Rhythm, Verse and Rhyme:

Purpose: Dialogue poems address controversy and differing opinions. These poems can express conflict between people in opposing situations—such as a Hiroshima bomb victim and a U.S. Air Force pilot flying the plan that dropped the bomb. Or dialogue poems that can reflect commonalities between people who might not appear to have obvious similarities—such as a Salvadoran immigrant and an African American who migrated from the South. Dialogue poems can also be inspired by or generated from reading literature. Student can create a dialogue between two opposing characters in a story.

Handouts: Two Women, available from Rethinking Schools, 1994 (1001 E. Keefe Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53212 (414) 964-9646).

I am woman. I am a woman.
I am woman born of a woman whose man owned a factory.
I am a woman born of a woman whose man labored in a factory.
I am a woman whose man wore silk suits whose constantly watched his weight.
I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger.
But then there was a man; But then there was a man;
And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family getting poorer.
And he told me of days that would be better and he made the days better.
We had to eat rice. We had rice.
We had to eat beans. We had beans.
My children are no longer given summer visas to Europe.
My children no longer cried themselves to sleep.
And I felt like a peasant. And I felt like a woman.

Distribute copies of the poem, Two Women. Choose two students to read the poem aloud. To convey the intensity of the poem, the student readers can stand in opposite corners of the room and in full voice, recite the lines back and forth.
Elicit responses to the poem. Discuss what makes it powerful. Point out subtle differences in lines and how only one or two words are needed to underscore the deep inequality between these two women’s lives. For example, "We had to eat rice—We had rice."
Brainstorm topics as a group. Think about what different pairs might say. In partners, write dialogue poems based on a common interest.
Ask students to share their poems with the group.