Odes

This week I shared selections from Pablo Neruda's "Ode to a Lizard" and asked the students for favorite lines. They especially liked the questions (From what planet, / from what / cold green ember / did you fall?) and tricks of scale (To / a fly / you are the dart / of an annihilating dragon).

I explained that odes were poems of praise, funny or serious. When I asked for possible objects of praise, the answers skewed toward funny: "A skunk!" "A zombie!" "Dirty underwear!"

I kept my ode-writing instructions minimal. I told them to pretend they spoke the thing's secret language. They could describe it, tell it why they liked it, or ask it questions. While I expected silly and over-the-top praise from the class comedians, the vast majority of students wrote poems consisiting entirely of questions, possibly inspired by Neruda:

Ode to the Sun
Oh what part of the sun do the flowers use?
Why don't you run out of heat?
-Elijah

Ode to a Turtle
Why are you eating Halloween?
Why are you eating the sun?
Why are you eating the ghost?
Why are you eating the dragons?
-Michael

Ode to a Pumpkin
What is your favorite color?
My favorite colors are pink, red, purple.
Do you like when people touch you?
How do you like growing on a plant?
Do you like fighting?
Do you make babies?
Do you like being smashed?
-Sevda