ROUND TWO: 6-speculate vs. 3-rigged

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:

6-speculate
A Bargain
By Laura Shovan

At dinnertime, I speculate about the green stuff on my plate.
This gloppy mess, was it alive? Could it be spinach, kale, endive,
or maybe radioactive peas floating on a zombie’s sneeze?
Its pungent smell is deleterious enough to make my brain delirious,
but I will eat the thing I hate, if you’ll just let me stay up late.

vs.

3-rigged
Oil and Water
By Robyn Hood Black

A bottlenose dolphin said to her calf,
“Let’s go where the Gulf’s not so deep.
We’ll visit our friends from pods closer in
and find a soft current for sleep.”

The calf after swimming whistled and squeaked,
“The sandy floor here is all digged –
This playground’s a 10 with its jungle gym!”
“Not quite,” said his mom. “It’s been rigged.”

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