The Language Inside 30 Prompts: Day 23
April is National Poetry Month in the U.S., and for the month of April, I am posting 30 poetry prompts from my verse novel The Language Inside. Some of the prompts relate to poems referenced in the book, such as poems that the main character Emma reads to the patient Zena in the long-term care facility. Other prompts derive from poems that Emma, Zena or her friend Samnang draft and share during the story.
The Language Inside 30 Prompts: Day 23
In Chapter 41, at the writing workshop, Cambodian-American Samnang reads aloud his prose poem “Coins” (p. 437). The poem is in three stanzas.
Here are the first two stanzas of Samnang's poem:
Coins
My grandmother goes to a friend’s house for coining. The copper coin is rubbed over her back. Red lines appear, swell and sting. The rubbing makes friction. The friction makes heat. The heat battles the cold inside. So she says in Khmer to me.
Coins drop into a jar. Coins are collected and saved. Coins are counted and donated. Coins become cash. Cash becomes a chance for a kid to learn to dance.
Prompt Day 23: Write a poem about a traditional custom. Or write a poem about an object depicted in three situations.
More prompts from The Language Inside The full reader's guide to The Language Inside--A Discussion, Reading and Activity Guide for Teachers and Readers--with these and other prompts, discussion questions and activities is HERE.
About The Language Inside
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts to stay with her grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States, begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return early to Japan. The Language Inside is a verse novel rich in language both spoken and unspoken that crosses boundaries to create a story layered with love, loss, movement and words. (Delacorte/Random House)
YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults Notable Books for a Global Society 2014 Bank Street Best Books of the Year 2014 Notable Books for the Language Arts 2014 A Librarians' Choices 2013 Book
The Language Inside 30 Prompts: Day 23In Chapter 41, at the writing workshop, Cambodian-American Samnang reads aloud his prose poem “Coins” (p. 437). The poem is in three stanzas.
Here are the first two stanzas of Samnang's poem:
Coins
My grandmother goes to a friend’s house for coining. The copper coin is rubbed over her back. Red lines appear, swell and sting. The rubbing makes friction. The friction makes heat. The heat battles the cold inside. So she says in Khmer to me.
Coins drop into a jar. Coins are collected and saved. Coins are counted and donated. Coins become cash. Cash becomes a chance for a kid to learn to dance.
Prompt Day 23: Write a poem about a traditional custom. Or write a poem about an object depicted in three situations.
More prompts from The Language Inside The full reader's guide to The Language Inside--A Discussion, Reading and Activity Guide for Teachers and Readers--with these and other prompts, discussion questions and activities is HERE.
About The Language Inside
Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts to stay with her grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment. Emma feels out of place in the United States, begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return early to Japan. The Language Inside is a verse novel rich in language both spoken and unspoken that crosses boundaries to create a story layered with love, loss, movement and words. (Delacorte/Random House)YALSA 2014 Best Fiction for Young Adults Notable Books for a Global Society 2014 Bank Street Best Books of the Year 2014 Notable Books for the Language Arts 2014 A Librarians' Choices 2013 Book
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