This session’s curriculum has been Poetry Palooza! Students have thrown themselves headlong into odes, alliterative poems, free-form poems, riddle poems, nature poems and more. Students have sharpened their metaphors, honed their personifications and written through all five senses. The results speak for themselves.
From: Odes inspired by Pablo Neruda
Ode to the Pool
cool
mysterious
you cool me down on hot days
but you splash too much
even when I do not want
you to
often I am scared of
the secrets you hold
in the depths of
your figure
but I cannot stay mad forever.
-Ciel
From: What frightens us. Poems inspired by “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All” by Maya Angelou.
Untitled
No, no, no. I’m not afraid of heights.
Bats or rats climbing up the wall.
I am brave.
I do not fear I shall drown.
Spiders creeping up my back,
bears getting ready to attack.
No, I am brave.
The dark, a fire being lit,
snakes all around,
are you afraid?
I’m not.
No, I’m brave.
If I’m lost, no one around,
I’m not afraid.
The deep dark water under a beach,
the dragon chasing me.
I’m not afraid.
I’m brave, brave, brave.
-Leila
From: Nature poems inspired by Mary Oliver
Things in Nature
The wind blows, I turn, behind a tree
a golden dust is blown from its birthplace
a plant, light green feathers bending down
to help bugs go to higher ground.
I walk one step – crunch the debris and undergrowth – stop as I go.
Three more steps and I’m there.
The tree is large, red, majestic.
I float towards it, pulled against my will.
-Clara
From … : Nature poems inspired by Mary Oliver
Mist
Hiding the lock from the key,
it is a mystery without an answer.
The cool water spreads like a wave,
hung, suspended, shrouding the reality from the familiar.
Clouds are thoughts, full of desperation and hunger,
layering the earth with beads of sweat as I shudder…
the smell crisp and damp, beginnings and endings.
The darkness behind you and the light ahead,
a scale close to tipping.
The world is mist, impermanent, ever shifting.
-Jo
From: Odes inspired by Pablo Neruda
Ode to Joshy
Scared
hopeful
lingering in the town
as the
Boy
with the
bread
You sacrifice your skills
and hope
for
falling
help
Desire
flickering
behind your
crystal
eyes
Glory thoughts
Calloused fingers
Broken nails.
You reach your head
through the heat
and your
generosity
is not
forgiven
and it never,
ever
will be.
-Mattie
From: Riddle poems
Untitled
You can walk down and around me.
I bridge the gap between the view of a bird and the view of a snake.
You can see me but I cannot see.
On me your foot you place.
At the end of me opposites lay
the rich and the poor try to stay out of each other’s way.
I am a gate and a barrier to two different worlds
and from me you can see little boys and little girls.
-Ari
From: Alliteration poems
Purple
Perfectly perfect purple purpleness
Pleasantly pleasant purple puffiness
Purply pens purpleness perfection
Purple paths perfectly pathy
Penny Purple pummeled Pat Purple
Purple Perfect Perfection Purpleness.
-Malayna
From: What frightens us. Poems inspired by “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All” by Maya Angelou.
Untitled
When the darkness closes in,
When happiness seems to vanish,
When the world seems to jolt and swing.
When the shadows overwhelm you,
When the shouts penetrate,
When the voices scream and your ears bleed.
When the sky seems so dark,
When the stars seem impossibly far,
When the candlelight in your eyes is blown out,
You stumble for something to grab, the comfort
of a friendly hand,
Hope is that object, that hand, that
comfort, that gets you through the day.
-Ruby
From: Riddle poem
Untitled
My mask reveals everything
you see me in the dark
but not in the light
my tail is ringed with black wings.
My environment is cities and forests
I’m vicious with a square, rounded head
your trash can is my bed.
-Cate
From … : What frightens us. Poems inspired by “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All” by Maya Angelou.
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All
Big red spiders
being a rollercoaster rider
life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Flaming hot fire,
I ain’t no liar,
life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Big waves may gobble me up,
and all I say to strangers is ‘sup
for life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Sleek slithering snakes
terrorists that aren’t fake
for Pete’s sake, life doesn’t frighten me at all.
When I have to say goodbye
I don’t cry
I just sigh
life doesn’t frighten me at all.
-Jake
From: Odes inspired by Pablo Neruda
Ode to S’mores
Sticky
creamy
S’mores are made with
Graham cracker,
marshmallow, and
chocolate
and when they combine
a tasty
superpower.
When you are
hungry at a camp
S’mores are
just the thing
the fun thing
is that you have to melt it
in the fire pit
of doom
then you
bite into it
it melts
in your mouth and
you feel relieved.
-Cayele
From: Odes inspired by Pablo Neruda
Ode to Clocks
You are very loud
when I am trying to sleep.
Without you I would be late for everything
or never arrive.
-Paola
From: What frightens us. Poems inspired by “Life Doesn’t Frighten Me At All” by Maya Angelou.
Life Doesn’t Bother Me At All
Schoolgirls bragging
little siblings nagging
life doesn’t bother me at all.
Itchy, itchy toes
get sprayed with the hose
life doesn’t bother me at all.
Loud gum smacking
sarcasm lacking
life doesn’t bother me at all.
Broken pencils
uneven stencils
life doesn’t bother me at all.
Fluttering bugs
too-tight hugs
old men singing
high-pitched ringing
life doesn’t bother me at all.
Balloons loud popping
budget-free shopping
life doesn’t bother me at all.
-Olivia
From … : Repeating lines and the personification of abstractions
When Joy Goes Home
When joy goes home
Dad starts to scream
Trees start to fall
My life gets worse and worse.
When joy goes home
Mom starts to cry
Buildings start to crumble
My life gets worse and worse.
When joy goes home
Sister pounds the ground
Everything is breaking up
My life gets worse and worse.
When joy goes home
Brother kicks the furniture
Everyone is dying
My life gets worse and worse.
Then joy returns
Trees grow back
Buildings stop crumbling
Dad stops screaming
Mom stops crying
Sister stops pounding
Brother stops kicking
Everything comes back together
Everyone lives
My life gets better and better.
-Sonia
