Question

WORD OF THE DAY:

Throughout The Crossover, Alexander uses Definition Poems to tell a story. You are going to write your own Definition Poem that mimics the format and style of the poems "cross-o-ver" (page 29),"ca-lam-i-ty" (page 39), "pul-chri-tu-di-nous" (page 55), and many others.

These poems have specific characteristics, including:

They have 4 stanzas (remember, stanza is to poem as paragraph is to essay)
Title breaks the word into syllables and provide pronunciation and part of speech
Poem tells a story
Title and Stanza Breakdown Example

TITLE: word you are defining and telling a story about

Pronunciation of word and Part of Speech



STANZA 1

Definition of the word in your own words



STANZA 2

Start with: As in: and tell summary of the story



STANZA 3:

Start with: As in: and tell middle part of story



STANZA 4:

Start with: As in: and tell ending of story

cross·o·ver from The Crossover

cross·o·ver

[KRAWS-OH-VER] noun



A simple basketball move

in which a player dribbles

the ball quickly

from one hand

to the other.



As in: When done right,

a crossover can break

an opponent’s ankles.



As in: Deron Williams’s crossover

is nice, but Allen Iverson’s crossover was so deadly, he could’ve set up

his own podiatry practice.



As in: Dad taught me

how to give a soft cross first

to see if your opponent falls

for it,

then hit ’em

with the hard crossover.

ca·lam·i·ty from The Crossover

ca·lam·i·ty

[KUH-LAM-IH-TEE] noun



An unexpected,

undesirable event;

often physically injurious.



As in: If JB hadn’t been acting

so silly and

playing around,

he would have cut

one lock

instead of five

from my head

and avoided

this calamity.



As in: The HUGE bald patch

on the side

of my head

is a dreadful

calamity.



As in: After the game

Mom almost has a fit

When she sees my hair,

What a calamity, she says,

shaking her head

and telling Dad to take me

to the barber shop

on Saturday

to have the rest

cut off.

pul·chri·tu·di·nous from The Crossover

pul·chri·tu·di·nous

[PALL-KRE-TOO-DEN-NUS] adjective



Having great physical

beauty and appeal.



As in: Every guy

in the lunchroom

is trying to flirt

with the new girl

because she’s so pulchritudinous.



As in: I’ve never had a girlfriend,

but if I did, you better believe

she’d be pulchritudinous.



As in: Wait a minute—

why is the pulchritudinous new girl

now talking

to my brother?



(make its have less than 100 words and make it sound like a fifth grader)