Lemonade is Fun to Make!

Last Saturday, I picked up a new poetry book titled Lemonade and Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word by Bob Raczka. The front cover was bright and colorful, but the true fun began when I opened the book. I was fascinated by the concept - poems made using only the letters in the title word.

Raczka shares in the beginning that the concept of this collection of poetry came to him after reading poetry online, and finding the poetry of Andrew Russ. Russ makes poems out of single words. Raczka shared one of his favorites:

rain

i
ra n
in

It is even more fun that the focus is to initially keep the letters spaced in the way the title words' letters appear.

Raczka has taken this concept and written 22 poems of his own where he "squeezes" the poem from a single word. With each poem, he initially writes it in the same format as Andrew Russ did. Then, on the next page, he rewrites the poem using stanzas and with letters beside one another to make words. So much word play fun!! I cannot wait to try this with my own students next week for Poetry Friday!!

One of my favorite poems (too many to choose from!) written by Raczka is titled "vacation" :

vacation

ac tion
i n
a
va n


vacation

action
in
a
van

I decided if I was going to ask my students to do it, I would give it a whirl, as well. Bear with me, here. :)

island

a
s and
land
i
s a
i d


island

a sand
land
i
said

For more about Lemonade, check out 100 Scope Notes - Travis calls it a "Best New Book" - high praise indeed! And totally justified!!

And for more Poetry Friday Fun, visit Book Aunt for the entire poetry roundup.