- BY: Poetry Center
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Our silent auction is open for bids! We’re excited to be auctioning dozens of great bundles ranging in interest, all generously donated by staff, board members, and board alums! A few highlights: These are […]
- BY: Poetry Center
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From February through June of 2025, the Chicago Poetry Center is offering free online Critical Conversations: Anti-Racism sessions open to any Illinois nonprofit organization employee or volunteer. Drawing on CPC’s decades of workshop facilitation, […]
- BY: Poetry Center
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Looking for a way to devote time and energy to your poetry without the distractions of your busy life? Apply to a writing residency! Join the Chicago Poetry Center as poet Keith S. Wilson […]
- BY: Poetry Center
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Let’s make it 50 for 50! With Your Support We Can Fund 50 Residences Next Year As we head towards the end of the calendar year and launch our annual campaign, the Chicago Poetry […]
- BY: Larry Dean
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James Tate’s poem, “Untitled” begins, “I sat at my desk and contemplated all that I had accomplished / this year.” The speaker then runs through a litany of ‘accomplishments’ growing more and more nutty, […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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At Henry Elementary Week 2, we learned about lines, line breaks, and stanzas! We watched and read a poem by José Olivarez titled “Mexican Heaven.” Students then created their own poem of heaven or […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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Last Saturday two bold poets represented Lawndale’s 6th and 8th-grade poets at the Poetry Center’s All School Reading. In another turn of events, the 8th grade class became two sections of poets, instead of […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students read James Tate’s poem, ‘Untitled,’ where the speaker embellishes their accomplishments…just a little. Lesson Note: “I love my funny poems, but I’d rather break your heart. And if I can do both in […]
- BY: Madison Mae Parker
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At our first week at Henry Elementary working with a combined 7th+8th grade class, students were tasked with writing an introductory poem: What is the one thing you want people to know about you? […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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My fourth session with Swift 3rd graders was dreamy. We talked about many kinds of dreams and nightmares. Then we read the poem “D is for Daydreaming,” with ends with the following stanza:“Try to […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students wrote Odes, using personification, after reading Francisco X. Alarcon’s poem, ‘Ode to My Shoes.’ Lesson Note: “If it were up to me, everything I love would have a poem in praise of it. […]
- BY: Mayda del Valle
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Do all questions have an answer? This question was our jumping-off point for this week’s lesson as we read excerpts from Pablo Neruda’s Book Of Questions. After a lively discussion about the nature of […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This past week Hyde Park Academy High School’s poetry club spoke their names. They discussed their origins, the power of each nickname, and what their names mean to them. These are two of those […]
- BY: Joy Young
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This past Tuesday, I started my afterschool residency at the Gary Comer Center and met a great group of 8th graders. The theme for our first poetry session on was self-portraits. Artists create self-portrait […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This week Lawndale’s 6th graders explored dreams, with everything from mystery men to goats. Enjoy! Ms. Barker 6th Grade Señor by Anonymous En mi sueño había un señor escalofrianteque me seguía y me había […]
- BY: Joy Young
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For our sixth session of poetry, the O School Group A and B students were asked to transform into different objects, animals, or people using metaphors. Metaphors are direct comparisons, saying that one thing […]
- BY: Josie Levin
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This week in class we read “Glossary of Terms” by Franny Choi and discussed how form affects poetry with a new and unique form. Students filled in their own categories for Choi’s terms as […]
- BY: Larry Dean
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This week we read “Burning the Old Year” by Naomi Shihab Nye. As the titles suggests, the poem is about the New Year celebration, though it focuses on its subject obliquely, through a central […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Ah, the joys of revision! As every great poet knows, much of the “work” of poetry takes place through the revision process. With Waters 6th graders, we talked about some different ways to make […]
- BY: Ola Faleti
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Ah, the joys of revision! As every great poet knows, much of the “work” of poetry takes place through the revision process. For Waters 7th graders eighth week, we talked about some different ways […]
- BY: Russell Price
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This week the young viking writers were eager to try their hand at love poems–a topic they have been excited to write for weeks. They read and thoroughly enjoyed Matthew Olzmann’s “Mountain Dew Commercial […]
- BY: Russell Price
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This week the young vikings explored prose poetry. They read Hanif Abdurraqib’s “When I Say That Loving Me Is Kind Of Like Being a Chicago Bulls Fan” and “The Fight in the Meadow” by […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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Students read ‘Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing‘ by Ariel Francisco, in a nod to the opening lines of Fredrico Lorca’s ode to Walt Whitman, ‘ By the […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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For our 3rd sessions Swift 2nd graders talked about comparisons. We tried to look at pairs of very different things to find similarities in color, texture, shape, size, and feeling. After examining similes written […]
- BY: Timothy David Rey
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‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts, which began with a reading of ‘a girl named jack’ by Jaqueline Woodson. What occurs when someone or something is […]
- BY: Cai Sherley
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This week Lawndale’s 6th grade workshop was all about rhythm. After a lively game of “The Clap Heard Around The World” they read Gwendolyn Brooks’ “We Real Cool” and used her work as inspiration […]
- BY: Leslie Reese
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For my second meeting with Swift 2nd graders, we discussed things we experience using our sense(s) of sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch. We also talked about the seasons, and some of the changes […]
- BY: Josie Levin
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This week in Ms. Smallwood’s 6th grade class and Ms. Hernandez’s 7th grade class we took a crack at concrete poems. We read “Spew Machine” by John Grandits and discussed the logistics of a […]
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“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.
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“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.
