While teaching dance in a private theatre school, a very obviously hurried and worried school director asked me if I could sub for English during my free period. The teacher had a family emergency, no one else was available. I don’t have credentials to teach English, so I taught the principles of Phenomenology (part of my graduate studies) to ten-year olds. They loved it, so to practice, we spontaneously made up a format and created Phenomenology Poems.
A Phenomenology Poem helps you get a different perspective. The challenge was to describe one of your favorite objects by answering questions about its attributes, such as color, smell, components, and your experience with/of it.
Here is one of my all-time favorites – it happens to rhyme, but that isn’t essential:
You have a tongue but do not eat.
You sail easily down the street.
My mom says you smell like stinky feet.
Every time I’m with you, I’m in for a treat.
Guess what her favorite thing was? That’s right, Roller-skates!
Please share your Phenomenology Poem!