In this post: Treasured Object Poems Mentor Texts and Lesson Tips
Need a fun poetry activity to use with your students? One that will also hone their sensory language and revision skills?
Show them how to write a short free-verse poem about an object they value. Paying tribute to a precious personal item encourages them to think positively about their lives and builds their creative writing skills.
After you first explain the poem, if your students are like mine, one of the very first responses you’ll hear is, “But I don’t have anything that I treasure.”
When that happens, I elaborate. I ask them,
“Okay, if the fire alarm in your house went off, and you had to get out NOW, what two or three things would you grab?”
One of these things might be the perfect thing for a Treasured Object Poem.
To get started, hold a conversation to get students talking about their favorite things. Students of mine have written about a necklace from Grandma, their turquoise Converse, a pocket watch, a fishing rod, a book, a special hoodie, and more.
To help them get ideas, I also provide mentor texts former students have written.
This year, I wrote my own Treasured Object poem and shared it with my classes. I donned my awesome ’90s vintage bomber jacket, and read the following example:
My ’90s Bomber Jacket
Thick and heavy, warm and supple
Chocolate brown leather, a world map lining
Four pockets to hold:
Gloves, change, Kleenexes, icy fingers.
Oversized,
It clothes me in comfort
Distressed,
It encloses me in memories from
Years of travel from
Minnesota to Maine,
Vermont to Florida.
Oregon to Kansas.
My trendy friend found years ago
In a Phoenix boutique
Is now classic outerwear and
Perfect for…
Ever.
Here’s a student-written example of a Treasured Object Poem:
My Old Turquoise Converse by Hailey B.
My old turquoise Converse,
tarnished with dust and dirt.
My old turquoise Converse,
laced with well-worn shoestrings.
Oh, how my old turquoise Converse
are embedded with memories.
The memories they hold include
meeting a special friend and
having rotten days.
My old turquoise Converse,
walked in only by me.
*****
Here’s another:
The Piano by Elijah D.
The piano’s mahogany stained legs stand
Arching over the flat worn pew.
Graceful as the tree it was separated from.
The shimmering finish of the basswood keys glistens.
A mild hiatus, waiting to be played by skilled hands
Keys sheltered until then.
Though, piano is my forte.
Hammers drawn crisply.
Strings unfrayed for their age.
The contrivance gives a beautiful melody, however untuned.
Dust mustn’t settle on the antiqued surface.
The high, console style backing draped in cloth.
Complemented by family photos in elegant frames.
Thoughts of my grandmother come to mind,
As it was her’s at one time.
But now, it is mine to own.
*****
And even though I encourage students to write a free verse poem, occasionally, a student will use rhyme. And that’s fine with me as long as it’s not forced. Here’s one of those:
The Rocking Horse by Devyn R.
Rocking horse, rocking horse, take me away
To faraway places and spaces to play
Farther and farther I knew we went
Across the kitchen and through the vent
Over the hills, galloping we go
When we’ll stop, I’ll never know
Back and back, my head’s in a spin
Nobody else knows the spin that I am in
Taking me places I’ve never been
As high as a bird, as fast as a fish
In the clouds, through the ocean, anywhere I wish
*****
Three ways to beef up this activity
1. Try this revision strategy:
Adding more sensory language will help these poems come to life. After first drafts have been written, have students take their poems and add:
- one fragrance or smell
- one sound
- one texture
- one taste or flavor
2. Guide your students away from these treasured object ideas:
- Video games, social media, and other screen-based activities… Honestly, students give enough attention to their screens. I tell students that they’ll have more success with an object that’s tangible — and I don’t mean their phones. It’s important to be able to touch or physically experience their object. However, sometimes I give in and let them attempt a poem about Call of Duty, for example, so they can learn on their own that video games and virtual realities are difficult to describe with physical terms. When they invariably struggle to add sensory language to their poem, they usually change their mind on their own to something that invariably has more poetry potential.
- Food…There’s always one student who will want to write about a food, as in “But I treasure pizza, Mrs. Yung!” But unfortunately, such a temporal item will make their Treasured Object Poem feel insignificant. Encourage them to focus on something permanent and precious. Food disappears too quickly to deserve a poem.
- Of course, you may have a truly hungry student for whom food is their treasured object. Adjust accordingly because everyone’s experiences are unique. One student a few years back wrote about how cold it was in their house during the winter because their only heat was from the fireplace. Warmth could have been her treasured object I suppose.
3. Enter these poems in a contest.
In fact, on the handout in the photo above (it was used with my middle school students in my previous teaching position), you can see that my students limited their poems to twenty lines. This limit was placed so the students could enter their poems in Creative Communication’s Poetry Contests. Read my blog post about this publisher here.
I hope you enjoy sharing this poetry idea with your kids. It’s always been a favorite with my own students. In addition, it’s a poem they can return to again and again as they think of other objects they treasure. Most of my students, even my high school students, surprise themselves with how much they like their final product.
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