Dean Atta’s poem never ceases to interest me: as a poet, as a teacher, as a lifelong gardener. It packs a lot of power into a short space.
You can see a video of the poet reading it here.
On Days When
you feel like a wilting garden,
gather yourself, roll up
your lawn, bouquet
your flowers, grab
your weeds.
You are a wild thing who plays
at being tame.
You are rich with life
beneath the surface.
You don’t have to show leaf and petal
to be living.
You are soil and insect and root.
by Dean Atta, from There Is (Still) Love Here
This is a fun poem to discuss with students, especially that closing series of metaphors. It’s a perfect time to practice interpreting simile and metaphor rather than just identifying them. What does it mean to “feel like a wilting garden?” What does “you are soil and insect and root” mean?
This on its own can make a good write-pair-share; that, my friends, makes a poetry pause! But if you happen to be studying grammar at the moment and like Chapter 6 of Poetry Pauses, “Poetry Pauses for Improving Grammar and Punctuation Skills,” try this instead:
Partnered, have students collect every verb in the poem. Share Marianne Moore’s famous quote, “Poetry is all nouns and verbs,” and comment briefly on why a writer’s choice of verbs can make a piece of writing shine.
Then, have students rank the poems from most to least interesting, and of course I hope they will put “bouquet” – a noun repurposed as a verb – near the top of that list.
Finally, ask students to craft three sentences using the top three most interesting verbs from their collection, underlining the subject for each verb. Want an extra level of challenge? Write a complex sentence that uses all three verbs in a single sentence.
Looking for more poetry pauses like this one?
Check out my book, Poetry Pauses, from Corwin or from Amazon.
Also, as a companion to this series of posts, check out the re-release of the pre-recorded, thirty-minute webinar, Poetry for the Dark Days with 10 poetry pauses, published in neither the blog nor the book, to help see us through the literal and figurative dark days this winter. It’s available now through November 1, 2025 for download, so availability ends tomorrow! Once it’s yours, you can watch it at whatever time works best for you.
Note: Amazon links on this post earn a small commission for the author.
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