Shelly Tucker, author of Writing Poetry, suggests a variation of the artist’s palette for poetry. She provides her students with a scrambled list of words from a poem by a well-known author. Students are then instructed to use these words as starting points for their own poems, letting the images suggest new combinations and themes.

          Try Tucker’s technique with a poem of your choice appropriate to the interests and age level of your students. For example, you might choose a poem like "Hector the Collector" by Shel Silverstein for middle school students or "Wolves" by John Haines for high school students.

          Below is a list of the words used in these poems. Ask students to borrow words from one of the lists to generate an image starter for their own poem. Point out that only 25 to 30 percent of the words in their poem should be taken from the poet’s palette. These should be used as springboards to original ideas and images.

          Middle school student Colin Culkin borrowed words from the list above, added them to his own images and created this poem:

          The Attic

My attic would appear to you
Old mangled things, replaced by new
Leaky cups and worn-out trains
Little bikes without chains

But to me it's so much more
Locked-up memories, many more in store
Cracked model planes, some soaring to heights
Mutilated disco balls, accompanied by lights

Rusty bells, patched-up vases
Much-loved treasures bringing back more-loved faces
Through thick and thin my attic stays
Never to be forgotten throughout my days

          As an in-class demo with words from "Wolves," the author constructed the sample poem below. Notice that only about 25 percent of the images (those underlined) are borrowed from the original and these are scrambled in a new context. Using derived poetry works best as a catalyst with found images generating new images.