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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:
6-fortitude
Wanted: Penguin Papa, For Brooding Egg and Hatching Chick (Only Emperors Need Apply)
by Buffy Silverman
Do you have the fortitude to bear a frozen latitude
and incubate the egg you’ll brood? No time to sleep, no break for food;
you’ll stand through blizzards, ice, and sleet and balance me upon your feet.
For two long months you’ll wish for heat. Then I’ll hatch, I’ll squeak and cheep–
you’ll keep me warm, you’ll keep me dry, until at last it’s Mom you spy!
You’ll call her to us with your cry, then flap a flipper, wave goodbye.
You need not be a sporty dude to earn unending gratitude:
just be a pop with fortitude in this Antarctic latitude.
vs.
14-quintessential
Magic Potion (or Why I Got An ‘F’ in Math)
By Vikram Madan
“First, take one twitch of witches’ itch, and swirl in swish of pirate’s blade
Then add a dab of dragon scab, and spice with hints of tint of jade
Whip up the scowl of two foul owls, and pep with pinch of poet’s woe
Mix in the roar of ogre’s snore, and boil this all with stub of toe!”
“And when you’re done”, the Gypsy hummed, “you will have made a potent brew –
A quintessential tonic that will fix whatever’s vexing you!”
No time to think! I cooked this drink! And poured it on my test today!
Well, did my test turn out the best?!? No … it grew legs and ran away … 
