Lesson Plan: Poetry

1. Do you remember your first kiss? Or your first kiss with your current partner? When and where was it? How did you feel?

2. Watch this video, with sound off. how do you think the author felt about his first kiss?

3. Look at the words of the poem. What words do you think could go in the gaps?

Her mouth fell into my mouth like a _______________, like a
_______________ , like _______________ , like Eden when Eve made God whimper with _______________ her kiss hurt like that, I mean, it was as if she’d _______________ , I swear, my mouth had been a _______________ , my mouth
_______________ , a little bit lit by teeth.
My heart, _______________ , but her mouth pulled up, _______________ .
I swear those lips said _______________ . As if she were teaching
_______________ . Her mouth so careful, ______________ . It was like, I swear her tongue was _______________ , hot like that,
______________ I swear those lips said _______________ . As if she were teaching
_______________ . Her mouth so careful, _______________ . It was like, I swear her tongue was _______________ , hot like that, hot, and cold, and circling, circling, turning me into a _______________ . Her kiss, I swear, if the Great Mother
_______________ and you were there to feel ______________ . That’d be it, but even sweeter, like a ______________ , like that, ______________ , but holy, I swear! That kiss, both lips utterly committed to the world like ______________ , forever and always
______________ . Like that, I swear, like that.

4. Can you fill the gaps with the following expressions?

1. mixed the sweat of an angel with the taste of a tangerine
2. a 5th season,
3. like a fresh Eden
4. glad planet, sun on one side, night pouring her slow hand over the other, one fire flying the kite of another.
5. like a Peace Corps, like a free store, forever and always a new city, no locks, no walls, just doors. with the liquid tilt of her hips
6. helmet forever, greased with secrets
7. a dead-end street, a little bit lit by teeth.
8. a clam slammed shut at the bottom of a dark,
9. like a baby-blue Cadillac, packed with canaries driven by a toucan.
10. a riot of peg-legged priests on pogo-sticks, up and up, this way and this, not falling but on and on, like that, badly behaved,
11. a summer snow,
12. bright wings when we kissed, wild and precise. teaching a seahorse to speak.
13. Saturn’s 7th moon,
14. rushed open the moon, like a gift and you were there to feel your shadow finally unhooked from your wrist.
15. chumming the first vowel from my throat until my brain was a piano banged loud, hammered like that.

5. Listen to the video, with audio turned on, and check your answers.

6. What images does the author use to describe;

• Himself before the kiss
• The act of kissing
• The effect the kiss had on him

7. What was the experience of this kiss like for the author?

8. Can you find an expression in exercise 4 that is about:

• freedom
• excitement
• lack of emotion
• surprise
• renewal

8. What images could you think of to describe your first kiss? Think of images for you, the other person, the act of kissing, the feelings you had while kissing.

9. Use this template to write your own poem about your first kiss.

Her mouth fell into my mouth like a _______________. I mean, it was as if she’d _______________ , I swear, my mouth had been a _______________ , my mouth
My heart, _______________ , but her mouth _______________ .
I swear those lips said _______________ . As if she were teaching
_______________ . Her kiss, I swear, if the Great Mother _______________ and you were there to feel ______________ . That’d be it, but even ______________, like a ______________ , like that, ______________ , but holy, I swear! That kiss, both lips utterly committed to the world like ______________ , forever and always ______________ . Like that,

10. Read each other’s poetry (without names attached). Can you guess which poem belongs to which classmate?

Additional Activities

1. Practice reciting the poem out loud. What words does he emphasise? What’s the rhythm? Can you recite your own poem?

2. Watch this video. Why is poetry important for Tim Siebels?

3. Find a poem that you like:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/browse#page=1&sort_by=recently_added&filter_poetry_teens=1