Like/Not Like

Read or listen to Kimiko Hahn’s poem, “Likeness: A Self-Portrait,” several times. A few questions you might consider, either in writing or in conversation with others:

• The title instructs us to read this poem as a self-portrait. What do we learn about the speaker of the poem? How does this poem fulfill your expectations of a self-portrait? How does it frustrate, challenge, or expand your expectations?
• What (if anything) do you learn about fireflies from this poem? How does Hahn incorporate scientific information into a lyrical poem?
• The poem uses simile to compare and contrast, emphasizing likeness and unlikeness. Why does Hahn include the ways the speaker and fireflies are not alike? How does that add to the reader’s understanding of the self-portrait? Of fireflies?

Poetry Writing Prompt:

Make a list of the non-human species you have come into contact with recently. Select the one species you know the least about, and research that animal, plant, fungus, etc. If possible, mark or copy out interesting facts and language. Try to find at least 10 facts that you find significant, interesting, or strange about the species.

Use this list as the scaffolding for a self-portrait poem, by comparing yourself to the species you have researched. You may, as Kahn does, move fact-by-fact, noting what you are like or not like, to create a kind of catalog of comparison. You may quote or paraphrase your source, making it clear when you are grafting others’ language to your own through italics or quotation marks, and noting your source. Your poem should work to communicate some truth about how you see or understand yourself.