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WebSlam VIII – Round 3
Prompts
Submissions are closed for Round 3.
Students responded to the following prompts for Round 3. Scroll down to read their work.
- Write a poem with food as its central focus. Be specific to create tone and meaning. Consider using the Internet to find facts, recipes and stories that might flesh out your poem.
- Write a poem about a work of art. The poem can be about something in your home, something your mother or father made, or something you saw in a gallery or museum. Describe the work as clearly as possible—write a picture of it for your reader. Avoid value-laden words such as “beautiful” or “good.”
- Create a poem using a modern take on a classical form: sonnet, villanelle, pantoum, or sestina.
Sonnet: A short poem with fourteen lines, usually ten-syllable rhyming lines, divided into two, three, or four sections.
Villanelle: A 19-line poem, originally French, that uses only two rhymes and consists of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain.
Pantoum: A form of verse in which the second and fourth lines of each four-line verse are repeated as the first and third lines of the following verse
Sestina: A poem of six six-line stanzas and a three-line envoy, with the last words of the first six lines repeated, in different order, at the ends of the other lines. Also called sextain.
Poems
Our Love
Chris Stahelin — La Cueva High School
sta42289@aol.com
Your arms are a shelter of warmth
Holding me with understanding and love,
Protecting me from the entire world.
You’re a medicine made of serenity.
I know not was the future brings,
All time stops when I’m with you.
I love talking with you,
Sharing secrets with one another with such warmth.
I welcome the late night strolls summer brings.
Those warm cloudless nights paint the picture of our love.
As we sprawled out on the grass gazing at the sky: the moment was so serine
You make it easier to accept the reality of the world.
When we’re together no one else exists in the world.
All I can see the sunset filled meadow is you.
Your composure is one of such serenity.
When you’re around me I feel such warmth,
The fire is fueled by our love.
With you, I’m not scared of what age brings.
The questions people bring,
They contemplate what we share, the thing that connects us and our worlds.
Those who question can’t comprehend love.
They don’t understand what bonds you to me and me to you,
They don’t feel that calming warmth,
We don’t care though, we just grasp tightly to the serenity.
The sunsets, a shared seen of serenity.
The memento you gave me, what memories it brings
Those thoughts and feelings fill me with your warmth
It seemed we were the only ones left in the world.
I cherish the memories we share and the times with you
The greatest emotion brought to mind, our love.
You show me what it is to love,
Bring my parched being the rains of serenity.
My love is the only payment requested by you.
The feeling of acceptance you bring.
Your light blazes brightly in my world,
What incomprehensible warmth.
I love you and you love me.
The warmth and memories we share,
Brings serenity to our world.
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Reviewer:
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Valerie Martinez, vmartinez@csf.edu
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Rating:
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7.5
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Review:
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Chris—
It’s hard to write a good sestina; I appreciate you taking it on! Right now, your poem remains too abstract and lacks the force of imagery that could make it much more immediate and vivid. Because love poems have been written for centuries, they demand an originality that can come from unique and unusual images, metaphors, symbols, etc. Because you chose mostly abstract words for your sestina, they drove your sestina to the general rather than specific. Instead, choose particular images, associated with your beloved or the places you spend time together or objects that you share. This will encourage the sestina toward the unusual and strengthen it significantly. Valerie
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Posted: Nov/18/2006 3:12 pm
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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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This is the third poem from your school, and it seems like the team has taken on the sestina form. Cool.
“You’re a medicine made of serenity.” Great sound and rhythm. Extend the metaphor — make it weave throughout the poem. “Bring my parched being the rains of serenity,” also creates the connection between the speaker and his/her love. Their seems this grounded connection with the natural elements. Use this connection to create more vivid images to bring us to the last stanza.
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Posted: Nov/20/2006 11:44 pm
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