Emotions described in acrostic poems

Wrote poems about mad, sad, glad, scared, and ashamed

Tried this poem-writing activity with a 14-year-old boy who struggles to identify and articulate him emotions. The result was five poems written about mad, sad, glad, scared, and ashamed. Several things happened before writing the poems to help him become familiar with feelings and the bodily sensations that go along with emotions. We discussed emotions and the different ways they can impact your body: tense, tight, tears, tingly, hot, cold, etc. Then we read several children’s books about emotions. His last exercise before writing the poems was to draw stick people to depict mad, sad, glad, scared, and ashamed, with the most important aspect the facial expression.

The poetry exercise began with showing him an acrostic poem where each letter of a person’s name or a word become the first letter of a line of poetry. For example, tree, might become a poem like this:

Tree

They are big or sometimes small
Reaching always for the sky
Every kind grows in the park
Each one has leaves, a trunk, and roots.

The boy wrote one acrostic poem using his name to describe himself, then another poem using the word “rain.” Next,  I asked him to write one poem for each of the main emotion words we had discussed and that he had drawn pictures of. The result was close to astonishing! This boy who, a short time ago, described everything as being either sad or happy, and when asked how emotions felt in his body said, “Can’t feel anything,” could now distinguish nuances of emotions! When I asked him what he thought about his poems, he said, “I feel very proud!” And, he should!

Here are two examples of what he wrote:

Glad

Gives you energy
Let’s you laugh
Always makes you smile
Does not make you feel lonely.

Scared

Sometimes can make you cry
Can make you nervous
And make you tense
Reminds you of scary thoughts about it
Even can make you shake
Does not make you feel relaxed.

The process of having to think about different ways to describe an emotion helps embed it in the child’s brain. The more opportunities we give a child to articulate and talk about his or her emotions, the less potential their is for acting out those emotions inappropriately.

From nothing to love

Nothing, by Mick Inkpen, tells the story of a sad, lonely, misshapen stuffed cat. He’s left behind in an attic when the family moves out. He can’t quite remember who he is or what his name is. One of the movers shines a flashlight on him and says, “Oh, it’s nothing,” so he decides his name must be Nothing. He meets up with a mouse, a fox, and a frog, and eventually a tabby cat. Nothing cries to the cat, “I don’t know who I am!” The tabby cat befriends Nothing and takes him on an adventure. Eventually, the tabby cat takes Nothing home. Nothing finds out that he, in fact, belongs to this family. They clean him up, fix his injuries, and envelop him in love. He has a family! He’s home! He’s loved!

The story is excellent and the illustrations are exquisite. It looks very much like a young children’s book, but the message is appropriate for all ages. Recently, I gave this to a 14-year-old boy who was intrigued by the book.

Discussion or writing topics:

• How did Nothing feel in the beginning of the book? Have you ever felt like that?
• How did Nothing feel at the end of the book? What helped him feel differently?
• What are five feelings that Nothing might have had at the beginning of the book?
• What are five feelings that Nothing might have had at the end of the book?

Book info:
Nothing by Mick Inkpen. Written for young children, ages 4-8, but applicable for older children, teens, and adults. Helpful for individuals dealing with issues relating to adoption, life changes, feeling alone, worthlessness, and grief and loss.

Handling the mad

Feeling mad is a common emotion for children struggling with challenges in their lives. They may be angry because they aren’t getting their way, or because they’ve lost a loved one, or because they don’t fit in with the other kids. Mad often covers up other emotions such as scared, hurt, or lonely. But because mad is so noticeable, it’s often a good emotion to start with when helping children learn to manage their emotions.

I’m Mad, written for young children, works for all ages. The story is about a little girl that wakes up mad because the weather is bad and she and her dad can’t go to the park, a long-planned event. Her dad helps her think of different ways to accept her anger and deal with her mad. The book is written in a format where the child can pick the order to read the options for handling her anger.

The options include doing something physical, squishing play dough, talking about feelings, singing the un-mad song, asking others about their feelings, and planning something fun. The illustrations are black and white providing an opportunity for a child to color them in.

The book, I’m Mad, can be read to very young children, or older children can read it to themselves. It also works for older kids who may have low-level reading skills.

BOOK INFO: I’m Mad, written by Elizabeth Crary, 1992. Appropriate for ages 4-12.

Poetry for sharing emotions

Poetry provides an optional method for sharing emotions. Children and teens struggling with issues of feeling different, or being bullied, or grief and loss, or life-changing challenges need to share their emotions in order to find relief and help in moving forward. Even for kids who have never written poetry, the intrigue and challenge may encourage them to share their feelings in a new way.

In Poetry Everywhere, the author says, “It is… the nature of poetry to shake things up and engage the imagination.” So, point your children or clients towards poetry and see if you can shake out a few of their emotions, giving voice to their inner thoughts and feelings.

A simple poem format is a lune. Lunes have three words for the first line, five for the second, and three for the third. That’s it! The format is simpler than a haiku which is based on syllables. Here are a couple of examples:

Our Dog
Misty is black
and old and crinkly stiff
We love her.

Mommy
I love you
Wonderful mommy, beautiful and kind
Missing you already

Alone
I sit alone
No one comes to me
Please see me

You can have a child write three lunes about the same topic. Or, you could have them weave together several lunes into one poem. Start off with a simple, unemotional topic like a season or a place. Then give them emotion words to work with–angry, alone, lost, determined, or depressed. See what they come up with. It might just be another way to find out what’s inside and to help them let those feelings out.

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Reference: Poetry Everywhere–Teaching Poetry Writing in School and in the Community, by Jack Collom and Sheryl Noethe, 2005.

Good Night, Mr. Tom

A book about trauma, healing, and learning to trust

Beaten and emotionally traumatized by his single mother, Willie is too young to know that life should be different. He’s evacuated to the English countryside during World War II and his life changes. Over time, he learns to trust, connect, heal, and love.

Willie arrives in Mr. Tom’s  home covered in bruises from his beatings, and wets his bed nightly. His mother’s fierce, negative indoctrination about a world filled with nasty, mean people slips away as Willie makes friends, learns to read, discovers his artistic talents, has his first birthday party, and participates in a school play.

Abruptly, Willie is called back to London to see his mother. She immediately reminds him about living in fear and without love and kindness, and his shame returns. After several weeks, Mr. Tom travels to London with his dog to find Willie and is shocked at what he finds.

Eventually, Willie returns to the village with Mr. Tom where he resumes his emotional path of healing, living amongst kind-hearted, generous people. Even through the death of his best friend, he continues to heal and grow emotionally.

WRITING ACTIVITIES
Write a short summary of the story followed by a paragraph about how this story might connect to the child reading the book.

Make a list of five things that had to change inside Willie before he could learn to trust and love.

Is it fair that Willie grew up with a mom like he had? Write about that.

DISCUSSION TOPICS
What were some of the challenges Willie faced in his life? Are your challenges similar or different?

How did Willie’s trust of adults get broken? How did that get repaired?

BOOK INFORMATION
Grades 4-10. Can be found in the library or bought here.