Making 'Metaphor Poems' by Simile & Rhyme: A Guide for High School Teachers

Leland Jamieson, poet and author of two collections of poetry (21ST CENTURY BREAD, and IN VITRO), lives and writes in East Hampton, CT. Because budgets for the arts are always tight, and many schools lack a Poet in the Schools Program, Jamieson has written a 42-page guide for high school teachers that addresses this lack in a creative, participatory manner. For schools that do have the program, Jamieson's guide makes a strong follow-up. Moreover, it carries poetry-making to a new level through its teacher-directed, student-generated discovery of simile and metaphor by "Reverse Rhyming." Out of this students evolve rich figures of speech which they own in poems they craft with natural, unforced rhyme. The guide reprints, from the author's first book, 16 poems with broad appeal to teens. It identifies similes and metaphors found in each. As a bonus, it models for the high school teacher how to win over students resistant to poetry so they become active participants.