Because talking about writing camp seems more apropos here

The last two nights of camp, we have a mandatory student reading, which is actually lots of fun and not as boring as I remember it. Maybe it's less boring because of CLICHE BINGO (otherwise called, Cube Poetry), in which we make boards with squares like "Blood" or "beating heart" or "I caught my breath" and have to listen very intently to make sure we get a bingo.

Some things I did this session:
-- Forced 13-14 year olds to read Lyn Hejinian (one girl was really into it and actually wrote this really cool "My Life" esque prose piece)
-- Went to Waffle House and wrote haikus
-- Convinced a girl she could write poems even though she always thought she could only write stories
-- Got kids to 'fill in the blanks' in Sappho fragments
-- Didn't eat any meat
-- Went for many drives in a 12 passenger van

I am really happy with how this session went. In about one week, there was marked improvement in over half of my class. They made fun of me. I offered to read a poem in class. I started by saying, "Okay this isn't the best" and they all yelled "NO DISCLAIMERS." Then I read and they offered me really insightful criticism and I thought, "hey. You guys are really good at this." They also said, "Kate when you don't like your poems you read them all low and sad like. You should read them like you mean it."

They are sage sage sage children.