‘Yet how can I forget that (14) ?

a) STEP 1: Students get the following skeleton of a poem. They are told to guess which words go in the blanks, however crazy their guesses might be.

b) STEP 2: Students get the poem again; this time, for each blank the first letter of the word is provided (ex: (1) p          , (2) t          , (3) y          , etc.). They can alter their initial guesses and complete each blank again.

c) STEP 3: This time, students get the poem with the first two letters of each blank (ex: (1) ph          , (2) ta          , (3) yo          , etc.).

d) STEP 4: At this point, students get the completed poem and are asked to discuss the different ‘readings’ of the poem.

THE CONFESSION

Brian Patten

When he showed her the (1)             again, she said,

‘Yes, I remember (2)             it.

I was incredibly (3)             then.

You handed me the (4)           

And telling me over and over how to use it

You posed, (5)             (6)           

You were so (7)           , so (8)            to everything.

‘It was July afternoon.

The day was (9)            and my (10)             hummed.

I was (11)            and in search of (12)            (13)           

That seemed beyond you.

‘Yet how can I forget that (14)           ?

Loock closer at the (15)           

See there (16)            (17)            (18)           ,

In the (19)            (20)             you

The other (21)            (22)            so (23)           ’.