Poetry is a great tool for teens to define themselves in the world as well as define the world around them. As Sekou Sundiata says in the film, a teen poet or spoken word artist "is someone who is telling us, as honestly as possible, how it is with them. How they see the world." The goal of this section is to encourage students to think about who they are: through an environment that encourages creative self-expression, teenagers can find and develop their voice.

exercise: I Am Poem
One of the keys to good writing is developing confidence in your voice - finding out who you are and what you want to say.

Note: In the creative writing classroom, it is important that every voice is invited to be a part of the discussion. Students should be encouraged to read their work out loud, but should also be allowed to say "pass" if they are not yet comfortable.

1) Students write down five words they would use to describe themselves.
2) On the board, the teacher creates a table like the one below, listing six broad categories across the top. (We have suggested some categories, but feel free to use whatever titles you like.)
3) Students copy the table into their notebooks.
4) The class as a whole calls out and fills in each of the columns with descriptive words.
5) Students copy those words into their notebooks and circle four of the words in each column. Those words, combined with their original five words, will compose their poetic pallet.
6) Students then use these words to create a poem. (They can use any other words as well, but they must use the words that they wrote down and circled.)
7) The first words of the poem must be: "I am..."



Note: For more advanced work, change "I am" to "I was" or "I will be." Also, the students can use for their pallet the words that they did not circle.

take-home assignment: Find Your History
America is a collection of immigrants: nearly all of us have come from someplace else. In the film, Chinedu talks about his experience being raised in Nigeria, explaining that it has connected him to his culture. The aim of this activity is to have students trace their history and then write about it. Students can ask their grandparents, parents, or older relatives about their family's history; or look at old scrapbooks and family photo albums; or do research in the library and on the Internet. Remember, everyone has a story to tell.

The teens in Poetic License represent the most recent point on a long historical oral poetic continuum. These young writers are following in the footsteps of the verbal battles of ancient Greece, the Griots of West Africa, the Haiku poetry of Japan, the limericks of Ireland, the storytelling traditions of Native Americans, and the free-flowing verse of the Beat Generation, to name just a few. This section will explore some of these influences as well as introduce students to the elements of sound in poetry.

The one element that all the oral and spoken word traditions have in common is a "call and response" - an immediate dialogue between the speaker and the audience. Slam poetry, which encourages audience participation, is only the most recent form of that dialogue. Can you find other examples?

exercise: The Music Poem
1) Students volunteer names of musical categories or forms (such as jazz, rock, punk, techno, etc...). Students should copy this list into their notebooks.
2) Students then circle the form that they most relate to.
3) Students write down 5 to 10 phrases that describe that musical form.
4) They then use those phrases to construct a poem.

Note: For more advanced work, students perform the piece in the musical style that they have chosen.

take-home assignment
Students research one of the international forms of the oral tradition, and then write a poem mimicking that style.

Many writers find the material and inspiration for their work in their communities. The environment informs their voice, prompting them to observe and chronicle life around them. This section is intended to have students draw on their communities for their own work. These exercises will ask youths to observe their neighborhoods, encouraging them to notice the people and events that make up their everyday lives.

Asheena's poem "125th St. Blues" describes the characters she sees on that famous street. She also talks about how she writes only on public transportation because that's where she feels the people are most "real." What observations can you make about your own neighborhood? What makes your neighborhood unique? Where could you be most inspired to write? Why?

exercise: The List Poem
Asheena describes her writing process this way: "Sometimes I'll just sit on the train and write what I see. Not necessarily a poem, I'll just write:

a man with blue pants
a red hat
a little girl cries
her mother puts a pacifier in her mouth."

Following this model, students create a list, writing down descriptive phrases. The list should describe elements of their community, whether it is their street, the school cafeteria, or their corner market.

From that list, students then construct a poem. To help get students started, you may find it helpful to offer some writing prompts:

• "Everyday on the way to school, I see..."
  
• "During the school day, I hear..."
  

exercise: The Group Poem
Great writing can happen in collaboration - a process in which more than one voice contributes to the poem. In this exercise, two students work together to create one poem. (The class should be divided into groups of two.)

To start the poem, student #1 writes down the first word and passes the paper to student #2, who writes the next word. Student #1 then writes down the next two words and passes the paper to student #2 , who writes the next two words. This process is repeated until they reach 10 words a piece. At that time, they should decide whether the poem is finished or whether they would like to continue writing.

Note: For more advanced work, students should try working "backwards", going from ten words to one.

take-home assignment: The Persona Poem
Students identify a person that they know in their community and write a poem in his or her voice.

At the end of the film, Tim Arevalo's One Poem For Us is a testimonial to his generation. Asking his peers to take a hard look at themselves and believe in their beauty, Tim says that the poem "was just something that I needed to say."

...How have we managed to travel so little, but hate ourselves so much?
Ginsberg said he saw the best minds of his generation destroyed and I
have seen the same. I have seen us in our rooms, foil and lighter in our
hands, straw in our lips and nose, chasing Black Dragons, snorting White
Cobras, because 10 dollars was cheap for a double hit of Joy.
I have seen us hunched over the toilet bowls vomiting self-esteem down
the drain because Vogue and Elle always have beauty in a size three and
that was only a heave-ho and up-chuck away.
I have seen us on the corner complacent and numb, copping doom in dime
bags because we didn't know the Grim Reaper wore Filas and a hoody.
I have seen us swigging golden poison because we were fools and thought
manhood was sold in 40 ounce bottles.
I have seen us spread our legs like the horizon because some man tricked
us into accepting that love was only found on our backs.
I have seen us -
I have seen us and I see us for what we are -- nothing less than great
because we are the poets.

What words, phrases and/or images caught your attention? Why? What kind of statement is Tim making about his generation?

exercise: One Poem For Us
Students write a poem to their peers. What message would they like to convey to other teens around the country?

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