THE PENGUINS

Silvia Vecchini Sualzo

These are mine
word
poetry notebook

THE PENGUINS
SAD... HAPPY..............................................................3
FEAR... COURAGE.........................................................9
WORDS… SILENCE.......................................................15
INSIDE... OUTSIDE...........................................................23
TOGETHER… ALONE.......................................................31
SMALL... BIG.......................................................39
THE SAME... DIFFERENT .................................47
NEAR... FAR.......................................................55

Bibliographic sources of poetic texts ..........................63

 SAD... HAPPY
POETRYASACOMPASS

SHAKEASIEVE LandstoDiscover
Poetry delves into emotions and is very At that point we discover that our emotions are
demanding. She doesn't like to stay on the surface, to say things more complex than it may seem
trivial. Especially when they concern what at first sight.
it happens within us. Reading a poem is like What is happiness? And sadness? When do we
filter our emotions and our let's be more careful (this is the arrangement that
deeper thoughts and see if some, instead the poetry requires), we understand that they are lands
to pass by, they remain to be looked at more closely. connected to each other and that one never finishes discovering them.
Knowing oneself is a great journey and poetry can
to be an excellent compass for orientation: it suggests us
how to recognize what we feel and helps us to understand
better what others can feel.

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 SAD... HAPPY

To laugh is to open the window

to have a trill in one's mouth
an explosion that you don't expect
it is the opposite of a yawn.

Silvia Vecchini

The sea is all blue.

The sea is all calm.
In the heart, it's almost a scream
of joy. And everything is calm.

Sandro Penna

What does it resemble to laugh heartily?

And joy? Can it resemble the blue and calm sea?
If I had to associate an image with happiness, which one?
would you use?
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 SAD... HAPPY

A sad hippopotamus, one day,

experiencing a great melancholy,
spread an announcement all around:
"Does anyone want to keep me company?"

"I will sing here-quack!" one suggested.

"I'll catch the bugs," another said.
Many came to promise things,
but to him it seemed that no one understood.

Many wanted to say, or do,

discuss with him about some plan,
many others wanted to teach him:
to him it just seemed like a big fuss.

Finally came one, all silent,

he said nothing, and yet, from that day,
around the hippopotamus, in help,
gentle quiet friend, swam around.

Roberto Piumini either one thing or another, what would you write?

the instructions to preserve happiness and the

instructions to heal from melancholy.
5
 When a bird shakes its tail to balance on a tree,
he feels happier than if he had been given a fortune
or that a nest had just been built with a bathroom.
Why can't men be joyful like this?

David Herbert Lawrence

Oh yes... Why can't men be cheerful

like this bird?
Sometimes, especially for adults, there's a bit lacking.
distraction and lightness to appreciate happiness
enclosed in the simplest moments.
And often we confuse happiness with possession
something. This poem that tells of a bird
free and cheerful seems to want to remind us of it.
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 SAD... HAPPY

The catalog of happy moments

Write on this page, as on many little

what others have written.

Gather all these voices and try to transform them.
the moments told in a single collective poem
What do you say happiness is for you.
Make a nice poster, keep it in class or
print it small like a ticket to remember
Even to the great ones, what truly makes you happy.

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 ANAPHORA
To live is to be awake
and to give oneself to others,
Anaphora is the repetition of the initial part.
from the verse. This repetition underlines and strengthens
always give the best of oneself,
a concept or an image. and not to be cunning.
In the verses of the poem to the side, the anaphora opens each stanza.
To live is to love life
with his funerals and his dances,
find fables and myths
SADNESSAND HAPPINESSARE JUSTTWO ELEMENTS in the most sordid events.
OF LIFE,TWO COMPONENTSTHATINTERTWINE
IN OUR DAYS. LIVING ISALSO GOINGTHROUGH To live is to wait for the sun
THE DAYS OF STORMWAITING FORTHOSE OF SUN. in the days of black storm,
evade the inflated words,
dress with party fringes.
Do you want to try using anaphora too?
Could you write a text of three stanzas that have as
first verse 'To laugh is...' To live is to choose the humble
melodies without noise and gunfire,
descend towards autumn
and not get tired of loving.

Angelo Maria Ripellino

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 FEAR... COURAGE
POETRYASATRAVELCOMPANION

ASOURCEALWAYSNEW DON'TBEAFRAID
Poetry guides us in getting to know ourselves better. Perhaps the most beautiful thing that poetry teaches us with
and the others. Reading the words of many poets we its variety is that we should not be afraid of
we gradually realize that emotions have voices, our emotions. The words of the poets of the world
sounds, different pauses and silences; they have been told, They keep us company on this journey. We are not.
described, transformed a hundred and a hundred times during soli. Many before us, close and far from us,
the passing of the centuries. And the last has still not been said They have traveled those roads. Having available
word, the last poem! their words are a great wealth and a great
Each of us can add our verse, encouragement, whatever our goal may be.
to tell in poetry his experience, his
thoughts and his emotions. We are a source
inexhaustible!

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 FEAR... COURAGE

Finding courage is not easy

Sometimes it takes time to find the right words to say something that matters to us.
heart, to talk about our feelings, to confide a secret to someone.
In the poetry on this page, you can read the hesitations of a shy love.

Baaaa ah noooo

so but yes

not bear (blushes)

ah When he is shy

perhaps love

that is ha silenzi

So I... infinity.

Bernard Friot

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 FEAR... COURAGE

Underneath Other times it happens to be afraid of something.

I am afraid In this poem, someone is trying to find courage.
I would like to go too dive to explore the seabed with a mask.
In the meantime, one wonders if perhaps the sea, large and big
I would like the mask and the fins
how is it, do not sometimes fear the children.
I would like to watch all the fish.
the shells
the wonders
what my friends tell
when they come back up.
I say that I don't feel like it.

I'm going later

or tomorrow, that I won't go anymore
or next summer
but deep down
I would like to go there now.
You can already swim.

sometimes he/she is afraid

in search of adventure. Do you also want to lend your voice to this fear?
Maybe you'll discover something you don't know yet. Perhaps even the scales,
Silvia Vecchini the darkness, the cellar, the carousel, the spider are afraid of something.
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 FEAR... COURAGE

Love song for the wind

He is mocking and curious

go to the mountains and the sea
he is swift and generous
nothing can stop him.

Crept everywhere
flies with the birds
can know everything
and he/she tousles his/her hair.

He is free and he smiles

enter every adventure
A thousand magic tricks
has no fear.

Let the leaves speak

brings voices and songs
does not care about time
and is without masters.

Giuseppe Pontremoli Do you resemble a child a little?

Draw a wind child on this page.
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 FEAR... COURAGE

In this beautiful poem, it is indeed a child who,

At the dawn of humanity, fear conquers and surpasses
the boundary... for the desire to know and discover.

Once, the world was unknown to us

beyond the bank, the holm oak, beyond a row of pines
the unknown territory was beginning:
the men were holding women and children close to the fire,
protected by their natural boundaries,
they imagined a dark world beyond the spinning,
populated by monsters and ferocious beasts;
then, in the dark, before falling asleep,
a child dreamed of crossing that border,
enter the unknown and forbidden forest,
see the monsters and kill the panther,
and to surpass the horizon, to descend to the sea.
One night a child conquered fear,
the thirst to see was stronger.
in which you conquered a fear of yours and discovered
Roberto Mussapi
something new.

the story of a companion. Gather your

stories of courage in a book.
13
 OXYMORON In the mornings of October
when dreams
of me as a child
The oxymoron is the union of two opposites. they began to be filled with breeze and voices
Bring together two thoughts or two meanings that are of someone had opened a window
per se irreconcilable because one expresses the opposite and if he had left gently)
of the other.
the train that passed at that time
Read alongside this wonderful poem by Attilio Bertolucci. not far away, with its smoky mane
where a child, just awake, stays in his bed and the whistles gave me a sweet and mute terror.
to listen to noises outside and inside the house. I was lying under him without thoughts
Did you happen to find one or more oxymorons? with the roar in the ears,
until everything was over
and mom was running towards me
from the horizon, sweaty and fresh
THE OXYMORON ISATRUE "GYMNASTICS"
in a pink robe.
FORTHE MIND,ATRAININGTO BECOME
I was awake
MORE ELASTIC, EMBRACE ONETHINGAND
and a bee was flying
ATTHE SAMETIME ITS OPPOSITE,ASKING US
WHATSECRETLIES INTHE SURPRISING for the radiant air.
I would have liked to call and I stayed silent.
ASSOCIATION PROPOSED BYTHE POET.

Attilio Bertolucci

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 WORDS... SILENCE
THEWORDS OF POETRYLOVE SILENCE

THESILENCEBEFOREWRITING INSILENCE,WORDSBLOOM
To write, one must listen. Poetry loves silence even when it is read.
What? or it is listened to. The words of the poem resonate within
The sounds around us, but also the colors, the shapes, to our silence. Their voice leaves an echo that
the faces, the movements. Listening with the ears continues to talk to us even after a long time.
and with our eyes. Making silence helps us to feel In these pages we will approach the word flat
e vedere meglio il paesaggio fuori e dentro di noi. piano, listening first to the sounds around us.
It helps us to listen to the words that are born in the
nostra mente, le capriole che fanno nella nostra
imagination. Entering silently within ourselves
it helps us listen better to our thoughts.

THESILENCEONTHEPAGE
The silence of poetry is the white between word and word,
the white we leave at the end of the line. The white
it is a silent pause that helps us to give value
all the words we have chosen.

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 WORDS... SILENCE

I feel
the wind.
He is inside
sound seeds.
He places and rests
in the secret ears
where sun and thought
I am
together.
Those seeds
of sound
slowly
they grow
in music, sounds, voices
immense
and sweets.
In shells
the sound of the sea grows.
Then the wind returns.
I feel fresh breezes
dry the noises
cut the leaves
to all music and sound A poem by Roberto Piumini that speaks
of the wind, to prepare ourselves to listen
end to the silence.
16 the sounds that surround us.
 WORDS... SILENCE

If you want, try to close

for a moment sounds,

noises, voices present now
around you.
Then reopen your eyes and write
in the shell the sounds that
have you listened to the words that
you came to mind
arranging them as you like.

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 WORDS... SILENCE

Explore the space you are in and try to do With the help of an adult, take a device for
a game: go hunting for sounds! record and, while remaining silent, records the sounds
at home, on the street, on the bus, at the market, in
laundry, or in the middle of nature. Capture
Tintinnal the crystal: tin tin! sounds, noises, cries, voices that are around you. Try
Whisper the voice: bis bis! in different places.
That thunder rumbles: bor bor! Listen to the sounds you have recorded and try to transcribe them.

Whispers that wind: shh shh!

Landscape of a thousand noises
It is a ray of all colors
Does not shine in the eye
My whisper in the ear
Sound of waves
That the wind confuses
And the heart responds: boom boom!

Bruno Tognolini

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 WORD... SILENCE

Silence is peace
it is like the silent sky
the clouds that flow
bright and lively
a child who watches
with sparkling fear
it is nice to see the water falling Ilsi
silence is not just happiness
but also a drop
that shatters the silence
silence is a book
that opens.

Fatima, ten years old

Now try
listen to the words that,
in silence, they are born inside
of you. Look at the images
that silence suggests to you
as if they were figures
between the pages of a book
that opens only for you.

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 HAIKU
A type of poetry that loves silence very much Often it captures a scene, a detail, and leaves.
it is the haiku, a poetic composition born in Japan a "blank" space, a silence that fills with the
in the 17th century. sounds of nature or that the reader must complete
It is a very short poem, without a title, with a tone imagining.
simple, dedicated to nature in the flow of Read this composition and illustrate it.
seasons. with a drawing.

In the old pond

a frog jumps.
The sound of water.

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 WORD... SILENCE

If you want, you can try too!

The haiku is generally composed of three
version: the first of 5 syllables, the second of 7
and the third again of 5.
Choose a subject, count the syllables search

Are you short on ideas for the subject of your

haiku? Beyond the elements of nature, you can
choose something you know well:

THE BICYCLE
THEICECREAM
ACAT
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 ONOMATOPOEIA Read which word Eugenio Montale uses
to give Darci the feeling of the characteristic
sound produced by cicadas in summer.
It is the imitation of a sound of nature or
of an object or action that is being discussed.
Why is it fun to use?
As they rise
Sometimes we may lack the right word to
tremuliscricchi
describe the sound we hear and want
put into our poetry. of cicadas.
So we can let that sound in
in our text or try to invent
a new word that conveys that sound What sound do cicadas make? Reproduce it.
that struck us! with the voice.

SEARCHAMONGTHESOUNDSYOUHAVERECORDEDAND
TRANSCRIBEDANDTRYTO INVENTNEWONES
WORDSTHATIMITATEASOUND OF NATURE,
OFAN OBJECTORACTION.
IFYOUWANT, INSERTTHEM INAPOEM.

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 INSIDE... OUTSIDE
POETRYIS EVERYWHERE

EYESOPEN,IT'STIMETOGOOUT! INSIDE
Poetry is a great way to look at Even staying inside the house, you never stop doing.
and to know everything that is outside: landscapes, scoperte. Si possono fare viaggi incredibili restando in
city, streets, plants, animals, people. cooking or listening to the sound of the washing machine. The poetry
Outside the door of the house, there is a world that awaits us. but it teaches us to love the little things and to pay attention.
wait. The poem invites us to discover it by going
to adventure. EVENDEEPER
And what happens inside us? What landscapes
Are you there? Who can we meet? The poetry is
an tireless investigator and ventures into places
more secrets. Inside us, there is a world to discover.
The surprising thing about poetry is that it brings together
the inside and the outside.

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 INSIDE... OUTSIDE

I know, I know. It was what I saw

almost at the beginning of my memory
after lunch, one summer, just outside
from the shadow of the rooms
where on the armchairs
and my relatives on the sofas-beds
they were sleeping
the steadfast attention of the pines
and the olive trees, the calm glare of the sea
fine to the islands, to the blue mountains over there in the distance,
in the middle of the gulf

- long, smooth - the track of a current,

and there under the sun-drenched beach,
the boats pulled ashore.

The beautiful view.

Umberto Fiori

worry about the beauty of the landscape. Poetry likes it.

The laundry is hung out? Of the trees?

Look out over the landscape and show it with precision and
24 the accuracy of your words. Write it in the space above.
 INSIDE... OUTSIDE

Standing outside, in the open air, perhaps in spring, it happens to see pass by
The cyclists. They go fast and light. But they are not alone. They have also returned.
the swallows, which dart across the great road of the sky.

They wither like leaves

The returning swallows
the overheated cyclists
while the sun welcomes them they resemble them,
and the meadows shine. crowned ones speed by
within the golden morning.
They are coming out in spring

and they run lightly, They go in groups, in a barrage,

I am the flag raiser under the enamel sky,
of festive days. almost as if the air
it should be made of asphalt.

Pierluigi Cappello

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 RHYTHM
In poetry, the rhythm is given by the way in which Football, wrestling, swimming
the syllables and their accents succeed each other. excavate, run, fill, empty
The syllables where the accent falls, or where the voice rests, every game in motion
they are called tonics.
rende il corpo più contento
The words are said:
tronche when the accent falls on the last syllable discard extension push scale
(as in hummingbirds), I walk, I climb, I pedal
softly when it falls on the penultimate (flower), especially if you can stay
when it falls on the third to last (mustard), outdoors to breathe
bisdrucciolewhen it falls on the fourth to last jump leap I go up I go down
(they manufacture). turn flat pull stretch
Writing poetry is also playing with combining words open air and company
with a certain number of syllables, choose those
I am a gift of joy.
that have certain characteristics, to make run
or slow down the voice. Making poetry is also about choosing
the right rhythm to say our words. Chiara Carminati

Here is a perfect poem to go outside and play.

outdoors! It is very rhythmic and gives the idea of a great
daffare because it is a long list of verbs. Try to
say it out loud, keeping time with your hands, with the
feet or with small percussion instruments or
Try to tell it with gestures, inventing a
small 'choreography'.

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 INSIDE... OUTSIDE

A writing in two parts

First, is there something you particularly like? TITOLO:
outdoor? A sport, a game?
Try to write a short prose text here on the side.
che lo racconti. Fai attenzione e cerca di mettere
the details, the movements, the aspects that
that characterize you and that you love the most.

Reread what you wrote, remove the title.

and try to erase some words by doing it on top
a light mark with the pencil. "Dry" your text
and leave only the things that are essential for you
to tell your outdoor game... without revealing
completely what it is about.

Some ideas for writing riddles about outdoor games:

to skate, to play basketball, to take for a walk
the dog, going on the slide or on the swing...
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 INSIDE... OUTSIDE

Inside the house... how many things! The lights that hang from the ceiling
Read and savor, in the verses of this poetess, the surprise. they are the suns of the house.
to see with new eyes objects you know for They light up and it's as if a small day
Always. Even inside the house, you can discover unusual things.
born in the night.
It depends on your gaze!
A day that will last only a few hours
and where there is room for the dinner soup.
The spoons are small silver wheelbarrows. The little lamps,
and people use their hands to carry those that live on the nightstands,
the soup or the tea from the plates and cups they instead look like yellow daffodils or beehives.
fine in the mouth. For this, they exchange the room for a garden.
and there are days when they do not know
whether they are lamps or a rare species of fireflies.

Married in soup, Maria José Ferrada

tea lakes

that shape the landscape of the table at the hour

at dinnertime and that they abandon every day
the dishes inside their shiny carriages.

Maria José Ferrada

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 INSIDE... OUTSIDE

Names and objects

Together with your classmates, write the names of objects and furniture on many cards,
appliances found at home. Then put them in a fabric bag.
Each of you will catch one as a surprise. Once at home, observe, touch,
listen to the object you were given while trying to find similarities
secret, unexpected, fun. Take notes below.
Back at school, share impressions and discoveries.

GUARDO , TOCCO EASCOL TO...

vacation
Write your observations here i

... WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?

Write here what c this is me or which associations and you
iningone in mind e

29
 SIMILARITY
THEMETAPHOR
Writers and poets use them to show us that things,
even the most diverse are related to each other.
The similarity is a comparison that puts side by side.
things, people, and situations considered similar using
adverbs or phrases of comparison (like, similar to
of, such, as...)

For example, in the poetry of Pierluigi Cappello:

the cyclists rustle LIKE LEAVES

It relates two concepts but How many similarities and metaphors have been dedicated
without using comparative adverbs. It consists in
from poets to the moon over the centuries!
shift of meaning of a word from the field
Do you want to try too?
of ideas in which it is normally used to another.
Train your imagination on 'many' different moons.
The metaphor immediately transports us into the image.
It will be more fun.
which was born in the mind of the poet.
FULLMOON MOONAND STARSTOGETHER
For example, in the poetry of Maria José Ferrada: CRESCENTMOON MOONBEHINDTHECLOUDS
the spoons ARE SMALL WHEELBARROWS MOON INTHE SKY RED MOON
ARGENTATE BLUE Lunar eclipse

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 TOGETHER...ALONE
Poetry always accompanies you

FINDINGONESELFALONE.. INCOMPANY
Everyone can feel lonely sometimes. For an afternoon, It is undeniable: being in the company of friends is enjoyable!
during a vacation, on a particular day. By writing, we can tell this strength that comes
Only because you had an argument with someone, for a from being together, the joy of understanding each other, the desire
missed appointment, due to a misunderstanding, alone because to extend the game time.
At home at that moment, there is no one to do it for us. It is curious that the words of the poem tell a
company. the feeling that most of the time we live without need
There's no need to get down. Writing can make us feel better. to say nothing!
and it can also be the right opportunity to use But poetry is like that. It also wants to mean what
with creativity a moment that seems "empty". usually it is not said.

...SEEKALITTLESOLITUDE
Sometimes, however, we really need to be alone.
our story. Maybe we don't even care too much
However, at times it is good to retreat into oneself.
the same. Dedicating ourselves to something we love, being in one
our space, among our games and our thoughts.
At that moment, solitude becomes an ally
fortissimo to imagine and daydream.
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 TOGETHER...ALONE

Many people believe that cats Here reappears the usual suitcase
they are animals that are doing well and those eternal shoes, here we are again
alone, independent and almost part run run if it shakes for hours
indifferent to the company of
it moves all the air around me
humans.
he/she scratches his/her head absently
But is it really so? Vivian Lamarque wrote a
says hello handsome I'm going
an entire book of poems dedicated to his cat, seeking
to give voice to his thoughts. and goes away, closes the door
In this poem, the cat Ignazio is about to be count up to three always forget something
left alone because his mistress is leaving for reopens comes back tells me hello handsome I'm going
a trip. How will they take it? and he's leaving, here he is
left but who said it
that a cat is independent
no one feels what a lonely cat
inside feels worse than hunger and thirst
rather not worse better rather not the same in short
I feel a little unwell, almost sick. No one notices.
what a cat alone inside feels.

Vivian Lamarque

32
 TOGETHER...ALONE

The door opens, here are the shoes again, the woman enters the house, she puts down
the suitcase on the ground and...
The cat? Where is it? What is it doing?
How did he spend his time during the woman's absence? What does he feel?
inside itself a cat that finds the company of the human it is bonded to?
Try to write a text in prose or verses: try to capture thoughts

of solitude.

33
 TOGETHER...ALONE

The wind – knocked like a tired man – of so many joined hummingbirds

like a host - 'go ahead' from a tall bush -
I answered boldly - when he entered Its appearance – a wave –
in my residence his fingers, while passing
a quick guest – without feet – they produced a music - like motifs
to whom to offer a chair puffs on shimmering glass -
it was impossible as to indicate He entertained himself - always with flutters -
a sofa in the atmosphere then like a shy man
It had no bones to hold it. he knocked again - nervously -
his discourse was like a push and became alone -

Emily Dickinson

enjambment
Enjambment, in Italian 'spezzatura', occurs When we read, the enjambment asks us to make a
when two words in the same sentence that should small break. Are there enjambments in this poem?
stay firmly united (subject-verb, noun and Try to mark them with a pencil. Then reread the poem.
(adjective) are broken between the end of a line out loud. What feeling do those verses leave you with?
and the beginning of the next one. "broken"?
34
 TOGETHER...ALONE

Emily Dickinson lived most of her

solitude of his room to be able to write.

In this famous poem, it welcomes a little guest.
your room. It doesn't resemble a person at all, that even a cat can have something to say about being
and yet it is a presence capable of evoking emotions and being alone. Shall we try with other animals? Read the examples and
of company. For poets, the ability to be a little invent other similes with your classmates for
being alone with oneself is very important. Sometimes only in this way compile a fun "Bestiary of Solitude".
they can hear someone or something "knocking" at the After collecting all the sentences, try to combine them.
they carry: a presence, a memory, facendo attenzione ai suoni, alle possibili rime
a feeling, a thought, or assonances.
A question.
If we are not the ones to choose to stay
solitude can weigh heavily on
heart. Writing can help us to say
better as we are, but also
Bestiary of Solitude
to lighten the matter.
I am alone
like a cat in an empty house
like a snake that does not swim
like the only fish in the bowl
like a firefly on the highway
like a lizard on the beach
like the last dinosaur

35
 TOGETHER...ALONE

What is the poem about? There was a hedge here

Within a poem written by another person and now there is not.
we can find emotions and experiences that are A vastness covers us -
also ours. While we read a poem, it can
it happens that it seems to us that it is speaking directly about us.
unite me with you.
In these poems we can sense the presence of
If we then shake hands then
Two friends. In one, they walk together in the snow. and then they walk, slowly,
In the other, they understand each other even without words. watch - watch carefully:
Try to read them. Are you in there too? It shows that we have traveled the road together.

Azzurra D'Agostino

36
 TOGETHER...ALONE

Sometimes the sound of your words,

how does the sun move Reading these poems, have you "seen" someone?
near you? Who? Write the nickname below
around you, as you sit
what you don't say and don't ask
how you look at things
I'm sorry
poetry loves to meet readers even without a
I couldn't tell you why. special reason!
but from outside comes inside
like the air of breath
breathe inside me

if you smile, I smile

like you.

Silvia Vecchini

37
 PERSONIFICATION Do you want to try it too?
Here are some possible ideas: choose an element
and tell it as if it were a person.
Personification is a rhetorical figure that
consists in the attribution of behaviors, THEBLACKBOARDOFYOURCLASSROOM
thoughts, words, human traits to something that does not THE BUS
it is. The subject of personification can be a THE FIRSTDAYOFVACATION
inanimate object, an animal, but also ON MONDAYMORNING
an abstract concept. THETRAFFICLIGHT
GEOMETRY
In Emily Dickinson's poetry, the wind is described THE GOALKEEPER'S GLOVESAFTERAMATCH
Like a very special guest, remember?

38
 SMALL... BIG
POETRYMAKES GREATSMALLTHINGS

SMALLORBIG? ExperienceMakestheDifference
Poetry likes to overturn things, to put a little And what if we talk about us? "Small" and "big" are two
upside down, discovering new points of view from which words we can play with to have fun
observe the world. between differences and similarities.
And so perhaps we realize that there are no things Being small or large is not just a matter
so small as to be insignificant, indeed, often of dimensions. It is a matter of experience and perspective.
right in those we can find wonders that And what changes if the one who observes and tells something
they have nothing to envy from the great shows Is it small or large?
of nature.
But not only that. Poetry becomes great and embraces everything.
It can say things greater than us, extraordinary.
Can you show us a whale, the peaks of the mountains,
the cosmos. Poetry likes the mystery of life and knows
that it resides in the same way in the infinitely
small and in the infinitely large. Even if we are
Small things, poetry makes us as great as the mystery.
of life because it allows us to tell it.

39
 SMALL... BIG

Small and large sometimes see things

in a different way.
Read this funny poem for two voices.

Christmas for me Christmas for mom

decorations climbing up to the ceiling on a ladder
wobbly, with a high probability of falling

the Christmas tree pine needles and sequins all over the carpet

a pile of food preparations and mountains of dishes to wash

packages crumpled paper everywhere

gifts wasted money

sweets indigestion and toothache

parties it's late and I'm returning home in the dark

giocare nella neve to soak and freeze every time you go out

Sarah Forsyth
40
 SMALL... BIG
LIMERICK
Limerick is a playful and ironic composition typical
of 19th century English literature; it has 5 lines that
I remain according to the scheme AA BB A.
The first verse introduces the protagonist along with a
his characteristic;
in neither successive versions do we see the protagonist in action;
the fifth verse resumes the first and specifies even better
the characteristic of the protagonist.
It seems complicated but it is not! Look at the diagram:

A very small gentleman from Como the character and its characteristic
once I climbed to the top of the Duomo
and when I was at the top
the adventure begins...
he was tall like before
what a little micropiccolo man from Como.

the last verse echoes the first

Gianni Rodari

To write a limerick, one doesn't need to pay much attention to the

meaning of words as opposed to sound, leaving
that ideas bloom together with the rhymes.
This is how surprising solutions are born! Do you want to try? 5 verses.
41
 SMALL... BIG

Poetry invites us to look more closely, with curiosity The wisdom of the web
and attention, even the smallest thing. Read these has captured a droplet.
["two poems."]
Observing is a tiny mine:
treasures are hidden
For what reason do you think that wonder is a 'sweet'...
"Medicine"? What can it heal us from? in the closest thing.
And you, have you ever found a small treasure, a small Astonishment, sweet medicine.
masterpiece of nature?
Silvia Vecchini

I believe that a blade of grass is worth nothing at all.

less than the daily toil of the stars.
And the ant is equally perfect, like a grain of sand,
like the egg of a wren,
and the little frog is a masterpiece equal to the more famous ones
and the climbing bramble could adorn the balconies of the sky.
And the smallest joint of my hand any mechanism.
can deride.
Walt Whitman

42
 SMALL... BIG

I design and describe Some suggestions.

Do you want to go hunting for little things? You can observe...
It's a beautiful exercise in attention and wonder.
Stop and look at something that piques your interest. a leaf
Don't you also think, like Walt Whitman, that we are a puddle
surrounded by masterpieces? a small animal or an insect
the palm of your hand
the eye of your friend
the tail of a dog

I describe my little thing

I DRAW MY LITTLE THING

43
 SMALL... BIG

Whale

In the silent green sky of water soft hill that does somersaults,
a shadow of twenty-six steps passes by enormous sweet burning black doll.
waving a tail very slowly. When does it come out for the need of the sky

Respectful fish swim around. lifting the plain of water

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. to curve just a little, it breathes out
a continuous sharp and melancholy song a very white jet, then breathes
fill the sea up to the horizon abundant sips of brackish water
and down where the hideous invisibles it brings you down, light heart,
blind abyssal fish pass by. in the green, immense, silent liquor.
By comparison, the whale is a sun,
beautiful vessel of flesh and blood, Roberto Piumini

44
 SMALL... BIG

The Alps

The Alps remain silent

they are queens
of man or mysterious animals
the clouds are the crowns. who inhabit spots, cracks, and streams.

I am of earth and of sky The Alps don't say anything

of green and of ice, in them they move only to those who do not know how to listen.
the glaciers
But if you remain silent in front of them sitting
clamorous avalanches resonate feel the great breath arriving
and they silence fossils
that tells the mystery of the world.
that we will never see.
Davide Rondoni
They are queens full of secrets
woods, streams, thickets.

And among the rocks or the branches one can glimpse

a flash of lively, moving eyes

natural or man-made things.

could you gather all the poems of the great ones together
wonders and adding them throughout the year each time
that you will meet new ones.
45
 ENUMERATION Try to write a reminder in verse as well.
on the things to do to always exercise attention
and the wonder.
Enumeration (from the Latin enumerare, "to count")
it is the listing of words or expressions, sometimes IFYOUWANT,[Link]
Connect with conjunctions. SMALLOR BIG. IT'SYOUR POETRY!

When you feel the summer coming

put it on the to-do list
to pick a poppy press When you feel to arrive
put it on the to-do list
a pistil prints a star
on the forehead of a friend
whistling using a blade of grass
leave a crumb on the ground
and waiting for an ant
look for a cushion take
breath blow together
to remember that every wish
it is a seed.

Silvia Vecchini

46
 THE SAME... DIFFERENT
POETRYFINDS SIMILARITIESAND MAKES PARTICULARITIES BLOOM

RETURNEDTOLIGHT HUMANBUTNOTONLY
Being brought to light, sharing with others Crescendo is surprising to discover how great it is.
Isn't the adventure of life the first and the most the world, how varied and complex the show is
wonderful reason to feel equal? what it offers us every day!
Poetry takes us into the lives of others, it makes us Just immerse yourself in the crowd or open
recognize similar to children, boys and girls, men well the eyes inside the places
and women from all over the world. At the same time, that we cross to feel
it's as if it suggests to us that each one this strength and variety.
in us carries a singularity, It's nice to know that you belong
something unique and special, say something great, all together.
that will eventually bloom. Men, plants, animals, landscapes.
The differences become Everything can enrich us with
so strengths. Exactly its particular beauty.
because we are different, each one
can be of help to us in
someone can receive help
from the other.

47
 EQUAL... DIFFERENT

And one day we came to light

After that journey, which was quick
You were born on a branch
I, in a house that is not far away
And who knows how many of us were there that day
Everyone come to light around here
Lepri e bambini e picchi e ranocchi
Everyone to meet the light in the eyes
Who knows how many were celebrating in the world
When I think about it, my head spins.

Sabrina Giarratana

Try to imagine the day you were born

in the world. Think about the season you were born in, use
the fantasy and designs in the spaces of these two pages
the puppies that have met the light like you
of the day right at that moment!
48
 EQUALS... DIFFERENT

Now look at the animals you have drawn. Choose one that you feel a connection with.
particularly attached to or that fascinates you. If possible, observe it
either tell the truth or find some information about him, about his habits
the characteristics.
["Do you find that you resemble him/her in any way?","Do you find that he/she is in contrast with you?"]
In what? Does he have something to tell you? A piece of advice for you?
Try to write a poem about him. Does the text also talk a bit about you?
49
 WORD GAMES
To get to know each other better, we can use our names. In the anagram we can change the arrangement
in some poetic compositions and word games. use all the letters of the name to form another one.
The acrostic is a composition in which the letters Not all names can be anagrammed.
the syllables or the initial words of each line We can still try and create names for
they form a name or a phrase. fantasy!
Ilmesostico is a variant of the acrostic, in which there are If we want to do a logarithm we can take
the letters or the syllables or the words central to each just a few letters of the name creating a new one.
lines that form a name or a phrase. With the anagram and the logogriph we can derive
Using the acrostic or the mesostic we can say other names from ours. We can thus create one for ourselves
something about us inspired by the letters pseudonym, an artistic name, a secret identity!
of our name.

Here are some games with the nameISABELLA:

ACROSTIC ACROSTIC ANAGRAM LOGOGRIPH

IAT NIGHT MILIKE SEIL'ALBA LISAoBEAoLEA

SEACH THESHAVE oISA oDAWNoSALLI...
ALBE DELLABEACH
BI ALSO A LITTLEBUNKNOWN
E TO DOEGOOD
LTHEN HERE, CASTLELI
LDOWN, ALSO A LITTLE CONLARGHI FOSSATI
ARANCIO. THE SUN. EALTE TOWERS.

50
 THE SAME... DIFFERENT

Acrostic or mesostic? Anagram or logogriph?

from ourselves!
Can we borrow a stage name for
sign our writings or a secret identity for
imagine adventures together with our friends.

51
 THE SAME... DIFFERENT

In this poem we move The plants, from those made of silk to the most ruffled ones.
in a very diverse environment, full of the animals, from those with fur to those with scales
different elements: people, animals, the houses, from the fine crinoline curtains to the reinforced concrete
plants, houses of every type, landscapes,
machines, from airplanes to electric razors
objects, sensations, and experiences. The impression
it is precisely that of crossing the crowd and, together
to her, recognizing being part of the world. and then the oceans and then the water in the glass
and then the stars
and then the sleep of the mountains
and then everywhere mixed with everything the man

that is the sweat of the brow

or the light in books
that is the truth and the lie
or the friend and the enemy
or the nostalgia the joy the pain

I passed through the crowd

together with the crowd that passes.

Nazim Hikmet

52
 EQUALS... DIFFERENT

Try to write a collective poem based on the theme of that of Hikmet.

Che cosa vorresti aggiungere alla prima strofa? E alla seconda? E alla terza?
Reread the text of the previous page and add your verses. Listen.
the proposals of your classmates and then all together choose which ones will go
to compose your collective poem.
Sign them all together!

machines, from airplanes to electric razors or the truth and the lie
or the friend and the enemy
or nostalgia, joy, pain

and then the oceans and then the water in the glass
and then the stars
and then the sleep of the mountains
I passed through the crowd
together with the crowd that passes.

Nazim Hikmet together with:

and then everywhere mixed with everything the man
53
 Rhyme
We are facing a rhyme when two or more verses
they end with words that have the same sound
finale. In a poem, the rhymes can be arranged
in different ways. Among the most used are:
In the poem that follows, the rhymes are at the end.
of the verse. Which scheme has the poet chosen?
rhymed couplet
when the rhymes are in pairs, with the scheme AA BB
alternate rhyme Limerick of those different from me
the rhymes alternate, with the scheme AB AB
cross rhyme You are not like me, you are different
the rhymes intertwine, with the AB BA scheme But don't feel lost
I am different too, there are two of us
ITIS NOTSAIDTHATALLPOEMS HAVETHE
RHYME!ANDSOMETIMES,EVENIFTHERHYMEEXISTS,ITHIDES If I put my hands with yours
There are certain things I can do, and others you can.
[Link],HOWEVER,ATEVERY
The poet likes to play with sounds. And together we can do even more
You are not like me, I am lucky
I am really grateful to you
Why are we not the same
It means that both of us are special.

Bruno Tognolini

54
 NEAR... FAR
POETRYCOVERSTHE DISTANCE

Nearbythingsanddistantthings AROUNDUS
We are so attached to things that we have always Poetry explores the space around us. The language
we have nearby, those that we use every day, of poetry, the combination of sounds and images
we are sorry when we lose them. they can take different forms to try to
It also happens to us to be moved by something. to recount our experience, the landscape in which
of special that we see only once. we find ourselves or what we observe. Don't you believe it? Come
Poetry is courageous and knows how to greet the things that we to see how poetry manages to confuse us
they are missing, that we cannot recover or that we do not between near and far on a foggy day!
it's more. But his greeting is always a goodbye,
because the memory, once it becomes a word, remains
forever.
Poetry helps to not lose anything.

55
 NEAR... FAR

Close like a daily object or far away like a lost object?

Eugenio Montale dedicates a poem to his mother-in-law in a
luxurious hotel in Venice. A poor, old object but to which the poet
he was affectionate and loved to keep close to him.

We have long regretted the shoehorn,

the rusted tin horn that was
always with us. It seemed indecent to bring
tra i similori e gli stucchi un tale orrore.
It must be at the Danieli that I forgot
to put it back in the suitcase or in the bag.
Hedia the waitress certainly threw it away.
in the Canalazzo. And how could I have
write that they were looking for that piece of tin?
There was a prestige (ours) to save
and Hedia, the faithful, had done it.

Eugenio Montale

56
 NEAR... FAR

In this poem there is a longing, going far away,

I like to travel by train enters into unknown cities and discovers new things.
fast leave But there is also a clear stop to watch the train and do
stations and tunnels a journey within oneself thinking of someone.
running by the sea entering Try to tell a story about a journey that took you far away.
in reality or in imagination.
in the city slow down pass
between the houses, spying on a balcony.
I like watching the train
stay still
at the level crossing
to play a game
that of counting the letters
fine on the last carriage
hope that the last one is really
the initial of your name.

Silvia Vecchini

57
 CALLIGRAM
The calligram is a type of composition in which There are many examples of calligrams in cultures.
the author writes the poem giving it the form of the object ancient: the first known belong to the Greek poets
described. The calligram is made to be looked at, from the 4th-3rd centuries BC
besides being read.

This calligram is by S.C. Rigg, who wrote

trying to depict an apple almost making us
to feel her goodness, the juice, the bite until
center where... there is a worm!

What else is a calligram?

by Guillaume Apollinaire, French poet,
titled Tie and Watch (you can)
to see the two subjects?)
58
 NEAR... FAR

Your poem will have its form, so it will be

easier if you choose an object with a non
too complex.

Draw the outlines of your object on the page.

with a light pencil.

2. Respect the shape of your object, write

until you finished filling the space
available.

3. Erase the pencil lines.

First practice by writing "inside" the object

drawn alongside. Write a text that talks about
of a bottle. What is it made of? Glass,
Plastic? What can it contain? Water, a
a drink, a model of a boat, a message?

59
 NEAR... FAR

In the middle of the fog And look in the valley: it had disappeared
Nothing like the fog makes us seem uncertain everything! submerged! It was a great calm sea,
the landscape, far from what is near, gray, without waves, without shores, united.
unknown that which is familiar to us.
Read this surprising poem that manages to make us
And there was just, here and there, the strange
to perceive the landscape immersed in fog.
voices of small and wild cries:
lost birds for that empty world.

And high, in the sky, skeletons of beech trees,

like suspended, and dreams of ruins
and of silent hermitages.

And a dog kept howling endlessly,

I don't know where, perhaps in certain plagues.
I heard, neither distant nor close;

echo of neither late nor early,

alternate, eternal. And I looked down there:
nothing and no one, eyes, you saw.

Giovanni Pascoli

60
 NEAR... FAR

and only after try to write a short text.

codine and fresh
big thieving clouds
the grandiose window
yellow clouds
Raise your head in the black darkness, and cloud horses
Above the earth, there is a great mystery. round clouds
Open your eyes, open your sight, Oh oh world clouds
the dark sky becomes a runway: sorrowful clouds
speeding vehicles without engines, wandering clouds
they leave only a faint glow, constant clouds
they tear the sky among the stars, cloud node
they escape quickly like gazelles, the clouds with the nail
they run aimlessly, they fall a thousand times, nail in the head
they spray golden light sparks, cloudy protest
you can see her, but you don't hear her: cloudy backwash
they are the magical shooting stars. what the sea strikes

Alessandro Riccioni Mariella Bettarini

61
 ANTITHESIS Sometimesit'snoteasytosaywhat'sgoingthroughourminds.
THE HEAD! FEELINGS CAN COEXISTIN US
CONTRASTINGTHOUGHTS. ORTHE SITUATIONS
The antithesis (from the Greek 'opposition') consists of INWHICHWE FIND PRESENTING CHARACTERISTICS
in the juxtaposition of terms or concepts of meaning WHATCAN SEEM OPPOSITETO US.
opposite. This association is often made stronger INTHIS SHORTPOEM,ABORINGAFTERNOON
from the choice of arranging the words in a symmetrical way. ITSEEMSALMOSTLIKE OBEYINGAN EMPTYPROGRAM.
For example, in the poetry of Giovanni Pascoli. THE FATIGUE,WHICH USUALLYARRIVESTO BE
what did you read: VERYENGAGEDAND PUTTOTHETEST, HERE COMES
FROMNOTDOINGNOTHING.
neither far nor near... neither late nor early

Or in a famous love sonnet The girl of the afternoon is an empty diary,

Francesco Petrarch a provisional schedule in white.
I'm not doing anything, yet
I find no peace, and I have no war to make; I am tired.
I fear, and I hope; and I burn, and I am ice;
,
and I fly above the sky, and I lie on the ground; Silvia Vecchini
,
and I embrace nothing, and I embrace the whole world

Do you want to try writing a text where you use antithesis?

Is there something or someone that stirs feelings within you?
Opposite? And if there isn't, would you like to invent it?

62
Bibliographic sources of poetic texts

SAD... HAPPY WORDS... SILENCE

p. 4 "To laugh is to open the window" I feel
Silvia Vecchini, Poems of the Night, of the Day, of Everything Roberto Piumini,I remember quietly potatoNew Editions
around, Topipittori, 2014 Novels – Giunti, 2010
The sea is all blue p. 18 "Tintinna the crystal: tin tin!"
Sandro Penna,Poetry, prose, and diaries, the meridians, Mondadori, Bruno TognoliniRhymes of Melevisione,© 2011 Carlo
2017 Gallucci publisher srl, Rome, 2011
A sad hippopotamus, one day Silence is peace
Roberto PiuminiThe house of Topo PitùTopipittori, 2013 in Chandra Livia Candiani (edited by)But where are the words?,
p. 6 'When a bird shakes its tail to keep its balance Effigy, 2015
on a tree In the old pond
David Herbert LawrenceThe Complete Poemstranslation Matsuo Basho,One hundred haikutranslation by Irene Iarocci
by the author Guanda, 2017
p. 8 "To live is to stay awake" p. 22 "As the trembling chirps of cicadas rise"
Angelo Maria RipellinoPoetry, Einaudi, 1990 ofTo rest pale and absorbed in the midday sunEugenio MontaleOssi
of cuttlefishMondadori, 2016
FEAR… COURAGE
Beeeeh INSIDE… OUTSIDE
Bernard FriotMy first book of love poetry, I know, I know. It was what I saw.
translation of Davide Tolin, The Beaver, 2018 Umberto Fiori,La bella vista, Marcos y Marcos, 2002
Deep down They wither like leaves
Silvia Vecchiniunpublished2019 Pierluigi Cappello (with illustrations by Pia Valentinis),Each
Song of Love for the Wind a drop dances the tango. Rhymes for Chiara and other chicks, Rizzoli,
Giuseppe PontremoliBallad for the whole year and other songs, 2018, Mondadori Libri S.p.A. for the BUR Rizzoli brand
New Roman Editions - Giunti, 2004 p. 26 'Football, rugby, swimming'
Once the world was unknown to us. ofIn motionChiara Carminatiworry stoneRizzoli
Roberto MussapiThe story of the blue horseJaca Book Education, 2015
2000 The spoons are small silver wheelbarrows.
On the mornings of October Maria José Ferrada,The secret of thingstranslation by Marta
Attilio Bertolucci,The Indian hut, Garzanti, 1995 Rota Núñez, Topipittori, 2017
63
 The lamps hanging from the ceiling p. 46 'When I felt summer arriving'
Maria José FerradaThe secret of thingstranslation by Marta Silvia VecchiniPoetry of the night, of the day, of everything
Rota Núñez, Topipittori, 2017 aroundTopipittori, 2014

TOGETHER... ALONE SAME... DIFFERENT

Here comes the usual suitcase again And one day we came to light
Vivian LamarquePoetry for a cat, Mondadori, 2013 Sabrina GiarratanaPoetry of lightMotta Junior, 2014
p. 34 "The wind - knocked like a tired man -" p. 52 "The plants, from the silk ones to the most frizzy"
Emily Dickinson,Poetryedited by Massimo Bacigalupo, with Nazim HikmetLove poetry, translation by Joyce Lussu,
a writing by Natalia Ginzburg, Mondadori Libri S.p.A., Milan, Mondadori, 2016
2016 (Oscar Mondadori) Rhyme of those different from me
There was a hedge here Bruno Tognolini,Rima staySalani, 2002
Azzurra D’AgostinoPoetry of snowFatatrac - Editions of
Borgo, 2019 NEAR... FAR
p. 37 "Sometimes the sound of your words" p. 56 "We longed for the shoehorn"
Silvia VecchiniA bundle of words. Empathy, Bacchilega, Eugenio MontaleAll the poems, Mondadori, 2012
2017 I like to travel by train
Silvia Vecchini,Poesie della notte, del giorno, di ogni cosa
SMALL... BIG around, Topipittori, 2014
Christmas for me - Christmas for mom p. 58 "The Apple"
Sarah Forsyth,A jump and you touch the sky, edited by Fiona S.C. Rigg in Sharon Creech,Amo quel cane, Mondadori, 2004
Waters, translation by Beatrice Masini, Einaudi Ragazzi, 2001 The tie and the watch
A very small gentleman from Como Guillaume ApollinaireCalligrams, Gallimard, 1913
Gianni Rodari,The verses of the talking horseEmme p. 60 'And look in the valley: it was gone'
Editions, 1978 In the fogGiovanni PascoliFirst little poems, Mursia, 2009
p. 42 "The Wisdom of the Web" Lift your head in the black dark
fromThe cure that comes through the eyes, Silvia Vecchini, Alessandro RiccioniSky child, Topipittori, 2011
Worry Beater. A poem that colors dark daysMille Gru, 2015 You clouds
I believe that a blade of grass is worth nothing at all. Mariella BettariniOf the cloudsGazebo, 1991
Walt WhitmanLeaves of Grass, translation by Giuseppe Conte, I find no peace, and I have no way to make war
Mondadori, 2016 Francesco PetrarchSongbook, Mondadori, 2018
p. 44 "Whale" The boredom of the afternoon is an empty diary
Roberto Piumini,From the bee to the zebra, Einaudi Ragazzi, 1996 Silvia VecchiniYou will be [Link], 2019
p. 45 "The Alps"
Davide RondoniThe hot wordsRizzoli, 2009
64