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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:
12-rhetoric
A Rhetorical Question?
By Donna Smith
A quizzical fowl
is the Northern Barred Owl,
But his question is always the same:
“Whoo-whoo are you? Whoo-whoo are you?”
Rhetoric at best,
That question’s a test;
His meal need not tell him it’s name –
“Whoo-whoo, adieu! Whoo-whoo, adieu!”
vs.
NOTE: The following poem is geared toward children 6 and under …
13-congeal
Shooting Stars
By Angie Marie Breault
Sleep child sleep, for your dreams lie in wait.
They are hidden away till the hour gets late.
Each morning they melt, and they rise to the place
where the moon finds its home and they float out in space.
But darkness returns to congeal every dream,
then they twinkle on high as they glisten and gleam.
And when, little child, you close your eyes tight,
your dreams fall from heaven to meet you each night.
12-rhetoric vs. 13-congeal: Which Poem Did You Prefer?
- 12-rhetoric (Donna Smith) (38%, 90 Votes)
- 13-congeal (Angie Marie Breault) (62%, 149 Votes)
Total Voters: 239

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