 My name is Damon Arundel. I am a poet and a teaching artist. And today I have a lesson for you on odes and I'll get into exactly what an ode is in a moment. The big idea of this lesson is that nothing is ordinary and that there's beauty everywhere if we choose to see it. So where we're going to start together is I want you to make a list of things that you like that other people don't appreciate the way that you do. Now this can be video games, this can be movies, TV shows, particular character. It can also be food. I've had some students in the past come up with all kinds of different things that they shared at this point of the lesson that I thought were really interesting. I had one student talk about how he loves taking his cold cereal and putting it in the microwave just for about 5 to 10 seconds so that the top layer gets really crispy and warm and the rest of the milk is just fine. And as soon as he said it out loud, every other student in the class was like eww and that's exactly the point. What are some things that you appreciate that other people don't appreciate as much as you do? For myself, I absolutely love Brussels sprouts. I love cheesy dance movies. I like cats more than dogs. I love graffiti and street art a lot more than a lot of the art that I see in most museums. What are some things that you appreciate or like a lot that other people don't like as much and doesn't mean that you're the only person in the world that likes them. Just means that you're probably more on the minority on this. Another food thing for myself, I really love pickle juice and I've typically had a fair amount of students in my classroom say yes and most of them go eww that's horrible and that's the point. What are some things that you appreciate that other people not so much? Take a moment to come up with five different things that you like a lot as some things that I added, foreign movies with subtitles, really, really hot sunny weather. Steven Universe and I know that that's something that a fair amount of people do love, but not as many people love it as much as they should. So an ode, which is our focus today, an ode is a poem that celebrates someone or something ordinary and shows the beauty of it. So taking that thing that you think is amazing and showing what makes it amazing. Some strategies that a lot of poets use with odes is they'll mention colors, they may bring it to life, especially non living things using personification, talking about it like it's a living breathing thing. Odes can also be about people and I'm going to give you a really great example from a song that is a bit old but I think it's really appropriate. It's called Dear Mama by Tupac Shakur and I'm not going to read the entire thing. I'm just going to read the first verse Dear Mama. You are appreciated when I was young me and my mama had beef 17 years old kicked out on the streets. The back at the time I never thought I'd see her face ain't a woman alive that could take my mama's place suspended from school and scared to go home. I was a fool with the big boys breaking all the rules. I shed tears with my baby sister over the years. We were poorer than the other little kids and even though we had different daddies the same drama when things went wrong, we blame mama. I reminisce on the stress I caused it was hell hugging on my mama from a jail cell and who'd think in elementary. Hey, I'd see the penitentiary one day and running from the police. That's right. Mama catch me put a whoop into my backside and even as a crack fiend mama, you always was a black queen mama. I finally understand for a woman. It ain't easy trying to raise a man. You always was committed a poor single mother on welfare. Tell me how you did it. There's no way I can pay you back, but the plan is to show you that I understand you are appreciated. Now the title of the poem is Dear Mama. He's writing it almost like a letter to her trying to show her how much he appreciates her. And some of the things that I love about this poem is a simple fact that he doesn't hide the things that could be seen as negative. There's a fair amount of things that he mentions in this poem that would not be seen as positive. The fact that they were on welfare, the fact that she was addicted to crack, the fact that she gave him a whooping, the fact that there was a point in time where she was talking to him through the bars of a jail cell. It's a lot of negativity or rather negative things that happened in their lives together. And yet, despite all of those things, Tupac still refers to her as a black queen. And I think that's kind of amazing and it speaks again to that big idea that nothing is ordinary and there is beauty everywhere. We just have to be willing to see it. So we're going to use this as a template for our own odes. And again, the point here is to pick something ordinary, a place, a thing, a person, someone that other people don't appreciate the way that you do. Or maybe someone or something that you appreciate now, but you didn't appreciate it at a previous time. You're going to give your subject praise or thanks. You're going to speak directly to the object or about the object, just like Tupac did in talking about his mama. You're going to use adjectives and descriptive words to bring this thing to life to tell us what it looks like, what it sounds like, what it feels like. Feel free to think about this thing, especially if it is a thing to bring that thing to life through what is called personification and feel free to repeat lines. And I'm going to give you an example of my own that I wrote. This is called owed to my bald head like a lawn whose grass is dead or dying. You are sprinkled with black and gray hairs on long days. I lack the energy to mow the weeds. So I cover you with a hat in the cold. You shiver like a homeless alley cat. Oh bald head, my neglected field. When I shave you clean, you glisten bright as a mirror for people to see their own reflections in. Dear bald head, you shine like the sun. So being descriptive, comparing it to other things you can exaggerate and point out the negative things, but also point them out in a way that seems really positive. I'm referring to my head as a neglected field on those days when I haven't shaved it clean on the days when I have it kind of shines as bright as the sun. You can see your own reflection and I'm exaggerating within that. So for yourself, again, pick an ordinary place or thing, maybe something that was on your list from the beginning. You're going to give your subject praise or thanks. You're going to speak directly to the object or person just like Tupac did just like I was doing dear bald head. Feel free to use verbs to bring that object to life using personification and feel free to repeat lines like dear bald head or O bald head just like I did. So I'm going to give you a few moments to write and see what you come up with. I'm going to share with you what I just came up with. There's a fly that's been buzzing around the room. So I decided to write about the fly dear fly buzzing around the studio. I love to watch the camera operators eyes follow you to and fro like a pendulum on it or a tiny, tiny tennis match. You are black, not neon green like the ball, but we cannot stop watching you. You buzz in my ear. Your buzz in my ear is radio station static. I can't not tune into O fly. Your persistence is magical. Thanks for writing with me. Thanks for being here and enjoy the rest of your day.