Today’s poem uses a “ghost line” from WHAT CAME FROM THE STARS and eight “ingredients.” The ingredients include:

 1.         the one that got away (don’t write the name, just describe them ALL THE WAY)

2.         a memento from when you were small

3.         an animal you love(d)

4.         an animal you fear(ed)

5.         the sweetest thing they ever said

6.         an object that reminds you of them

7.         what you do when you’re nervous

8.         a place to hide love

In the room today, we took titles of popular YA titles in the room to act as the title of our piece. I chose THIS IS HOW I FIND HER by Sara Polsky.

Notice how the ingredients are unlike recipe ingredients wherein measurements or brands are important. The idea of the ingredient is enough here.

“This is How I Find Her”

 

A heart large enough to hold a hundred hanging coats.

A sort of wind-up box that would play an old familiar tune.

Small and fragile, it could barely make a sound now,

but it sat in place challenging me to approach it.

 

“You are not him; you are not your past.”

Even if an old coat with brown buttons still hangs there

in a closet with a door that won’t ever shut tight.

Behind the umbrellas, singing—this is how I find her.