Poetry from Daily Life: Prepare to be surprised

My guest this week on "Poetry from Daily Life" is Heidi Mordhorst from Silver Spring, Maryland — a short bike ride from Washington, D.C. Heidi was a poet from early childhood (and now publishes an online journal of poetry by kids); both then and now her poems often address the climate crisis. A unique fact about Heidi is that she used to sit and write on a green sofa once owned by Ezra Jack Keats, whose birthday she shares. ~ David L. Harrison

“No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” When Robert Frost wrote these words in 1939, they were part of a sophisticated essay on “The Figure a Poem Makes,” and I’m guessing he hadn’t spent much time with child poets.

I often share this quote when I lead workshops for novice adult writers. There’s always someone who wants to first decide what their poem should say, and then write it out in orderly fashion. They haven’t learned yet that the act of writing a poem is, as Frost says, an opportunity to “remember something I didn't know I knew ... as if I had materialized from cloud or risen out of the ground.”

Children, on the other hand, don’t need reminders to allow for surprise. When young writers of 4-9 years old put pencil to paper (or voice to air, speaking their poems for someone else to scribe) they rarely have an orderly plan in mind, only the most general intention: “I’m writing a recess poem!” If they are stuck I ask, “What do you love? Oh, your baby sister? Chicken nuggets? The dark? Just write that down to start.” Usually that’s enough — they compose word by surprise word, line by surprise line. Frost describes this so: “It begins in delight, it inclines to the impulse, it assumes direction with the first line laid down, it runs a course of lucky events, and ends in a clarification of life ...”

This initial openness to the surprise of a poem is precious. Often a kid’s first poem of the workshop is energetic, wild, impossible, shining — and many kids keep this shine as long as I know them. But for a few, the second poem suffers from a layer of dullness. Receiving positive reactions to the first poem, a fast learner thinks, “Now I know how to do this!” They try to repeat the initial success, avoid the risk of letting a new thing rip, of letting the next poem ride “like a piece of ice on a hot stove ... on its own melting.” Even we experienced poets have to remind ourselves that while we know a lot about crafting poems, our freshest, truest ones come when we relinquish control and welcome surprise, closing our eyes and typing without looking.

To write poetry from daily life, take a lesson from Frost and these young writers: Grab hold of some delight and let impulse lead you to surprise — surprise for the writer, surprise for the reader.

new baby sister

by Camron D.

i have a new baby sister so

i’m so happy so i’m asking my mom

if i can feed her but

i don’t know her name but i still

love her so i’m feeding her

baby food because i love her so much

she’s so cute so i hug her before i go

to sleep

Ode to chicken nugs

by Daniel

Oh chicken nuggies I love

the way you slay all day

order the best in the west

So chicken nuggies it’s time to thrive and dive

so you swim in a box of tomato smashing and dashing.

Finishing the job with looking at the sunset

and no one is snappy but very happy.

After night the nugget of morning shines bright.

Dark Wish

by Caroline B.

I have a dark wish

it’s not what you think

I love the dark

I love creepy

I love peace

the dark is all those things and more

I am darkness to the core

I don’t seem dark

but I have personalities galore

                                                            one

                                                            two

                                                            three

                                                             four

I also love nature and trees

That’s my dark wish

             Do you believe?

Heidi Mordhorst is the author of two poetry collections for young readers and regularly contributes to journals and anthologies for all audiences. She taught in classrooms for 37 years, has been a Poetry Judge for the Cybils Awards, and has served on the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award Committee. Heidi is now a Teaching Poet with the Maryland State Arts Council and carries out her mission of Poetry and Justice for All through her 501(c)3 organization WHISPERshout Writing Workshop.