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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.
- You can only vote once from a given IP address.
- 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:
2-blurted
Message
by Ann Magee
Dear Mr. Webster,
I make no blurted apology
for the demise of etymology.
Your lifetime with words
Has gone to the birds,
assaulted by recent technology.
vs.
15-emaciated
A Bad Spell
by Rebecca Colby
When I entered in the spelling bee,
I positively radiated
confidence and certainty
despite how long I meditated;
pondering on every word.
But then my brain froze; glaciated.
Listless, weak, humiliated—
I couldn’t spell emaciated!
