Overview

Lists can be a fun generative tool for new ideas, images, and connections — and lists can
potentially work as poems in themselves. Try your hand at each of these different list forms and
see which ones you like best. (Optional: Take it one step further and revise the list — or lists —
into a polished poem.)

Assignment
For this assignment, you’ll make many different types of lists. The most important part is using
your imagination and including interesting variety, language, and details for each. Each section
will guide you toward a slightly different list form. Try to make each individual list as interesting
as you can. Some may feel more like poems than others. You might decide to use some of
these details in other poems (in or out of a list form) in the future, too.

The triad is an Irish and Welsh poetic form that groups together three things based on a topic or
theme. Triads are written in tercets, or groups of three lines of verse. Choose three topics or
themes and list three items for each. Topics can be anything you like. Note: To make a triad feel
more interesting, make at least one of your items (if not all!) a little surprising, suggesting an
interesting image or requiring more of an imaginative leap.

Example:
Topic: Three slow things
An old wristwatch
The space between bells
Three poets walking together

Topic: The color of blue

* The compelling drawing feeling of Blue
* How the ocean transitions different shades of blue
* The impactful sensation of power Blue creates.

Topic: Summer
* The feeling of the summer sun
* The laughs of your dearest friends enjoying the simple things in life
* The stress-free calmness your mind is

Topic: Birthdays
* The sensation of getting older and wiser
* The closeness you are to adulthood
* The feeling of leaving your childhood away
We saw in the first study two examples from Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book, which features
charming and varied lists that have been intriguing readers for more than 1,000 years. Try
making some of your own pillow book lists, choosing any topics you like or borrowing some
ideas from Shonagon’s collection. Make at least three different lists in this style, with at least
five items in each list (though you are welcome to include more), and provide as much detail for
each item as you like.

The Pillow Book contains 164 lists, many with commentary or description. Her topics include:
Things That Make One’s Heart Beat Faster, Clouds, Poetic Subjects (“Hail, bamboo grass”), Rare
Things, Oxen Should Have Very Small Foreheads, Things That Arouse a Fond Memory of the
Past . . ., Unsuitable Things . . ., Insects, Things That Have Lost Their Power . . ., Different Ways of
Speaking, Illnesses, Things That Are Near Though Distant, People Who Seem to Suffer, Things
That Give a Clean Feeling.

From Larry Fagin, The List Poem (New York: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1991, 2000), 50 –
51.

Topic 1: Summer Topic 2: Anxiety Topic 3: Things that given a

clean feeling
* The warm breeze as you walk * The constant urge to compare * The sensation of putting
outside to enjoy the crisp yourself to others on good-smelling clothes
morning air

* The blue ocean and the * The emotion bottled in a small * Putting your hair up in a
refreshed you feel as you walk to part of your brain thinking you slick ponytails or bun
get in can’t say anything.

* The summer sun heating your * The feeling of never being * Your house smells like
body as you lay in the sun enough for anyone cotton and linen
without thinking of anything else

* The pure happiness of being * The anxious ticks and bad * Cuddling your blanket to
surrounded by your friends and habits to ease your mind feel warm with a cup of hot
hearing laugh at the simplest chocolate
things

* The attachment and love you * Feeling like your brain has * Reading your favorite
create for summer as everything control over anything you say chapter of a book you love
seems perfect. and do. and enjoy.
For this list, imagine you are a specific character (one whom you invent or borrow from a book,
myth, fairy tale, etc.). Then imagine you are making some kind of everyday list, such as an
errand or to-do list, or a grocery or shopping list. To intrigue the reader and provide some insight
into the person making the list, include items that give a clear sense of what kind of list it is and
that also hint at the particular interests, quirks, or personal habits of the character who created
the list. Come up with at least 10 items for your list (though feel free to add more or to make
multiple kinds of lists for this character).

List Title: Lily Bloom’s Week To-Do list (Book: “It Ends With Us”)

● Pick up Emmy from Mom’s house and drop her off at Ryle’s
● Drop off Josh at school and pick up Atlas his favorite cheese for Bib’s
● Do laundry
● Do groceries (Ask Atlas what specifically he needs to make cookies!)
● Talk with Alyssa to take care of Emmy on Friday and spend time with Rylee
● Arrange bouquet for the wedding proposal
● Garden with Emmy, Atlas, and Josh
● Dinner on Saturday with Ryle, Alyssa, Micheal, Rylee, and Emmy
● Deliver flower arrangement for the week
● Surprise Atlas with his favorite lunch at work on Wednesday

Use this space creatively to engage with the topic in some way. You might try making more lists

(or list poems) of a particular kind, illustrating one of your lists visually, or making a list-inspired

comic. It’s up to you how you want to use this space in your Spy’s Notebook — but don’t forget

to use it!

Pick up Emmy from Mom’s house and drop her off at Ryle’s

- Ryle and I are divorced because his personality shifted completely

- He became more of an enemy than a friend

 - He hit me

- The hitting became a habit and I realize I was becoming my mother

- I felt unwanted, unheard, discriminated, and embarrassed that I let that happened

- I escaped, I spoke, I screamed, I yelled, and I cried

Now that you’ve generated all these lists and list poems, choose the list that is the most

interesting to you and revise it into a poem. As you revise, consider poetry elements such as

word choice, vivid imagery, connections between parts, surprise, variety, first line, and last line to

help you strengthen the piece as a whole. You can keep your poem in a list form or expand it a
bit to include other details or images. Be sure to give your poem a title, too — perhaps

something that speaks to its qualities as both a list and a poem?

Read each question and evaluate your Spy's Notebook. If the answer to the question is "yes,"

check the box to the left. If the answer is "no," go back and revise your work. Your teacher will

use these same guiding questions to score your observations.

Did I demonstrate an understanding of the assignment by:

 Writing at least three different three-line triads? (Three items per topic, total of nine
lines)

Writing at least three different “pillow book” lists, with at least five items per list?

Writing a to-do list or grocery list for an imagined character, with at least 10 items per
list?

Did I demonstrate the ability to think creatively by:

Using my imagination to come up with list items that are vivid, interesting, and
varied?

Choosing interesting and varied topics for my lists?

Considering how the parts of my lists work together to create an intriguing collection
when read together?

Using the space provided for an additional list, list poem, illustration of a list, list-
inspired comic, or some other creative response to the activity?

Form and Presentation

Did I follow presentation requirements by:

Using 12-point font, if typed, or neat and legible handwriting? (Note: Original notes on
the overheard conversation may be messy, as long as they are reformatted more
neatly in the next step.)

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