The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults

ISBN-13: 9781475827927 Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Publication date: 07/18/2016 Pages: 196 Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d) A college student writes: “These words I write/ open their mouths wide/ screaming the most intimate secrets.” An inmate in a maximum-security men’s prison writes: “Within my writing, I am able to break down my prison walls and escape, leave the gangster façade behind.” The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults draws from Shelley Savren’s forty years of teaching poetry writing to a diverse array of students, from teens with mental health issues to seniors to adults with developmental disabilities, and in a wide variety of settings, which include middle schools, high schools, colleges, juvenile halls, women’s centers, and a men’s prison. Each chapter includes an original poem from Savren, heartfelt stories, and lesson plans that introduce poetic concepts through model poems by professionals, ope