Module 6-Janeczko Collection/LS 5663-20

Module 6-Janeczko Collection
Janeczko,Paul B.. Dirty laundry pile, poems in different voices. China: Harper Collins Publishers, 2001. ISBN 0-688-16251-7
How you ever wondered what ordinary household objects would say if they only had a voice. Paul Janeczko has compiled a group of poems that answer that very question. These types of poems are called persona or masks poems. The poem is told from the point of view of the object.
Each of these poems take you inside the mind of the object and it is as if it is speaking directly to you. The poems are written with a natural rhyme and flow easily when read aloud. The following poem is a fun and interesting way to look at something that we all deal with everyday and most of us really do not want to deal with.
Dirty Laundry Pile
By Marcy Barack Black
Ignore me now
On the floor
By the door.
But you’ll notice
When I swell
By my smell.
Each of the poems included in this book are naturally fun ,and could prompt children into thinking about what different objects would say if they were able to verbalize their thoughts. Paul Janezcko has included poems that are high in quality and are consistently fun and creative. The persona poems include work about a variety of objects, such as vacuum cleaners, kites and snowflakes. The poems use very descriptive language and use unique and fun words that students will want to use over and over.
I would use the following poem as a fun way to introduce persona poems in the classroom or library.
Broom
By Tony Johnston
I am the trusted consort
Of floors, accomplice
Of water and swash,
Confidant of corners
Where skulks shifty, fugitive
Trash.
I am a blunt whisker,
Ghost-voiced shadow-sweeper
(suspicious of the dark),
Collector of exquisite
Scraps,
Confessor to expiring
Flies,
Seeker –of-the –lost,
Keeper-of-the-uncherished,
The crushed.
I share the deepest secrets
Of the dust.
I would bring a broom in as a prop to use while reading the poem aloud. I would have students brainstorm words that describe the broom. Afterward, I would have the students each take turns holding the broom and modeling the actions one would use when using the broom. Students could then discuss how they think the broom feels as it is being used. I would also ask students what other household objects would they think that the broom would want to be. As an extension, I would give students the chance to write their own version of the poem or choose another object and create their own persona poem.