Poetry on Demand

One thing I have my students do each year is to write a poem from a random group of words. The first time around, each pair of students pulls a list of four words from a cup and work together to create a poem using those words. Afterwards, I let each student choose the words they want to work with. I'm always a little in awe of some of the poems my students create. Like this one....

I lay on the grass
until sunset

in the moonlit sky
I felt God's presence

at that moment
I think He blessed me

and this one....

All alone
on the rainy midnight trail
a traveler moved along
his horse was spooked
by sounds of the wild
he tried to grip the horse's mane
but slipped
Off into the night the stallion ran
his body bruised
his muslces sore
the traveler crawled to a nearby bank
and lay on the cold, wet ground
dying
Now just a spirit in the wind
but some say
on a cold, rainy night
a lot like that night
you might
you just might
hear him crying out in pain

Aren't they great? And these are their first drafts... completed in less than one class period. Poetry on demand so-to-speak.