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WebSlam VIII – Round 2
Prompts
Submissions are closed for Round 2.
Round 3 prompts will be online by 8:00 a.m.
Monday, November 13.
Students responded to the following prompts for Round 2. Scroll down to read their work.
- Personify* an abstract idea or noun. What does _________wear? Where does _______ go grocery shopping? What does __________ do for a living? Create a vivid picture of character traits and behavior of such topics and themes as death, hope, democracy, courage, etc.
* Encarta® World English Dictionary Definition of ‘Personify’- to be an embodiment or perfect example of something
- to represent an abstract quality as a human being, especially in art or literature
- to ascribe human qualities to an object or abstract notion
- Be an activist poet: Research and write a poem from a political point of view. Be specific and know your facts. Use the Internet - www.nytimes.com, www.sfnewmexican.com, www.cnn.com, or just about any other newspaper, television network, or alternative news source (www.pitt.edu/~ctnst3/xnews.html) can be found - to research a topic, event or theme that you’d like to write about; e.g., hospice care for the poor, the war in Iraq, plight of illegal Mexican immigrants to the U.S. , exercise for teens, etc.
- Write a poem that reflects your relationship with your culture, heritage, ancestry. Dig as deep as you can to learn about who you are and where you came from. What does this mean to you? Your parents? The children you might someday have?
Tips:
- We advise that you use a word processing program to type your poem, so you can spell check it. Block, copy and paste the poem into the Submit Form.
- Withhold conclusions—your own feelings of like/dislike, approval/disapproval, etc.—and let the language of your poem do the work of making the reader see your intent.
Poems
culture
Shatinay Tuck — Robert F. Kennedy Charter School
lissmisssoja4life@yahoo.com
Culture
I am not what ever you say I am
I am what I am that makes me
Me
And I won’t change who imp am
My culture
Has come to far as one
So you ask who I am
I am culture
Shit I am Cuban and black colliding together
To make a attitude so poetic
A dance so sensual
We can twirl to a simple drum beat
Move our hips to a salsa song
And shake what our ancestors gave us to what we call hip hop now
Days
You can go ahead and say we are military like
Because our pride is too strong to ever be shattered
Our love can be misused but never shattered but
No matter what we always come back together like
Ink on paper
We come in all shapes and sizes but no matter what
We always have something another wants
We got hips ass boobs and attitude
Pride, love shit we made history
We come in chocolate, brown sugar, Carmel, pecan,
We’re dark skin light skin red bone and light bright dam there white
Man we come in every thing you can imagine
In that little head of yours
We are for our culture and our family
We work hard for what we got
Though it may not be fancy snancy
Mama comes home from work and hot combs all six
Chilens heads daddy comes home and looks for dinner
Keeps us straight so we don’t drive mama up a wall
When she’s had a hard day a day that hasn’t even come
To am end yet
Stomp clap stomp clap clap stomp stomp clap
Please allow me to introduce myself as
Rhythm and soul
Classy but sassy
As unique
Shit im a deep black rose
That can’t be found until you run across me
You can run your fingers through my nappy hair
Feel my chocolate skin
Hush listen to the beat my hips sway to
Vision me as a culture
Cause I am culture
My pen and paper dance together side by side like
Husband and wife to describe a culture that has
Lasted so long and
Wont die cause we don’t die we multiply
So what if I am Cuban do I make you want me?
So what if I am a black women do I intimidate you
Because I speak my mind and my husband is fine is it because I and escaped the white man with all my folks
I am Africa and I am Cuba
I have come to you as one
Pass this to our children because the battle we
Have won…
Free at last free at last thank god almighty we are
Free at last
They thought they broke us they thought they made
Us they thought wrong because another generation has
Learned of us
They patiently wait for them to up rise and lead us to our
Unseen future
Still we rise still we speak
Still we dance and still we bake
Still we sing and still we pray
Still we write and still we learn
Still we braid our chilens heads and still we come
To you as one
I am Africa and I am Cuba
I have come to you as one
Pass this to our children whether you sing it in the
Field our write it in an ink to be discovered
Down the road
The battle we have fought and the battle we have won…
They drove us here and we drove away to freedom
That’s why my people preach
Free at last free at last thank god almighty we are
Free at last
By Shatinay Tuck
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Reviewer:
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Michelle Holland, michholl@zianet.com
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Rating:
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8.0
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Review:
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I’d like to see you perform this poem, especially the intonation and stress you give the word, “shit,” because that is definitely conversational.
Your poem seems like a first draft, full of ideas and directions — echoes of spirituals and the famous words of those who have fought this fight before you.
Some of the repetition works well, like song, but you may want to consider whittling of some of the lines so they are as direct as the stanza that begins, “You can run your fingers through my nappy hair.”
Proofread and be aware of line breaks, so they match your breath.
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Posted: Nov/12/2006 12:26 am
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Reviewer:
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Beata Tsosie, beata_tsosie@yahoo.com
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Rating:
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7.9
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Review:
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This poem cariies strong emotion behind the words, and also conveys great pride and heritage for the future genration in the repetition. As I read it I got the sense of invincibility being a child of the Cuban revoltuion and owning the struggle to freedom. This would make a cool performance piece. Reading it out loud would also help point out the phrases that are akward grammatically, and the repetition that interupts the flow of the poem.
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Posted: Nov/12/2006 9:33 pm
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