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Image Poem

Image Poem

 This poem owes its existence to Georgia Heard's idea of the six room image poem where six elements are addressed in the writing that follows:

 Image
Light
Sound
Questions
Feelings
Repetition

 The challenge is to expand our vision of selected images by attending to each element when writing. The idea is to spend time considering each of the six elements by thinking about them as rooms we must enter in order to think more deeply about our word choice.
The Grandfather Clock

The Grandfather clock
Stood tall like a palace guard
Marking time in Nana's lounge-room
Against the wall
Avoiding the sunlight streaming through lace curtained windows
Tick-tocking as the pendulum swung in its unerring arc
Brass and chains and moving arms 
Encased behind a long glass face
The clock announced the passing of each hour
With blare and boom
The rowdy ringing out
Chased the silence from the room
Why so loud? the small ones asked
Why so tall? the small ones wondered
They kept their distance
Time moved on relentlessly
The Grandfather clock
Stood tall like a palace guard
Marking time in Nana's lounge-room

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Comments

  1. Carol Varsalona27 October 2017 at 21:29

    This is an interesting way to view the makings of a poem, Alan. These lines stand out to me: The rowdy ringing out/Chased the silence from the room. Consider offering an image poem for my autumn gallery. I have a link at my PF post today.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright29 October 2017 at 15:12

      Thanks Carol. Will think about joining your autumn gallery.

      Delete
  2. Kay29 October 2017 at 02:53

    I have often used Georgia's six room poem to jump start my ideas, and I used it with my students, too. They came up with some amazing poetry after thinking through their subject with these. Your poem brings that old grandfather clock to life.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright29 October 2017 at 15:15

      I found the scaffolding provided by Georgia quite supportive to my thought processes around the subject of the poem Kay. I will certainly use it with students to encourage some deeper thought around the writing of their poetry. Glad you liked the poem, it has always been a strong visual memory.

      Delete
  3. Brenda at FriendlyFairyTales30 October 2017 at 01:49

    I like that clothes hanger of a poem-skeleton by Georgia and what you've done with it. But where is the mouse? Done in by hickory-dickory-dock?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright30 October 2017 at 10:12

      Hickory-dickory-dock
      Two mice ran up a clock
      The clock struck one
      And the other one got away...

      That's my best interpretation Brenda.

      Delete
  4. Unknown2 November 2017 at 08:24

    I like it Alan. Will be trying out the six room plan today with year 4 students.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright2 November 2017 at 09:29

      Great Matt. Always good to hear about such positive endeavours. May the words flow freely...

      Delete
    2. Unknown6 November 2017 at 10:04

      Hi Alan, some of the students wanted to share their writing with you as we have been reading Searching for Hen's Teeth during our poetry session.

      https://sites.google.com/rowvilleps.vic.edu.au/creations4c/six-room-poetry

      Delete
    3. Alan j Wright7 November 2017 at 11:48

      Thanks for the link Matt. I enjoyed the poems created by your budding poets. Well done all. Keep growing your poetry.

      Delete

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