Creative Writing Prompt: ee cummings and Gibberish Poetry

* This creative writing class was inspired by my English 110 class: I was teaching this poem to them, and one of my students wrote an essay about how the language cummings' uses shows his frustration. I had recently been reading about how we don't think of teaching our young writers about sad or angry topics - maybe because it makes us uncomfortable? - but they are no less capable of feeling such feelings. They can also write about these feelings, too. This is an attempt at making that writing feel constructive for them, given the stigma surrounding expressing anger or sadness, especially in children's writing. Young writers are able to engage with the concept really easily; they really get issues in the environment, so it leads to some interesting discussion on topics related to that. (Notably, the word "hell" in the last line is omitted due to the age of the participants)

Slide 1:

Gibberish Poetry

Slide 2:

'pity this busy monster, manunkind'

pity this busy monster, manunkind,

not. Progress is a comfortable disease:
your victim (death and life safely beyond)

plays with the bigness of his littleness
--- electrons deify one razorblade
into a mountainrange; lenses extend
unwish through curving wherewhen till unwish
returns on its unself.
                          A world of made
is not a world of born --- pity poor flesh

and trees, poor stars and stones, but never this
fine specimen of hypermagical

ultraomnipotence. We doctors know

a hopeless case if --- listen: there's a ...
... good universe next door; let's go

E. E. Cummings

Slide 3:

The language that this author uses to express his frustration shows us how we can play with words to express our feelings. He uses sarcasm (ie “not”), he makes up words (“manunkind”, “hypermagial”, “unwish”, “wherewhen”), and he interrupts his own thought process (“listen-- there's...”), to show how upset he is.

Slide 4:

What is he upset by?

Slide 5:

*show poem again so they can re-read, looking for their answers*

Slide 6:

- people (he changes the word “mankind” to be man”un”kind, suggesting that people are not very nice. He may even be referring the them as monsters.
- progress (he says progress is a comfortable disease)
- things (“a world of [things that are] made is not a world of [things that are] born,” meaning that he thinks “stuff” is bad for the world, like: TVs, computers, etc)

Slide 7:

It seems that he is upset with how people are paying too much attention to their stuff rather than the world around them. He also seems to be angry about how people ignore nature while trying to find answers.

He suggests that when the planet has stopped working, there is somewhere else to go when he says: “We doctors know / a hopeless case if --- / listen: there's a .../ good universe next door; let's go.” He is saying there might be another place to go, and it's funny because he interrupts himself with the symbols: ---

Slide 8:

What sorts of things make you upset or sad or frustrated?
*give them time to answer questions*

Slide 9:

What sorts of things make you upset or sad or frustrated?

- when your homework is hard
- arguments with friends or family
- when something you own breaks or is lost
- when it's too cold outside to play
*give them time to answer questions*

Slide 10: 

Try writing a poem about something that frustrates you. You can use the same language that ee cummings uses, like nonsense words, to express how sad it makes you.

For example, if I was writing a poem about how living with my sister can be frustrating, I might say “When she doesn't do the dishes, I want to floop and moop down the loop!”

Even though the words aren't real, your audience will understand that you are frustrated, but when you make your sad feelings sound funny, it helps you feel better. Plus, it will also help you feel better to communicate that frustration!