poetryclass - Roger Stevens

KEY STAGE TWO

Year Five, Term Three

3. Performance poem
(Term Three)

A performance poem is one that is designed to be read aloud by a single voice or a group. It will usually have a strong rhythm, often have a repeated chorus or repeated lines and sometimes will invoke an audience response.

Read some performance poems to the class. Invite some of the class to read them to their classmates. In the following poem the audience replies to the question, What's my name? with the refrain, The Monster that Ate the Universe.

The Monster that Ate the Universe
by Roger Stevens

I began with a pancake.
But why stop there?
I next ate the spoon.
Then the table and chair.

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe

I ate all the cutlery.
I ate the cheese grater.
The cooker. The micro wave.
The refrigerator.

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

I wolfed down the kitchen.
The Dining room, too.
I slurped up the bathroom
Including the loo.

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

I chewed up the house
I gulped it all down.
I ate the whole street.
Then I swallowed the town.

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

I devoured the country.
Then what do you think?
I drank all the ocean.
I needed a drink.

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

Then the Earth I consumed
The planets, the sun
I was still feeling peckish
And having such fun

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

So I gorged on the galaxy
Then the galaxy next door
I was still feeling hungry
So I gobbled up more

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

I dined on them all
As the prophets all feared
Then I swallowed myself
And (burp!) disappeared

What's my name?
The Monster that Ate the Universe.

In the silence that followed
A little bird sang
Then nothing. Just silence.
And a very big Bang!

Write a poem with an answer and response chorus. The Monster that Lives in the Cellar. The Ghost who Lives in the Loft. The Supply Teacher who Came on Monday. Make each verse bigger, scarier or more unlikely than the previous verse.

When the first draft is finished ask your pupils to read their poems to the class and ask for suggestions how it might be improved.

When writing The Monster That Ate the Universe I used a thesaurus to find different ways of saying "ate". Feel free to encourage your class to search for better rhymes, more alliteration and maybe an even stronger ending!

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