Aliterative First Line/Last Line Image

Welcome.VerseLove is Ethical ELA’s celebration of National Poetry Month each April—an invitation to write, read, and reflect together. New to VerseLove? Learn more: https://www.ethicalela.com/verselove

Our Host

Luke Bensing is a husband, father, musician, writer, and teacher. He lives in Valparaiso, IN and teaches 9th Grade English in Merrillville, IN. After working in the wrong vocation for nearly two decades, he earned his BA in English from Purdue University Northwest. (A first year teacher in his 40s) He went directly into the high school classroom to share his perspectives with students and attempt to apply his love of language and the importance of communication and critical thinking to future members and leaders of society.

Inspiration

In the high school I teach in, we have trimesters. One whole 12 week chunk is Composition Class. While we write throughout the year, we more heavily focus on writing throughout the middle trimester of Composition(it could be turning into Technical Writing to satisfy new state requirements, but I AM keeping poetry part of the curriculum regardless). I love to encourage reluctant writers “Don’t think. Write.” As Sean Connery’s character says in the movie Finding Forrester, which I show to my students,

”No thinking – that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is… to write, not to think!”

I rely on daily free writes similar to this to spur creative accidents that may or may not become something later. I love to use images to generate thoughts and articulate previously hidden pathways. Shoutout to my college professor, Dr. Russ Mayo for using similar prompts during my teacher training years.

Process

Another thing I tell my students that I love about poetry is the freedom from rules. Expression flowing without being held down by things like capitalization or punctuation or syntax. So there are no rules here, only a few suggestions.

Write whatever you want, I just ask that you

• pick an image here or from your phone and then
• use alliteration in your first line and your last line.

That’s it. The rest is completely up to you. Let’s see what amazing random poetic accidents we can create today.

Luke’s Poem

The majestic messiah and the mechanic’s Monte Carlo
Turning aside
Speaking to you, things you always knew
But kept behind
“When will you make a change?” “How fast were you going?”
Stuck below
On the ground, running, floating above asphalt
Never alone
They call this rebellion. Rebellion by degrees
Look above
Be brighter, be belligerent, be beautiful.

Your Turn

Now, scroll to the comment section below to write your own poem. (This is a public space, so you may choose to use only your first name or initials depending on your privacy preferences.) Not ready? That’s okay. Read the poems already posted for more inspiration. Ponder your own throughout the day. Return later. And, if the prompt does not work for you, that is fine. All writing is welcome. Just write something. Oh, and a note about drafting: Since we are writing in short bursts, we all understand (and even welcome) the typos and partial poems that remind us we are human and that writing is always becoming. If you’d like to invite other teachers to write with us, tell them to subscribe. Also, please be sure to respond to at least three writers.