Truth

Explain the Golden Shovel Method (7 minutes)

Tell students that there is a form of poetry called the golden shovel in which part of one poem is borrowed and used as the starting point for a whole new poem. Here’s how the golden shovel works: You take one line from a poem (or you can take a few lines or a short poem in its entirety) and write it out down the right side of a page, one word per line. (The line that is borrowed is referred to as the “striking line.”) For example:

twinkle

twinkle

little

star

Those words then become the last words in the lines of a new poem. For example:

In Maggie’s brown eyes I notice a twinkle

as she begins to bark. There is no twinkle

in my eyes. This barking is more than a little

jarring. But still I throw the squeaky sheep; in this show, Maggie is the star.

Introduce "Truth" (3 minutes)

• Let students know that the poem they are about to read, “Truth,” comes from a book called One Last Word (2017), which pairs poems from the Harlem Renaissance with poems that Nikki Grimes wrote using the golden shovel method.
• Before students read the poem, you may wish to provide them with the following definitions:
  • garish [GAIR-ish]: overly or disturbingly bright, flashy, or vivid
  • silver lining: The expression “every cloud has a silver lining” means that every bad situation has something good in it—that there is a positive aspect to even the most difficult or unpleasant situation.

• Give students a few minutes to read “Truth” silently to themselves.
• Play the poet read-aloud video (located in your Resources tab and at the bottom of the story page in Student View). After students watch Grimes perform “Truth,” invite them to share anything they noticed or that stood out to them. Ask: How was the way Grimes read her poem similar to or different from the way you heard the poem in your head when you read it yourself?
• Share with students Jean Toomer’s poem “Storm Ending,” which is the source of the striking line for “Truth.” Read the poem aloud to students or have a volunteer read it aloud. 

Storm Ending
By Jean Toomer

Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,

Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,

Rumbling in the wind,

Stretching clappers to strike our ears . . .

Full-lipped flowers

Bitten by the sun

Bleeding rain

Dripping rain like golden honey—

And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.

• Make sure all students are clear on how Grimes incorporated the first line of “Storm Ending” into her poem. Point out that Grimes changed the punctuation and capitalization of the words from her striking line to suit her needs.
• Students may point out that technically, Grimes places the words “blossoms” and “above” on their own lines rather than at the ends of the lines that precede them. And indeed she does! That is the beauty of writing poetry: As the poet, you can do what you like. (You might ask students why they think Grimes made that choice.) 
• As a class or in small groups, analyze “Truth” by responding to the following questions, which also appear in the Analyzing Poetry activity. Tip: If you’re remote, you can have each group respond in a shared doc or discuss the questions in their own chat room.

Poetry-Analysis Questions (15 minutes)

These questions also appear in the Analyzing Poetry activity in printable or interactive form. Both are available in your Resources tab.

• The poet develops a simile throughout this poem. What two things is she comparing? She is comparing thunder to the events, situations, and experiences that each day brings.
• According to the poem, in what way is every day like thunder? According to the poem, every day is a surprise—we can’t predict what it will bring—in the same way that a clap of thunder is a surprise.
• In line 5, the poet refers to “memories-to-be.” Explain what she means. A memory-to-be is an experience that has not yet happened, but that you will remember after it does. In other words, it is an experience that will become a memory. You can infer that the poet is talking about experiences of some significance—experiences that will stick in your memory because they are particularly joyful, difficult, meaningful, unexpected, scary, rewarding, etc. 
• What do you think the poet means when she refers to memories-to-be being “garish or gorgeously disguised”? Perhaps she is saying that we can’t know right away how a certain situation or experience will turn out—how it will ultimately affect us and how we will ultimately remember it. An experience might be “disguised” as something disturbing or as something delightful, but it will prove, looking back, to be something else entirely.
• What do you think the poet means when she instructs readers to “Claim that cloud with the silver lining”? Explain how that line relates to what comes next: “Our job, if you ask me, is to follow it. See where it heads.” Perhaps the poet is instructing readers to stay open to, and even embrace, whatever comes their way—even if it seems like something negative—because there is something good to be found in every situation or experience. When the poet writes “Our job, if you ask me, is to follow it. See where it heads,” she is continuing her thought about the cloud with the silver lining, saying that rather than avoid difficult experiences, we should stick with them and see where they take us and what they have to offer.
  

Give students time to complete the Illustration Activity, in which they analyze the illustration that accompanies the poem and meet the artist who created it. Once students have answered the five questions, come together as a class to discuss students’ responses. 

• Have students complete the Poetry Planner (available in your Resources tab), which will help students prepare to respond to the writing prompt on page 32 in the printed magazine and at the bottom of the digital story page. 
• Alternatively, have students choose a culminating task from the Choice Board, a menu of differentiated activities.

Recommended pairing from Scope that explores similar themes:

Fiction: “Dear Future” (April 2021)