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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.
- Votes are counted in real time and cannot be changed once entered.
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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:
16-repudiate
Guilt Trip for a Dilettante
by Julie Krantz
my mother always cautioned… “do your duties with aplomb—
comb your hair and brush your teeth, take a bath (at least once a week),
clean your room and travel light, wear an outlook clear and bright.”
“to repudiate your duti(ates),” she’d piously intone, was absolutely daft—
“your teeth will rot, your room will stink, your very skin will loose and shrink.
your hair (what’s left of it) will thin, your prospects will grow grey and dim.”
“but that’s not all, my Angel Cakes—your mother’s goodly heart will break.”
vs.
8-eavesdropping
Swallows Return to the Barn at Eve
by Jane Yolen
Swarming homeward to the eaves
Like a bunch of fork-tailed leaves.
Hearing all the buzzing gossip
In the barnyard as we cross it.
Flying fast, we swallow hard,
All the insects in the yard.
Always listening, never stopping,
That’s what we call barn eavesdropping.
