Edward Lear
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat
A sea journey, a strange destination, and a pair of travellers who make their own kind of sense.
Notice: Invented travel
Read the source ↗Poetry Post Office · send a line somewhere new
Poetry Post Office
Read four public-domain poems, notice how their words move, and mail one small observation into a new creative game.
Ages 8–12 · together or alone
15–20 minutes
A poem can be a letter with no address. Read the source, notice one move—sound, image, question, or memory—and send that move into your own writing.
Start here
Choose a poem to open
Open the source page, read or listen for a few minutes, and bring one small observation back to the post office.
Lewis Carroll
Jabberwocky
Listen for rhythm and sound before you decide what a made-up word might mean.
Notice: Sound and invented words
Read the source ↗William Wordsworth
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
A walk through nature becomes a memory that keeps returning after the walk is over.
Notice: A remembered scene
Read the source ↗William Blake
The Tyger
Questions repeat and grow, turning an animal into a mystery no one has to solve too quickly.
Notice: Pattern and mystery
Read the source ↗Poem cards link to Project Gutenberg landing pages. Project Gutenberg lists these source eBooks as public domain in the USA; rights can differ by country. Yahaaa stores prompts and credits, not poem text. Project Gutenberg ↗
The trail
Four ways in
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1
Choose
Choose a voice
Open one source page and read enough to hear its voice. You do not have to understand every word before you begin noticing.
Which poem sounds as if it wants to be read aloud, and what makes you think so?
Open the reading room -
2
Pattern
Hear the pattern
Look for a repeated sound, question, image, or shape. Repetition can make a poem feel like a path, a drum, or a spell.
What returns in your poem, and does it feel the same each time?
Read between the lines -
3
Spark
Borrow one small spark
Take a feeling, setting, or curious object—not the poem's exact words—and let it start an original idea.
What new place could grow from one detail in the poem?
Find a story spark -
4
Reply
Mail an original reply
Write to the poet, a character, or the place inside the poem. Your reply can disagree, ask a question, or continue the journey.
Who would you write to, and what would you ask them to notice next?
Press a postcard