Poetry Chapbooks: STEMM-Revision Reminders and Chapbook Checklists

Poetry Writing Month is nearing a close, and chapbooks (see checklist below) are due at the end of the period on Thursday, May 1. Students have received 12-15 specific prompts to inspire their collections (see earlier post). Students have gone through a peer-revision protocol to reexamine their poems through STEMM-Inspired ideas:

STEMM-inspired Revision:

Poem Engineering: How is the structure working or how might it be improved? Consider: how are the lines formatted/laid out on the page/where would more structure help? How are the ideas flowing, could they be rearranged, or repeated for stronger impact?

Poem Biology: What details are shining from the poem? Where might the poet sharpen, clarify, or brighten words or images? Where are words that are weak or “dead?” This is the “cellular” level of the poem.

Poem Mathematics: Where might the poet add, subtract, multiply, make parallel (or use repetition) in ideas/words/lines?

**Feedback form should be completed with notes to guide your revision, either taken during group feedback or used by yourself as a way to revise on your own. 

Poetry Chapbook Checklist

1. Book Creation: ___/50

___ a. Cover/book format: Creative, artistic, purposefully designed to show your personal “aesthetic”

___b. Table of Contents

___c. Quote page/Dedication page: Quote or quotes that inspire you or this collection, someone/something to whom the collection is dedicated

___d. Introduction to Collection: What inspires you, what you gained, what is your relationship to poetry, what do you hope the reader gets from reading your work, any themes that are in the collection.

___e. Visuals/Creativity: Book uses thoughtful design layout, may include illustrations, collage, borders, designs

2. Poetry Collection: ___/100

___a. At least 10 polished, revised, edited poems. No careless errors. Poems are of varying length (i.e., not 10 haiku)

___b. Each poem uses at least three poetic devices. Ex: alliteration, repetition, rhythm, rhyme, rhyme pattern, metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, irony, dialect, etc.

___c. Purposeful word choice: if poem rhymes, rhyme enhances the poem. No “dead” words.

___d. Poems are laid out on the page purposefully, in lines and stanzas.

___e. Represents challenging, meaningful work that shows thoughtful time and effort.