ROUND ONE: 7-chisel vs. 10-hubris

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:

7-chisel
The Rock
By Catherine Johnson

Mama gave me a rock.
Now sandpaper smiles don’t buff me up.

I’m boulder as I skim the water.
I whittle away time in the brook.
I polish my rock to a shine.

I chisel a new adventure every day,
hewn out of mama’s love.

vs.

10-hubris
The Moment Jonas Salk Decided to Stop Polio
By Liz Steinglass

Was it hubris to say I can?
I can stop this scourge, which arrests the lives of 20,000 every year.
I can isolate this germ, defuse it, reuse it to teach the human body
To purge this plague from the earth.
Was it hubris?
Or was it the first step?

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