This piece is informed and inspired by Kentucky poet, George Ella Lyon. Many know George Ella’s work from the “I Am From” poem template that many teachers use in the classroom and that we had written earlier in the year. Her poem, “Solitary,” is found within the “Writers Choose Perspective and Point of View” section of Amy Ludwig VanDerwater’s Poems are Teachers: How Studying Poetry Strengthens Writing in All Genres.

 

Here is George Ella Lyon’s poem which encourages writers to Stand Back With Third Person

 

“Solitary”

 

Sunk

as if

in a well

no one

remembers

the convict

whose eyes

have forgotten

sun

whose feet

have forgotten

earth

knows only

one light;

he did

not do

 

The reader will note a number of writerly moves within George Ella’s poem.

 

First, the poem is constructed of a single sentence. An approach here might be to have the student write a longer sentence and then break it into lines that suggest the continuance of thought down the structure until that final piece separated by the semicolon.

 

We also have a simile working in the piece early on.

 

The reader will note some minor anaphora that might not be noteworthy in a longer piece, but here it appears within a singular sentence which brings us to the next poetic feature: asyndeton.

 

The sentence is not possible without this technique that omits coordinating conjunctions to keep a stream of thinking happening.

 

Looking at the semicolon invites the reader to think about the two clauses that are being joined, on in a sort of contrast or a reveal to the other.

 

Here is our poem informed and inspired by George Ella Lyon’s piece (we even get to coin a phrase for our title):

 

“Solosounding”

 

Singular

as though

in a vacuum

no one notes

the stick’s

broken end

forgetting

the tree

the paper’s

flattened pulp

forgetting

the wood

knows only

this movement;

it’s an etching

scratching

now.