1. Type of Poetry: Ode

2. Type of Poetry: Ode Dates back to Ancient Greece
An ode is a poem that praises and celebrates a person, place, thing, or idea.

3. Ode to Pork
I wouldn’t be here
Without you. Without you
I’d be umpteen
Pounds lighter & a lot
Less alive. You stuck
Round my ribs even
When I treated you like a dog
Dirty, I dare not eat.
I know you’re the blues
Because loving you
May kill me—but still you
Rock me down slow
As hamhocks on the stove.
Anyway you come
Fried, cured, burnt
To within one inch
Of your life I love. Babe,
I revere your every
Nickname—bacon, chitlin,
Cracklin, sin.
Some call you murder,
Shame’s stepsister—
Then dress you up
& declare you white
& healthy, but you always
come back, sauced, to me.
Adam himself gave up
A rib to see yours
Piled pink beside him.
Your heaven is the only one
Worth wanting—
You keep me all night.
Cursing your four-
Letter name, the next
Begging for you again.

4. Tips for Odes
Pick a subject from your everyday life that you have strong feelings about
common household object
food works well
Describe the subject inside and out
Exaggerate its admirable qualities, until it seems to become central to human existence

5. Tap into all five senses Use metaphors and similes
Perhaps directly address the subject of the ode
(Oh, ice cream, I adore you)
Tell your feelings about the subject and give exalted descriptions of its qualities
Keep the lines short (not written in paragraph form)
Choose strong vocabulary
Use a planning sheet before you begin writing