ROUND ONE: 3-shank vs. 14-unbutton

Click here for authlete instructions.

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:

3-shank
Asleep
By Jen Kelley

From my toes to my heel,
Up my ankle until
My whole calf starts to tingle
and can’t really feel.

I stomp and and I wiggle,
I dance and I kick,
But left toes to left knee,
My left shank – dead to me.

vs.

14-unbutton
Teddy Bear Warrior
By Lissa Clouser

As Button the Bear entered the lair
of Charles the Under-Bed Creature,
he tried not to remember the time last December
when he earned his most distinguishing feature.

With one button eye gone, he’d fight valiantly on
for his boy to be safe from his fears,
but that’s what bears do (he’ll unbutton the beast too!)
to the dust bunnies’ resounding cheers.

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