In this form of poetry, you are to take an ordinary object and display it in one of the many ways people can see the object. In Wallace Stevens' version of this form poem, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, he uses the blackbird to make the reader reflect on the various things around us that may be understood by observing the simple things that we come across on a daily basis. I will hand out copies of this poem for you to unpack on your own.
Below, I have included a few examples of poems that were modelled after this one. Notice how many of the forms and styles are copied, but the idea in each is unique to the object or message chosen by the writer. Have fun with this one. It is unique and creative in so many ways.
Nine Ways to Look at a Hammer
1.
Among a thousand items on the hardware store shelves,
the only one purchased
was the hammer.
2.
A hammer and a nail
aren't much ;
a hammer, a nail, and some wood -
well, they're a house.
3.
The bang of the hammer
createth carpentry,
and whnith the threshold is completeth,
thou resteth upon thy hammer.
4.
Rome wasn't built in a day,
especially without a hammer.
5.
When the house was complete,
the hammer clanked
to the bottom
of one of the many tool boxes.
6.
I don't know which to prefer,
the sound of hammer against nail
or the silence when the job is done.
7.
The nail's in the wood.
It must be hammer time.
8.
Noah didn't make the ark himself, you know.
The hammer helped out, too.
9.
It was evening all afternoon.
The nail gun nailed and it was going to nail.
The hammer lay untouched in the tool shed.
(Michael Stoltz - from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)
Eleven Ways of Looking at Paper
1.
Among the desks,
the notebooks and pens,
the white lined paper held authority.
2.
The dishes must be put away,
the room cleaned.
The paper lay untouched,
the assignment stalled.
3.
The paper staggered in the midst of chaos.
It fell with Macbeth into the rubbish bin.
The writer surrendered.
4.
A creative mind and ink
are two.
A creative mind, ink, and paper
are one.
5.
I am torn:
the new book in hand
or the old one on the shelf?
The passion of writing on paper
or the crisp satisfaction of the computer?
6.
The girl ripped the floral paper out of her diary.
Her thoughts screamed at the sound
of heart-filled entries severed.
Her foolish crush would be remembered
nevermore.
7.
Exodus 34:28
Moses was upon the mountain with the Lord
for forty days and forty nights.
In all that time he neither ate nor drank.
God wrote the terms of the covenant
-The Ten Comandments-
on stone tablets.
Not paper.
8.
If I were smashed into pulp,
rolled paper thin,
would all my imperfections show,
or would I have lines instead?
9.
The unsubstantial thought
sank on a paper airplane
down to the coffin below.
10.
She clutched the invitation
written on scented paper.
Her glass shoes winked
in the moonlight.
11.
A ball of paper meets a trashcan;
an aged tree must be falling.
(James Morrill from Nancie Atwell's Naming the World)
7 Ways of Looking at an Orange
1.
amidst the other fruits
piled high in the light blue bowl,
a small orange lay
alone
2.
a cut up apple and banana
aren't much;
a cut up apple, banana and orange -
well, they're a fruit salad
3.
boy selects the biggest orange
boy struggles with orange
boy gets squirt in the eye by orange
orange lay triumphant on the counter
4.
a rainbow isn't just red and blue
there's also orange
5.
a man feared of wasting paper
therefore he took a straw
and stabbed the orange
creating a refreshing beverage
no need for a box
6.
the rough orange peel
protecting the delicate, soft fruit
within - defending against
sharp fingernails and jagged knives
from whatever else may come from the unknown
7.
It was evening all afternoon
it was raining and it was going to rain
as the orange peel
lay lifeless in the compost
(Halie Zorn)
