Lines & Rhymes: "When" Poem

Describe yourself "back when."The form, from teacher Cheryl Markham, is easily adaptable to other themes, too.

Here is an examples of a "when" poem

When I Was a Baby

When I was a baby
I cried
spreading my voice
through the house,
beckoning for a response.

When I cried
My blue pajamas
wiggled, squirmed
and turned
against the rails of the crib prison

When I was a baby,
my small hands
grasped the air
as I inhaled,
gathering one more breath
to cry out
for a meal and a cuddle

When my tones
reached through the air
to my parents
they would finally wake

When I cried, they'd come to me
I'd stop crying,
look innocently
upward
and
smile as I was
lifted into caring arms
When I was a baby

CAHM

Directions:

The basic structure might be something like this:

When I did or was something in my past

When I ______________________________ (role or experience)
I __________________________ (action)
like a __________________________(noun)
I __________________________(action)
and ___________________________(action)
When I ____________________________ (repeat role or experience)

You might use the same basic format to describe yourself as an object (pencil, chair, computer, basketball, hamburger, telephone, book).

Or as an animal (aardvark, octopus, snail).

You might also consider yourself as a place (ocean, tundra, rain forest, river).

Or you could do several comparisons in subsequent stanzas or add categories of your own (mode of trasnportation, weather event, whatever).