(Sometimes) Easy (Not Always) Cheesy Poetry for Simple Students

The other day I had my students write phone number poems. Phone number poems are relatively simple to explain, but they are harder for students to execute. Any topic is valid. The only parameters are 1) the poem be written in free verse, 2) the number of syllables per line equals the numeral in the phone number. In other words, there are seven lines (ten if you include the area code). If a digit happens to be a zero, you must break your stanza. For this assignment, if students had more than one zero, they had to change one of them to a different digit, one that they decided on ahead of time.

I modeled a few examples for the students with phone numbers and topics they provided.

This first one is the school's phone number as suggested by my 7th period:

798-4075

every day students are served

pepperoni abomination:

plastic cheese slopped over burnt crust,

grease-soaked veggies

indigestion’s supreme, so

someone, pass the Tums

 This second one is a random number generated by 2nd period. The topic should be obvious:

420-1255

eight tentacles

wriggling—

wait!

they might

catch you unaware;

washed up, they still sting!

Now, you try it. Use your phone number, or your friend's, or your ex-girlfriend's, or any random number. The challenge comes from setting the syllabication before you start.