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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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