> Percy Bysshe Shelley: **“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”**  > Sir Philip Sidney: **“Poetry is a speaking picture.”** > Adrienne Rich: **“Poetry is above all a concentration of the power of language, which is the power of our ultimate relationship to everything in the universe.”** > Jean Cocteau: **“Poetry is indispensible—if I only knew what for.”** Exploring the possibilities of poetry will help you strengthen your reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills, while tending and expanding your [imaginary gardens with real toads in them](https://poets.org/poem/poetry). ### Check out some of these [[videos about poetry]], collected from ongoing iterations of this class! ### Consider some of the different [[forms of poetry]]. ### Browse through these suggested [[mentor texts for poetry]]. ### Then, try one or more of these suggested [[assignments for poetry]]. #### Here are some additional resources you may like to browse through, to give yourself a solid grounding (or refresher) in some of the traditional principles of poetry, both as a reader and a writer. 1. [Reading a Poem](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_in_literature_detailed_discussion/reading_a_poem.html) ([backup copy](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L9ngCgzh_Dc0IAdk07FrM8okAB8aGdqr&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)) 2. [Writing about Poetry](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/writing_about_poetry.html) ([backup copy](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LBv_u7HTCWTLrvE8UB_FiZBq9Q4q_QZk&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)) 3. [Poetry in Writing Courses](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/teacher_and_tutor_resources/writing_instructors/poetry_in_writing_courses/index.html) ([backup copy](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LEmbMPhzlbHo19OwRM8ecnoi-tqJ-ien&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)) 4. [Poetry Writing: Invention](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/creative_writing/poetry_writing/index.html) ([backup copy](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LEuj8qiSCkNz2bfgoQfr7hAc1Hv5fPcp&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)) 5. [Poetry: Close Reading](https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/poetry_close_reading.html) ([backup copy](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LSKCIltbSCvfSm_Uh3AHbXVZve0shVQf&authuser=mschulte%40waukesha.k12.wi.us&usp=drive_fs)) #### Play around! Search for alien poemforms! > I invite you to not stress about what is or isn’t *good* poetry; start by playing with words. Invite words to the blank page. Sketch. Be ridiculous. Don’t overthink it. Get inspired by other people’s writing. Put down the phone (if that applies to you). Take an 8-hour bus ride and read three [Richard Brautigan](https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/richard-brautigan) books in rapid succession (lol, that worked for me anyway, when I was about your age!). Appreciate your family. Let your mind get blown by [all the things](http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2022/08/we-dont-know-how-universe-began-and-we.html) it can’t assimilate. Hang out in a coffee shop, or an airport, or wherever; watch people and write down little stories about them. Record your dreams. Wake up at 3:42 am, scramble for the writing implement of your choice, and tell the unabashed, ungrammatical truth. [[Animate the subtext]]. Go for a walk and write down everything you see that’s yellow. [[embed poetry anywhere|Write in the sand]]. Write a quick note to a giant invisible galactic space trout. Write a note to yourself for the next time you accidentally time travel. Open a book at random, and turn the first phrase you see into the first line of a poem. In short, do whatever you gotta do to conjure some words, and see what happens. Let the [magic do as it will](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNrTM74pdTk).