Supporting Students in Composing Concrete Poetry

• Take a few minutes to explore all of the books and websites focused on concrete poetry.
• What do you notice? Jot down your observations: think about content, presentation, language, etc.
• Now if you were to explain concrete poetry to a friend, what would you say? How would you define it?
• You are invited to compose a concrete poem.

• Make a list of objects that you may want to write about that have a distinctive shape.
• Pick the object that appeals to you most and sketch the shape. OR your teacher may provide the shape for you.
• Think of what you have to say about the object-What specific qualities does it possess? How does the object look, smell, taste, sound, feel?
• What do you do with this object? Or is something done to it or with it?
• Think of people, places, or ideas associated with the object.
• Now begin thinking about how you will write your poem.
• Circle or highlight the words or phrases that you like best and that you want to include in your poem.
• Think about how you will display your poem on the page- Will you type it, write it, and/or cut out words and phrases and pictures from other sources?
• HAVE FUN COMPOSING YOUR CONCRETE POEM!