Celebrate National Poetry Month with MISS

By: Kayla Alamilla

2024 Spring Intern

Sharks and Stanzas! Celebrating National Poetry Month at MISS with Creative Field Notes

Creative Field Note Prompt #1

Write a poem from the point of view of a shark.

The poems I found during my research included many poems from a person’s point of view witnessing and describing a shark encounter. Most of these poems included words such as “dark,” “blood,” “horrible” and “man-eater,” and focused on the emotions of a human subject. 

We can use poetry to think outside the box, including writing from the perspective of another subject. Write a poem from the perspective of a shark. How do they view the humans staring at them? Or, you can go on an entirely amusing route and write from the perspective of a particular species. What is it like to see the ocean world from the eyes of a hammerhead? What is it like to be small like a cookiecutter shark?

Creative Field Note Prompt #2 

Write a poem using sharks as a positive metaphor.

Sharks are often portrayed using words like “aggressive” and “menacing”. In my research, I came across poems using sharks as “lurking” imagery to create a sense of uneasiness. In the words of the Academy of American Poets, “poems that incorporate sharks often leave them almost entirely out of sight, emphasizing the possibility of an encounter rather than presenting the animal itself.”

As shark scientists, we have a unique on-hands experience with sharks. Though sharks can be mysterious in many ways (for example, a live newborn great white shark has never been seen up until this year!), their elusiveness does not have to equate to fear. Instead, it can be a chance to use sharks as a way to describe fascination. Write a poem to compare sharks to something else you find fascinating. 

Creative Field Note Prompt #3

Write a poem using sharks as a symbol for change.

In a couple poems I read, the predator nature of sharks were used as symbols for oppression and injustice. There were poems who used the analogy of fishes in a sea of sharks to describe an imbalanced society, with the sharks representing a scary group who unfairly overrules the ocean. 

However, when I think about sharks, I think about the way sharks are misunderstood and vilified just for their existence and instinct of survival. I can’t help but empathize with them, especially when reflecting on the times I have felt discredited and unwelcomed in spaces as a gender minority of color.

So, what if sharks were symbols of freedom, equality, change, or liberation? Write a poem about what it’s like to establish your presence in a space in spite of the sidelines saying otherwise.
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I hope you all enjoy having fun with these prompts and interpreting it in your own unique way! If you plan on publishing it on your social media, please feel free to tag MISS @MISS_Elasmo!