Gutierrez, Cindy Williams

Project: Dramatic Poetry or Persona Poems

Students will learn how to write a persona poem. They will learn how to express a difficult emotion through the voice of another person or animate being.

Poetry can be dramatic.  It can express the poet’s feelings in the voice of a character or an animate being.  After introducing students to the different kinds of poetry common across cultures--epic, lyric, and dramatic, Cindy will guide students in the reading and discussion of examples of dramatic poetry or persona poems. She will begin with Tim Seibles’ “Lobster for Sale” in which the poet expresses his social outrage through the voice of a trapped lobster. The students will then identify a personal emotion which is difficult for them to express.  They will develop a list of people, animals and plants that might feel that emotion.  Cindy will help guide them on how to write a series of poems expressing their chosen emotion in the voices of the characters and animate beings on their list.  Near the end of the week, each student will choose one poem (along with a simple prop or costume, if available) and practice reading or performing it. The lesson will conclude with students reading or performing their persona poems for the class.

About the Author:
Cindy Williams Gutiérrez is a poet-dramatist who collaborates with artists in theatre, music, and visual art. Her poems and reviews have been published in Crab Orchard Review, ZYZZYVA, Open Spaces, Calyx, Rain Taxi, among others. Three of her plays have been produced by the Miracle Theatre Group and Insight Out Theatre Collective. As part of the Humanities Washington Inquiring Mind series, she performs her poems imitative of ancient Aztec songs accompanied by Gerardo Calderón on pre-Columbian instruments. In 2005, her poems were exhibited in People, Places and Perceptions: A Look at Contemporary Northwest Latino Art at the Maryhill Museum of Art in Goldendale, Washington.

Cindy has facilitated writing workshops with cancer patients, minority teens, and middle and elementary school teachers. She has been a SMART volunteer for two years and she currently teaches writing at the Attic.