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Voter Instructions:
- The countdown at the bottom of each pairing indicates how much time is left to vote.
- When voting closes, timer will disappear.
- Read both poems as many times as you like.
- Mark the poem you like best by clicking the circle next to its name.
- Press the “Vote” button to record your vote.
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- Classrooms should submit one vote as a class.
- Students can then vote again individually from home.
Things to Consider in Making a Choice:
- How well the poem incorporates the authlete’s assigned word.
- Technical elements: meter, rhyme, form, shape, and other poetic standards.
- Creativity: wordplay, imagery, unusual approach, etc.
- Subtle elements that make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
- Your overall response: emotional reaction such as admiration, tears, laughter, terror, or some indefinable feeling.
Here are the poems:
11-burgeoning
Springtime Has Come to Wabeno
by Deborah Holt Williams
Springtime has come to Wabeno,
In Wisconsin’s frozen North.
Maples are burgeoning,
Fishermen sturgeoning,
Down at the Church of the Blessed Virgeoning,
All sing with praises as May polkas forth.
vs.
3-hybrid
Mystery Meat
by Victoria Warneck
I bought my lunch in school today,
and boy I’m sad I did —
a hybrid burger-fish fillet
more rubbery than squid.
So unidentifiable!
So sickening to eat!
I mustn’t be held liable
for yacking on my feet.