Poetic Form - Concrete Poetry

Grandits, J.  (2007).  Blue lipstick.  New York, NY:  Clarion Books.  ISBN 0-618-56860-3

Jessie is in high school, and she thinks a lot about everything.  She is opinionated, and she loves to share those opinions.  She has a wide range of interests, talents, friends, and family members.  And she loves to write poems about it all. 

Blue Lipstick is a book of poetry containing concrete poes as told by the fictional character Jessie.    Concrete poems have a shape that illustrates what is being said in the poem.  For example, this is an excerpt of one of Jessie’s poems.

This small volume has great visual appeal, and once the reader is drawn into the graphic nature of the poems, the words beg to be read.  Jessie’s words are humorous, and Grandits does a great job of getting into the head of a teenage girl and expressing her common, and sometimes not-so-common, outlook on life.  Concrete poems are a combination of words and visuals combined to bring the poems to life.  The poems are free verse, and they are sometimes challenging to read (think maze – where do I start and which way do I go next?)  But that just adds to the fun.

Jessie is honest to the point of casting herself in a not-so-positive light.  She shares feelings and experiences that high school boys and girls can both relate to.  As a high school teacher, I’m constantly on the lookout for intriguing materials for my students to read, hoping to entice some of the reluctant readers out of their defensive shells and into the world of words.  This book should certainly be the ticket for some of them. 

Introducing Jessie to a class of students should be a fairly easy task.  Use “The Wall” to introduce her to the students.  In this poem, Jessie relays a frustrating experience with an acquaintance and describes its outcome in her life. 

This poem could be followed up nicely with her poem “A Chart of My Emotional Day” which looks like a tape from a heart monitor as the words go above and below a horizontal line across the middle of the page labeled "Just Okay" and reaching up toward the highest level of "Ridiculously Happy" and down to the lowest level of "Shaving My Head and Running Away."   

After sharing these poems, encourage students to create their own concrete poems about a day or an incident in their lives that has had an impact on them.  I can’t imagine students not wanting to read more of Jessie’s poems after experiencing one or two of them.  A quick flip through the book on the document camera so students get a glimpse of the pages should provide the remaining impetus needed to get them asking to borrow this book. 

Blue Lipstick is one of my favorite finds (and actually, a Reading Specialist friend of mine found it and passed it on when she was doing a project.  Thanks, Lindsey!)  This is a book of poetry that should be in every collection and should inspire lots of writing.