Adventure 2: Saying Without Saying. What am I?

Poems can also be like riddles.They can be used to talk about ideas and people in ways that are hidden.

They might be hidden because of safety, or because you want to make a connection between two things that seem different but really aren’t…sometimes, even for fun.

 Example Poem #1

“I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air, I am he that walks unseen.

I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.

I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.

I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

 

Example Poem #2

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

 

“The Red Wheelbarrow “
William Carlos Williams

 

Example Poem #3

夜をこめて

Yo wo komete

鳥のそらねは

tori no sora-ne wa

はかるとも

hakaru tomo

よに逢坂の

yo ni Afusaka* no

関はゆるさじ

seki wa yurusaji

Sei Shōnagon 清少納言 (b. 965? − ?)
a lady-in-waiting from the Kiyohara clan

 

Write a poem about someone or something hidden. Maybe someone you care about, or a feeling you have that you don’t often discuss.

Don’t mention the usual name of this subject. Instead write a poem that uses other objects, other images, other names, to let people know about it in a different, even secret, way.

Important Note: Your poetry is your own. So please don’t worry. Some students will choose share work, and others will not. If you prefer not to share you work with the class, that is always fine. 