"Ms. Johnson, does this make sense?"
"What?"
"Can windchimes frolic?"
I look up from the paper I am reading, wondering if I heard her correctly. I start to tell her no, but then remember. My other classes may be working on research papers and arguments, but Creative Writing is working on poetry. I smile.
"The windchimes frolicked," I say, testing the sound, "Well, technically it doesn't make sense for windchimes to frolic, but the nice thing about poetry is you can play with language and meaning. What are you trying to say?"
"Well, I wanted to have them dancing, but I liked how frolicked sounded."
"Then use frolic. I like how it sounds too."
She beams at me and returns to her poem. I pull my notebook over and jot down the phrase. I want to save it for later.
Great dialogue. Your student uses figurative language very well. Frolic is an interesting word, I'm also adding it to my list of words. Thanks
ReplyDeleteNatalie Dunne
ReplyDeleteI love it! It definitely evokes a different image than "danced." I csn definitely see wind chimes frolicking sometimes and dancing others!
I like frolicking wind chimes, too, and I love that poetry let’s us do what we want w/ language. Poetry, I believe, is the best argument for understanding all the riley things about English so we know how and when to unrulify our poems!
ReplyDeletePlaying with words is the best thing about writing poetry. Many times I think I write things that don't make sense to the reader, but it does to me.
ReplyDeleteWhat great teaching you must be doing! Thanks for sharing the line with us--such a fun post to read!
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