives on pause waiting for the pandemic to be over is the worse delay ever.
Stay safe. Pray for our heroes and helpers risking their lives to make the world a better place and saving our lives. Consider writing a tribute poem dedicated to one or more of our heroes. Then submit it to a publisher and wait.
Repetition
April is poetry month. Song writers are poets. Most poets use repetition. Repetition is an important tool for poets, song writers, and speech writers.
Why? Speakers, songwriters, and poets use repetition to give their writing rhythm, emphasis, and unity. Could rhyming be defined as the repetition or echoing of like sounds? I maintain that sound is what poetry and lyrics are all about, but there cannot be so much rhyming that a poem gets a singsong quality. Poems must appeal to or jar our sense of sound.
Leonard Cohen, poet and lyricist, was most famous as the creator of “Hallelujah.” Saturday Night Live opened its first post-Trump election show with Kate McKinnon singing “Hallelujah.” According to one Newsweek article I read, there have been sixty renditions of the song, including the soundtrack for the movie Shrek. One of the primary techniques Cohen used in this song was repetition of the title. Repetition works when done well.
In his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. used eight units of parallelism and repetition. I believe these units of parallelism and repetition help make the speech memorable.
Go back and look at and listen to some of your favorite songs and poems. Can you locate units of repetition? Did you find repetition of a word, phrase, or sentence?How do they give the song or poem a sense of rhythm, emphasis, and unity?
Repetition is important in many aspects of our lives. Can you find repetition in a favorite quilt? Is there a yearly repetition of the seasons?
If you’re like me getting bored with the repetition of your days in quarantine, think about how repetitions in your daily life ground you and give you a sense of self. What repeated action do you cling to on a daily basis? My coffee keeps me going. Write a poem based on the repetition of your days practicing social distancing.
In this photo, my husband Barry Dimick, and one of my former students, Laurie Montgomery Martin are talking following my book signing at the Altona Town Library. I pray I will be able to visit Altona again this year. I miss seeing my friends, relatives, and readers.
Without book signings, writers have a difficult time getting to meet buyers and sell books. Like everyone else, I’m hating this quarantine. Not only am I getting down on food supplies and toilet paper, I’m also afraid I might not be able to do my yearly book tour to my hometown, Barry’s hometown, and the towns where I lived during my teaching career. The new normal doesn’t sound like normal to me. I’m worried about friends, family, and former students. I’m praying for you all.
By the way, I taught high school English and Communication 101 at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh before I became a writer. I was also the coach of Northern Adirondack Central School’s first girls softball team. Laurie Montgomery Martin was my student, a member of one of the teams I coached, and returned to NACS as a fellow teacher.
We all wear many hats during our lifetimes. What hats have you worn? I’d like to hear from you. Just go to www.MelodyDeanDimick.com. and click on Contact Melody. Thank you.
National World Health Day
To keep you safe on this National World Health Day in the middle of this Coronavirus plague, I share this YouTube video explaining how to make a no-sew face mask. When you go out in public, please wear and stay safe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPx1yqvJgf4
Poetry Month
If you’re finding it difficult to find a reason to laugh in this time of the coronavirus, please don’t feel alone. I’m having issues too. My friends know I’m a germaphobe. I carry hand sanitizer with me everywhere I go. It’s on my grocery list weekly. Hard to get along without purchasing it, but I’m doing it. Not possible to get along without poetry. Happy it’s poetry month. Today, I’m sharing a poem with you from my book Backpack Blues: Ignite the Fire Within, soon-to-be published by Taylor and Seale as a play titled Ain’t it a Shame.
Most of my poetry is more poignant than humorous. Usually, I write about the alienation, loneliness, secrets, one-sided loves, fears, hopes, dreams, and injustices young people face. We’re facing enough of that, so today, I’m sharing one of the humorous poems from the book. Can’t you just picture one of the characters from The Big Bang Theory writing it? But they didn’t I did. Enjoy. Smile. It’s okay to smile.
NOAH NEWMAN
by Melody Dean Dimick
Siri talks back.
Unlike the girl in calculus class,
she answers my questions.
She reminds me when assignments are due.
She places my phone calls.
She tells me the weather so
I know enough to wear a coat.
She doesn’t care that I’m a computer geek.
Thanks, Dad, for the personal assistant.
She was the perfect gift.
Unfortunately, Mrs. Deyon has said,
“Cell phones are not allowed in class,”
so I’ve turned Siri off.
Reluctantly, I must admit.
She’s not the first girl
I’ve turned off.
August Postcard Poetry
Hi,
Hope you are safe. Isolation is no fun. Worrying about running out of toilet paper is worse. The worst problem we are dealing with is worrying about a family member contracting the virus. Two of my family members must work because their jobs are considered essential. I’m like a lioness pacing in a cage, unable to write or think most of the time.
During this time of mental unrest, there are memories worth reflecting on and events to look forward to attending when we are freed from the manacles of this plague. I’m looking forward to the August Postcard Poetry Festival.
If you attended my poetry workshop at last year’s Florida Writers Association Conference, you may remember me showing some of the postcard poems I received and asking you to join the festival this year. Now is the time to sign up for the festival. I recommend you follow this link to learn more: https://popo.cards/2020/03/18/splab-issues-call-for-14th-august-poetry-postcard-fest/
Hope to receive a postcard from you in August. Read, write, isolate, and do what you can to help others during this time of quarantine. Don’t give up.
Great day at Museum of Arts and Sciences (MOAS) in Daytona Beach earlier this year when I served on a panel with other Taylor and Seale writers. My husband and I planned to return to see the entire collection. We can’t wait to get back to normal life.
There’s more to Daytona Beach than the images of young people gathering to drink and party on the beach. When life returns to pre-COVID-19 normal, check out the Lowell and Nancy Lohman Family Planetarium and the Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum at MOAS located at 352 South Nova Road in Daytona Beach Although the museum is currently closed, you can enjoy the museum virtually from your home.
Parents, are you home teaching? You and your children may visit the museum @MOASDaytona on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube for live star shows, tours, talks, and other activities. Take a virtual field trip. According to their website, they have a “wide range of permanent collections including African, American, Chinese, Cuban, Florida, and Decorative Arts.”
Since Florida is on lockdown, enjoy a visual tour. Do you have a suggestion for a fun visual tour? Since my latest book, No Parents Allowed, is set in a virtual world and the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has requested we quarantine ourselves, I’m surfing online. Join me.
I’ve posted this before, but I think it’s needed now more than ever. Peace, Love, and Good Health is my wish for all my friends, family, and followers.
A conundrum for a day when we’re all stuck inside wondering: what’s next? I hope this is coming soon. Information about what it is will be revealed when I hear more. I received it with a wink.
Can you guess?
Stay safe.