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BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAHAs he’s written poetry both for young people and for adults, he not only gives readings at schools and colleges but also at theatres and prisons. In his performances for adults he combines humorous poetry with protest poetry as Benjamin is a great defender of human and animal rights. As he states in his homepage, www.benajminzephaniah.com: “I try to write poems that are fun but they should also have a serious message. I am very concerned about racism, animal rights, pollution and I have always believed that boys and girls should be treated equally. I hate wars and... I think armies should be banned.”
SERIOUS LUV Monday MorningI really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to meI think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,I think dat we could live for ever happilyI want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me BenWhen she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,When we are doing Art she’s so artisticIn Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradiseShe’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!Today she’s going to help me take me books homeSo I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next dayI used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to meBut yesterday it all came to an end,She said that I should take love more seriouslyAn now I think I really luv her friend.
from Funky Chickens
ACTIVITIES
Before reading Activating schemata: title discussion
a) What do you understand by “serious” love?b) Which other adjectives can we use with the noun “love”?c) Do you remember any song with the word “love” in the title?d) Is the poem going to be “serious”?e) Does the “different” spelling for “love” prepare us for a very serious poem?
Rearranging linesJumble the lines of the different sections and make S re-arrange them. Stanza one has an alternate rhyme (ab ab) and the other two stanzas rhyme in couplets (cc dd ee ff). Note: a different rearrangement does not alter the meaning of the poem.
DefamiliarisationBenjamin has resorted to defamiliarisation to make the poem look unusual the graphic layout of the poem is very unconventional.
Have S pick out its attention-seeking devices (capitalization, boldface, “different” spelling, right-wrong marks) by using these questions:
a) Without reading the poem, pick out what first catches your attention in what you see on the page. Does the poem look similar or different from other poems you’ve read?
b) The sub-titles refer to two different days. Where do you write about what you’re going to do or what you did on a specific day? (dary, journal)
c) The sub-titles divide the poem into two parts of different lengths. What do the tick and the “wrong” mark tell us about the different between “Monday Morning” and “The next day”?
While reading Topic Age: speaker’s age discussion
a) How old is the speaker?b) Is he in primary or secondary school?c) Pick out the lines which give you some clues (types of subjects studied at school, likes like “... I think dat
we could live for ever happily...” or “...I want to marry her when I leave school.”)
Topic Nicknames: nicknames discussiona) Do all your friends know how your family calls you at home? If they don’t, why not?b) Why doesn’t the speaker let other children call him Ben?
Speaker/persona vs. author discussiona) Can Ben, the speaker, be Benjamin the author?b) If so, is it Benjamin, the child, or Benjamin, the adult?
Metaphorical language: connotation discussiona) Why does Ben mean when he says that he goes to “paradise” when he and the girl do Geography?
Gaps of indeterminacy (lack of precise information on the matter): disussing whether carrying the books is just an excuse to be with the girl or not.
a) Does the boy carry so many books home because he’s such a good pupil?b) Does he want to impress the girl?c) Is it just an excuse to be with her?
After reading Irony: why the poem is called “Serious Luv”
a) Irony says one thing but means the opposite, e.g. you use irony when it’s terribly hot and you say “How cold it is today!”. S provide other examples of irony.
b) When you finish reading the poem the titles becomes ironic because what the boy feels for the two girls isn’t “serious love”. Can you think of a title which doesn’t contain irony?
c) How long will the speaker be in love with this new girl? At what age is this common among young people?
Spelling: picking out the words in the poem which have a “different” spellingdifferent spelling ordinary spelling
luvdatandeme
lovethatandthemy
a) One of the five words in the column on the left has two different spellings in the poem. Which is it? (luv-love)
b) If Benjamin knows the ordinary spelling of “love”, why does he spell it as “luv”?
c) Does he want to surprise us? (defamiliarisation)
d) Is he telling us to play with the language when we write our poems? (poetic license)
e) How does the speaker in the poem pronounce “that” and “the”? (Jamaican English) is it difficult for you to pronounce the “th”? do we have a similar sound in Spanish?
f) Why does Benjamin spell some words the way his speaker pronounces them? Does he want us to “her” his speaker’s voice?
g) Is he telling us that it’s all right to pronounce words this way as long as people can understand us?
h) Is Spanish we generally pronounce words the way we spell them but this isn’t so in English. Is Benjamin saying that English spelling should be simpler?
Enlarging the texta) In pairs, have S add one or more school subjects to the list in stanza two by writing some more lines.
They can make their lines rhyme or not but the tone of the new lines should be humorous.
b) In pairs, have S write a sequel to the poem by adding an extra stanza titled “Two days later”.
Genre transfera) FROM POEM TO DRAMATIC SCENE AND ROLE PLAY. In pairs, have S write down the “proposal”
scene in around six verbal exchanges. The last exchange should be unexpected or humorous (anticlimatic). If they wish to, they can role-play their dialogues.
b) FROM POEM TO LETTER OR EMAIL. Have S write a short letter or email to the new girl that the speaker thinks he loves as if they were the speaker of the poem.
c) FROM POEM TO TELEPHONE CONVERSATION. Have the S write down a telephone conversation between the speaker’s mother and his teacher on his school performance, now that he’s in love. You can then ask them to act it out.
Point of view transferAsk S to write a short prose piece in which the speaker’s girlfriend explains why “it all came to an end”
Media transferFROM POEM TO BANNER. Have S design the banner our speaker may make for his new girlfriend on a sheet of paper.
A banner: a long piece of cloth on which something is written, often carried between two poles.
SERIOUS LUV
Monday MorningI really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to meI think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,I think dat we could live for ever happilyI want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me BenWhen she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,When we are doing Art she’s so artisticIn Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradiseShe’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!Today she’s going to help me take me books homeSo I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next dayI used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to meBut yesterday it all came to an end,She said that I should take love more seriouslyAn now I think I really luv her friend.
from Funky Chickens
SERIOUS LUV
Monday MorningI really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to meI think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,I think dat we could live for ever happilyI want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me BenWhen she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,When we are doing Art she’s so artisticIn Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradiseShe’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!Today she’s going to help me take me books homeSo I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next dayI used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to meBut yesterday it all came to an end,She said that I should take love more seriouslyAn now I think I really luv her friend.
from Funky Chickens
SERIOUS LUV
Monday MorningI really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to meI think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,I think dat we could live for ever happilyI want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me BenWhen she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,When we are doing Art she’s so artisticIn Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradiseShe’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!Today she’s going to help me take me books homeSo I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next dayI used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to meBut yesterday it all came to an end,She said that I should take love more seriouslyAn now I think I really luv her friend.
from Funky Chickens
SERIOUS LUV
Monday MorningI really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to meI think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,I think dat we could live for ever happilyI want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me BenWhen she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,When we are doing Art she’s so artisticIn Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradiseShe’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!Today she’s going to help me take me books homeSo I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next dayI used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to meBut yesterday it all came to an end,She said that I should take love more seriouslyAn now I think I really luv her friend.
from Funky Chickens
SERIOUS LUV
Monday Morning
I really luv de girl dat’s sitting next to me
I think she thinks like me an she’s so cool,
I think dat we could live for ever happily
I want to marry her when I leave school.
She’s de only one in school allowed to call me Ben
When she does Maths I luv de way she chews her pen,
When we are doing Art she’s so artistic
In Biology she makes me heart beat so quick.
When we do Geography I go to paradise
She’s helped me draw a map of Borneo twice!
Today she’s going to help me take me books home
So I am going to propose to her when we’re alone.
The next day
I used to love the girl dat’s sitting next to me
But yesterday it all came to an end,
She said that I should take love more seriously
An now I think I really luv her friend.
