Learning to fly
The verse book I chose was Inside Out & Back Again. My initial thought was that I was not going to like it, I have never been a fan of poetry and I immediately started this book with the mentality that it was not for me. Little did I know this book was going to turn everything I felt about poetry upside down. It was a little hard to read a text that went in stanzas and I have to admit the first couple pages I had to reread several times because I was not getting a flow. In mind they were just translating into chunks of words and it was frustrating. I put down the book more than once. Once, I got the hang of it though everything was smooth sailing. I went through pages after pages and the boom it was over and I was left with wanting to know more about what happens to Kim Ha. In class I would use it as a read to introduce poetry but I would read it out loud and then draw lesson plans with the text.
so much depends
upon
a dark red
laptop
below a small polarid
photo
of a smiling girl with her brothers
in her arms
– – Liz Arevalo
One Reply to “Learning to fly”
I felt the exact same way when I first started my free verse book. I think it’s a lot different because like you said the whole setup of the stanza is weird but once you find the rhythm its easy to develop a liking for it. Giving students different examples of poems its beneficial to both the students and the teacher. It’s awesome that you incorporated the love for your family in the short poem you created.