This is Just to Say

The famous William Carlos Williams poem "This is Just to Say" was used as the inspiration for an entire book by Gail Carson Levine called Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems. What is so brilliant about this book is that it inspires students and adults alike to write their own false apology poems.

Here is the original poem by William Carlos Williams:

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

During poetry month, my students wrote their own false apology poems. Here are some examples:

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the red poisonous
berries

In which you were
going to trick
the Capitol with.

Forgive me
They were so good
And I was so hungr---

Stevie M.


This is Just to Say

I have used
my lightsaber
to chop off your arm.

Because you
went and
blew up my
Death Star.

Forgive me
but I am
your
father.

Noah M.


This is just to say
that I have ruined
your homemade pot roast

You were probably
saving it
for our dinner.

Forgive me
but I don't
want to get food poisoning

Isabelle A.


And I had to share this one with the illustration since it relates to one of my students' favorite picture books this year, This is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen. I love the idea of students being inspired by multiple pieces of literature.

Maria H.



What would your false apology be?

So much depends upon...

Every year during poetry month I have my students create idea webs of all their thoughts about poetry, even the negative ones; especially the negative ones because by the end of the month, my hope is that their feelings will grow and evolve, just like Jack in Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, our current read aloud in sixth grade.

So here are some of the Jacks in my classroom:

It's such a shame when students hold back their true feelings. ;)

I'm the poetry monster!

This just made me laugh because I read this book quite a few months ago.

Someone has some strong feelings about red wheelbarrows.

I can't wait to see if I'm able to change the mind of all these students by the first of May.  :)

Oh, and in case you've never seen it before, this is why many of my students, not just the one above, have some strong feelings about red wheelbarrows.

The Red Wheelbarrow
by William Carlos Williams

So much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Let's explore and discover poetry instead of dissecting it

My library card got a major workout today.
 
It must be poetry month.

After reading a blog post from Cindy Minnich this morning, I was reminded again why poetry month is my favorite time of the year to be an English teacher. I take it upon myself as a personal challenge to make all my students lovers (or at least appreciaters) of poetry before the first of May.

How do I do that?
By giving them time.

Time to read.
Time to savor.
Time to wiggle around inside the lines and stanzas of a poem.

I think the knee-jerk reaction of English teachers everywhere is when a poem is thrust in front of us, we must dissect every word, line, and stanza until all the "hidden" meanings have been exhausted.

But just like with books, we also need to give kids the opportunity to explore poetry for its own sake, not just to find meaning. There is merit in just savoring a beautiful turn of phrase without having to interpret some sage wisdom or enlightenment. Sometimes the enlightenment is just listening to the words fall off your lips.

And while I certainly do my fair share of poetry interpreting during this month, I also make sure that I give my students time to live inside the pages of that big pile of books and let them just enjoy a poem for its own sake. Instead of tying poems to a chair and beating them with a hose, I choose to celebrate the magic and impact poetry can have on students' lives if I give them time to do their own discovering.

I encourage you to do the same.

Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet and
so cold

- William Carlos Williams

And thus begins the inspiration for Gail Carson Levine's first book of poetry: with William Carlos Williams' infamous insincere apology. This is the first book I have ever encountered where one poem is used over and over again for inspiration and parody.

This is one of those books that isn't likely to lure in kids with its cover wiles or enchanting premise, but it's certainly a goldmine for teachers. What could be more perfect than to have kids write their own false apology poems? And that's exactly what my 6th graders did. After listening to a few of Levine's examples, which included apologies from Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Snow White, and the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk (a great way to teach allusion too), I got everyone thinking about what sorts of false apologies they could write.

The poems themselves, if you read them silently and alone, are not particularly provocative, and after reading about five of them, they get sort of tiresome, but in the context of the classroom, where students are sharing ideas, it can be a fun writing exercise and a means to an end, which is to get them to write their own poetry. Starting with a model to emulate is always the best way to go before getting students to write on their own.  So not only did we have the original poem and the poems from this book as inspiration, but I also gave my students my own example:

This is Just to Say

I have eaten
the bacon
that was on the counter

and which
you were probably
saving
for ice cream

Forgive me
but
bacon is
meat candy

I was even impressed by the conversation that they initiated about point of view. In that, they asked, "So is this poem written from your husband's point of view?" A few of them argued that no, it was from my dog's, but regardless of whose point of view its from (either one is a logical choice, but I really wrote it with my husband in mind), it just shows that when you have faith in students to rise to the occasion, often they will go above and beyond. I only expected them to emulate a poetic form. Instead, we also had a discussion about point of view, something they have learned and applied in literature class this year (and not from a multiple choice test!) - and now English class too.

After our discussion, I left them to their own devices to have fun and come up with some creative ideas. Here are some of my own students' attempts:

This is Just to Say

I have broken 
your vase
playing baseball
in the house

it must have cost you 
a fortune
and you liked it
a lot

Forgive me
it was a good game
I earned 10 points

-Annie M.




This is Just to Say

I have given
my algebra work
to my dog

You probably
expected me to turn
it in today

Forgive me
I didn't like my
homework but my
dog did

-Micaela F.




This is Just to Say

I have stolen
your lucky rock
that was sitting
so innocently on the counter

that you probably 
needed for
a math
test

Forgive me
I needed the luck
when you found out
I stole it

- Annabel R.




This is Just to Say

I will not
be home
on time
today


I was too
busy running from 
zombies


I am sorry I didn't
want to get
infected

- Evan W.




Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: False Apology Poems by Gail Carson Levine, illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Published: March 13, 2012
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 80
Genre: Poetry
Audience: Middle Grade
Disclosure: This was a purchased copy - gotta have it for my classroom! :)

An evening with Billy Collins

In honor of National Poetry Month, a nearby library invited poet laureate Billy Collins to come and speak at the local community college. It completely astounded me that, in what I am sure is the busiest month of the year for Mr. Collins, he came and spoke at a community college. I would imagine a large university like the University of Michigan or Michigan State would invite and host such an esteemed literary icon. To me he is the Robert Frost of our generation. You don't get more esteemed than that when it comes to poetry.

Ever since I read my very first Billy Collins poem, "Introduction to Poetry", I have always had an affection for his poems. He writes in such an accessible way that even the most dubious of poetry readers can't help but find something to like about his style of writing. He has a perfect verbal cadence and always knows how to end his poems on the perfect note. Hearing him read his own poems last night in that perfect cadence just underscored what an amazing gift he truly has.

Collins approaches his poems with such lighthearted humor, and yet, they still manage to somehow be incredibly profound. Last night his poetry readings were received with much laughter dotted with an occasional contented sigh or thoughtful "Hmmm..." as the audience contemplated the poem's profundity.

During the Q & A portion of the evening, someone asked Collins what he thought made his poems so accessible to people, and I thought his response was really profound. He said (and I'm paraphrasing here) that you have to begin the poem in Kansas where the reader is. If you start it in Oz, where you (the writer) are, then you've already lost them.

So his secret to accessibility is always getting the reader up to speed before moving on to the deep stuff. A perfect example of this is a poem Collins read last night. It immediately lets the reader in the writer's mind with a simple title: "Hangover".  Without that single word, the poem loses a great deal of its meaning, for the reader anyway. As you read the poem (or listen as was the case last night), you suddenly feel like you're in on the joke because you know exactly what this poem's about.

After his talk, Collins did a book signing and I was able to get two of his books signed. One that is an anthology of his own poems, The Trouble with Poetry, and the other is an anthology that he compiled called Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry. As soon as he saw me with Poetry 180 he immediately asked, "Are you a teacher?" I guess owning that book is a sure sign someone is an English teacher. :)

Overall, it was an amazing evening of poetry and I feel that much more worldly and literary to say, "Why yes, one evening during National Poetry Month I went to see poet laureate Billy Collins speak and recite poetry. You do know that he's this generation's Robert Frost, right? Oh yeah, and he signed these books for me."