This year throws me for a loop almost daily. Today, it was a group of high school students telling me that free verse poetry wasn’t “real poetry.” Poems MUST rhyme, they said.
It was the first time during a poetry unit that students balked at free verse poetry. Teens usually embrace the lack of restrictions and relative freedom that accompanies that style of poetry. But this group. They wanted boundaries. They wanted constraints.
It made me a little sad. Yet again, I see repercussions of constant testing. There is one right answer: a haiku is three lines, 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. Free verse poetry is just too…free for them.
Since I can’t find a snazzy widget to track my running training on the blog, I’ll do it long-hand: 2.02 miles. Not yet ready to post times. Distance will suffice for now.
