Inspiration: Lazy Sonnet
FEELING LAZY TODAY? Can you write 14 words? Yep, just fourteen words ending in a rhymed couple, in honor of the Bard. You know one of the primary traits of poetry is economy of carefully selected words chosen for their sound and suggestive power. How about seeing how sparsely you can capture an experience, observation, or text in just 14 words?
Process
- Have you had a Spring break? What was most exhilarating about your time away from the classroom?
- What do you most/least anticipate about the rest of the season/school year?
- What’s in the news that you want to celebrate, showcase, or just encapsulate in words?
Begin writing the key idea you’d like to use in the poem. Check for synonyms that may help you create an ABAB CDCD EFEF GG rhyme pattern. Here’s a RHYMER link that may help if you’re coming up with blanks. Here is link to lazy sonnet my 9th graders wrote after studying ‘Shakespeare’s ROMEO AND JULIET.
Sample Poem
My friend, Nancy Himel ( Paramount Unified School District), invited her 12th graders to experiment with this poetry form after they’d studied “THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge . Nancy first had students write a poem together. See below. Then each student wrote and uploaded their own poems. Nancy sent them to me and you can see them at this link.
Mariner
shoots.
Albatross
dies.
Storms
blow.
Crew
dies.
Mariner
prays.
Penance
granted:
Hoary
story.
by Nancy Himel and students
Anna J. Small Roseboro, a National Board Certified Teacher is a published author and poet but is primarily an educator with over forty years’ experience teaching English and Speech to students in middle school, high school and college in public, private, and parochial schools in five states. A mentor for early career educators, Ms. Roseboro earned a B.A. in Speech Communications from Wayne State University and an M.A. in Curriculum Design from the University of California, San Diego. Her newest published work is a series of books published by Rowman and Littlefield designed for pre-service teachers and for those teaching middle school for the first time. See those three books GETTING STARTED (2018) MORE ABOUT WRITING (2019) EXPERIENCE POEMS AND PICTURES (2019) and NOT INTIMIDATING (2019) on her website http://teachingenglishlanguagearts.com/.
Strasbourg
Cobbled
Streets
Fairytale
Buildings
Flowers
Romance
Ill
River
Wine
Alsatian
Cuisine
Talking
Walking
80
Degrees
Palm
Trees
Peace
Swells
Gather
Shells
Sandy
Toes
Family
Repose
Best
Rest
I so want that “best/rest”. Enjoy!
Your poem will be my reality this summer, and I can’t wait! Love it!
Awaken
life
forsaken
light.
Bloom
again;
resume,
quicken.
Flourish
melodic.
Nourish
rhapsodic.
Metamorphose
Decompose
As I read your poem, my once manicured butterfly garden that now looks more like an English garden comes to mind. I want my plants to awaken- to bloom again, to metamorphose and decompose. Your words are a non-green thumb gardener’s dream of hope!
The phrase “resume, quicken” struck me for some reason. This poem captures the cycle from new life until death. It’s bittersweet and has strong word-choice throughout.
Your poem reminds me of the cycle of life and a line in “Hamlet” : “A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm. A man can fish with the worm that ate a king, and then eat the fish he catches with that worm.” I find comfort in the “Metamorphose.”
I tried for one word – – but still have too much baggage for that one-word sonnet suitcase.
Teas, Please
Pau d’arco
Chamomile Calm
Matcha Mango
Lemon Balm
Red Rooibos
Honey Yuzu
Pink Hibiscus
Oolong Voodoo
Ceylon Jasmine
Mint Darjeeling
Rose Mandarin
Honey Ginseng
Earl Gray
Pu-erh Spice
Yerba Mate
Bombay Chai
More Teas
Pretty Please
-Kim Johnson
Just realized I added an extra verse…….sonnet failure…….
Kim – This is such a fun piece. It reminds me of the movie Catch and Release. The character played by Kevin Smith is this guy who writes the jingles on all the different kinds of tea boxes…he knows them all by heart, each one offering little wise missives. Tea for thee indeed. I think I must go brew a cup of tea! Thanks, Susie
Love the whimsical nature of this poem, capturing the renewal offered by the experience of seeping and sipping tea. A joy to read.
the things i like most about this poem are the near rhymes to hold to the rhyme scheme, and the sing song effect from your word choices.
But it is good baggage Kim! You are clearly a tea connoisseur and the extra words were necessary. The ending line clinches it. Nice work!
I love this list adaptation for the skinny sonnet form. I wish you could see my collection of tea from China. Tea (and jade) were the big purchases. We went to a tea ceremony. It was wonderful.
Lightening
flashes
Thunder
clashes
Rain
drenches
Earth
quenches
Air
clears
Plants
Cheer
Satiate
Invigorate
A cheer from nature for the rain! Satiate and invigorate – – I never thought about how the plants feel getting their shower, but this is exactly how I feel getting mine – invigorated.
Amy – This sure does fit the day here….that quenching spring rain. Each paired line works beautifully. Susie
very natural. the water cycle in 14 words. the poem fits this form so well as the rain falls to the plants below.
I found the upper and lower case letters to be a form of syntax in these poems, and I really see the beauty of letter combinations more clearly like “ening” and “enches.” Loves the sound and appearance of your poem.
I hear the rain’s pitter patter in the sounds of your poem. Lovely.
Sun
beams
beginning
sectors.
Planets
orbit
modes,
mediums.
Rings
loop
syntax,
diction.
Systems
whirl
tales
regale.
*Students created a metaphoric drawing to represent the forms and techniques we practiced in our writing class this year, and one student developed a solar system with rings and beams shooting out the techniques like anaphora, allusion. This poster inspired my lazy sonnet.
So cool to use your student’s metaphor as inspiration. The verbs you use reflect my feelings on how language works –beams, orbits, loops, whirls. Not just a solar system — Language as a whole galaxy!
Thanks, Amy. It was fun. Another student used a fetus growing as her metaphor…that’s for another poem.
A lovely tribute to your student’s work. Those last four words are filled w/ wonder, especially “tales/regale.”
LAZY SONNET
Butt
crack,
Inked
back.
Tobacco
stains,
Knee
pains.
Arby
burp,
Likely
perp.
Plumbing
humming.
Jackie —LOL! Dang, this is the guy who installed my toilet!! Way too real! ?
Love it when you write “Dang” in your responses!
This made me laugh out loud!
Hilarious! I love the imagery here.
So fun, and kind of cute–that butt crack.
It’s Schneider from the ’70s comedy “One Day at a Time.” Love that show and will never think about a “butt crack” the same again.
“After Spring Break, Awaiting Summer”
March
Break
Recharge
Take
April
Arrival
Stifle
Survival
Rain
Soak
Insane
Yoke
Perceive
Reprieve
Great word pairs, Glenda! I forgot about the couplet at the end. Oops! Yours really seals this little baby. I should go back and try again. Thanks for the inspiration! And the reminder that I need to throw off the “yoke” and “perceive reprieve.” Ahhh! Susie
Oh, yes, the “insane yoke” gets me every time.
Yes! Bring on the reprieve! For most of us, this will be a couple of fast months……for you, a lifetime! Congratulations again.
Glenda, I love seeing how you captured what will be gained and lost during the same break. Farewell to the insane and enjoy the reprieve!
Redacting
bars
truth,
hides
cowardly
in
corners —
festering
boil
on
the
neck
of
America.
by Susie Morice
Amen! Did you see Andy Borowitz’s take on the report yesterday? Humor helps me survive, but I don’t think the country can take much more.
I haven’t seen it, but love his humor. Reminding us to find the humor is always a good thing! Thanks, Glenda! Susie