12. POETRY

13. The first thing that we have to ask is:
What is a poem anyway?

14. Think about it , and make some notes about what makes a poem.

15. So, which of these texts is more a poem for you?

16. Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim The Wall

17. You ask me if i have ever been to prison.
Your world of murderers and thieves
of hatred and jealousy
And…you ask me if i have ever been to prison!
I answer
Yes
I am still there
trying to escape......
Mutabaruka (Allan Hope) You Ask Me

18. This is just to say I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast. Forgive me, they were delicious, so sweet and so cold.
William Carlos Williams This Is Just to Say

19. What might make them seem NOT to be like the usual kind of poems?
Lets look at them one at a time.

20. I came to you at _____
With silvery dew on sleeping lotus
Sparkling in my gay hands;
You put my flowers in the sun.
I danced to you at _____
With bright raintree blooms
Flaming in my ardent arms;
You dropped my blossoms in the pond.
I crept to you at _____
With pale lilac orchids
Trembling on my uncertain lips;
You shredded my petals in the sand.
I strode to you at _____
With gravel hard and cold
Clenched in my bitter fists;
You offered me your hybrid orchids,
And __________________
Hilary Tham Offerings

21. hello
this is
who’s me
who is
there
that
that,
here
I'm
i am
who’s there
who
Abdul Ghafar Ibrahim Hello

22. Sir Arthur Gorges Her Face Her face so fair first bent mine eye
Her tongue so sweet then drew mine ear
Her wit so sharp then hit my heart
Mine eye to like her face doth lead
Mine ear to learn her tongue doth teach
My Heart to love het wit doth move
Her face with beams doth blind mine eye
Her tongue with sounds doth charm mine ear
Her wit with art doth knit my heart
Mine eye with life her face doth feed
Mine ear with hope her tongue doth feast
My heart with skill her wit doth fill
O face with frowns wrong not mine eye
O tongue with cheeks vex not mine ear
O wit with smart wound not my heart
This eye shall joy her face to serve
This ear shall yield her tongue to trust
This heart shall swear her wit to fear.
Sir Arthur Gorges
Her Face

23. These natives are unintelligent –
We can't understand their language.
(Chinweizu Colonizer’s Logic)
Goodbye, Europeans
And without a grudge
I, myself, am not offended
Goodbye, every one to his own home
Without any fuss
Goodbye provided you disturb us no more
Let him follow you
He who believes you indispensable.
(J.R.D.A Dubreka Goodbye, Europeans)

24. Though the heart be still as loving, And the moon be still as bright.
              So we'll go no more a roving
              So late into the night,
              Though the heart be still as loving,
              And the moon be still as bright.
              For the sword outwears its sheath,
              And the soul wears out the breast,
              And the heart must pause to breathe,
              And Love itself have rest.
              Though the night was made for loving,
            And the day returns too soon,
            Yet we'll go no more a roving
            By the light of the moon
Lord Byron So We'll Go no More a Roving

25. We two are like partners in the __________,
Approaching nearer, nearer, nearer;
But just when one would think we’d meet at last,
We turn away, reverse our steps, withdraw. 
And like the __________ too, my life seems now,
With steps mechanical, repeated, meaningless;
Arms swinging back and forth, expressing nothing,
Feet pacing up and down the floor, going nowhere. 
I am tired of going through these __________ motions,
Long to break this impasse of reserve;
If only at one point our hands would clasp,
What rich variety of movement and gesture could be ours.
Fadzillah Amin Dance

26. Compare the poems Form (graphology) Subject/theme language effect
___________
_______
_____

28. Acrostic: a poem in which special letters spell another word.
Panthers growl, Orioles sing, Eagles soar, Monkeys swing. See?