As the visiting poet for Rose's school, I'm doing 4 gigs--2 different classroom lesson plans, a reading, and filling in for someone who might not show. So, I came up with this presentation for the extra time.

Some Secrets of Poets

1. Poets play all day.

This is why you guys are such great poets. You know all about playing. Some of you might want to be outside playing right now. But as poets you know how to play right here—with words.

Let's play catch. I'm going to say a word and I want you to think of a word that rhymes with it, that has the same sound. Ok, I'm throwing the word "fun" at you. Think of word that rhymes and get ready to throw it back.

[Call on several people for their word]

Have you ever played the game where you try to bounce the ball as many times as you can? Poets play that game with words. I'm going to bounce a "B." Let's see how many I can get.

Big Bad Betty Bounced Balls Behind Blue Bells But Barking Brad Balanced what, what, I need another B word. Think of a word and raise your hand.

[Call on several people for their word]

Thank you for playing with me. Some people think poets work hard but really we play hard. That's one of our secrets.

2. We dream in the day time.

Anybody can dream at night and all sorts of amazing wonderful things can happen in their dreams. They can fly. They can see purple elephants dancing on the clouds. They can walk through fire. Well, we, as poets can walk into a dream world all day long. Sometimes we have to get a little bit quiet and close our eyes but we let ourselves see the most amazing things.

I want everyone to sit quietly for a moment and close your eyes. Keep them closed until I tell you to open them. Now imagine you are going down some stairs. You are walking down, down, down, and you get to a door. You open the door and look around. What do you see? Some of you might be in a dungeon. Some of you might find yourselves suddenly on a river. Some of you might be at a tea party. Ok, open your eyes and tell your neighbor what you saw. You just had a waking dream. Poets have this power.

3. We see a world in a grain of sand. (Blake)

A very famous poet William Blake once said poets "see a world in a gain of sand." What do you think he meant by that?

I think he was telling one of the poet's secrets that even the smallest teeniest object, a grain of sand, can be a secret way in to talking about our big feelings. Whatever we say about the piece of sand—that it can make us itch, that it holds its own shape even when it's on a beach with a gadzillion other grains of sand, that it hide so well can't find it. . . What else could we say about a grain of sand?

[Call on several people for their ideas]

As poets we know that what we understand and imagine and explore about one tiny thing like a grain of sand is really a way of understanding and imagining and exploring our big feelings and the world. It's like magic. You do that magic with your careful attention.

4. Everything fascinates us.

Which leads me to another secret of poets—we pay attention to everything. We don't say oh that slug is yucky and slimy—I'm going to stay away from that. Or, nobody else notices that crack in the wall, so I'm not going to think about it either. We look up. We look down. We look at huge things like Mt. Rainer and tiny things like a speck of dust. Because we know about the grain of sand, we know anything can lead us to a new world, a different way of seeing the world.

I want everyone to look around right now with your poet's eyes. What do you notice that someone who is not a poet might miss? Just look with your eyes, don't say anything yet.

[Call on several people for their ideas]

5. We listen to our feelings and respect them.

I'm going to give you another secret, one you probably didn't even know was a secret. Poets listen to our feelings and respect them. Everyone has big feelings—love, wonder, hate, fear.

Think of a big feeling and when you have one raise your hand.

[call on several people for their ideas]

But a lot of people are overwhelmed or scared by these big feelings. Poets face them. We are magical because with careful attention to objects, finding images in the dream world, and playing with words we create vessels—poems—that can hold big feelings. Maybe your vessel is a big basket. Maybe it’s a delicate glass vase. I want to thank you for all your poems, these vessels made of words that hold the big feelings.

6. People need us.

Because here's my last secret. The world needs poets. We need the magic your bring. Poems can be very powerful. So thank you for being poets.