One thing all of these poets have in common is the city they live in, Chicago. Chicago can be a marvelous town full of wonders and a cold crippling city with danger around every corner. After analyzing Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago”, poets from Mrs. Gonzalez’s 7th grade classes wrote about their city in both a negative and positive light. The first stanza of each poem is about how they see the city a negative way and the second stanza is about the positive way they see Chicago.
Room 302
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Merari A.
People roaming around with drugs.
The pollution in the air is killing the atmosphere.
Kidnapping happening in the alleys.
Murdering in the middle of the streets at night
The smell of great food in the air.
Watching the sunrise at my window.
Cold water touching my feet at the beach.
Warm breeze of air in the spring
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Leland L.
There is a lot of crime and robbery here
COVID all over the USA
So many homeless people with nowhere to go
Gangs and murder are so frequent
The food here is so delicious with all different varieties
I love going to the theatre to watch my favorite movies
I love going to a hotel in the summer with my mom and playing in the pool
The holiday decorations and happy families are so beautiful
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Giana E.
Night and Day, violence spreading through the air.
The cold bursting out of nowhere.
Starving families, trying so hard to survive.
The crimes, the missing children, bringing despair.
Gangs all over the place.
Then the lights come through and blind me with amazement.
The towers and buildings that symbolize this city.
The sweet sweet smell of pastries breaking through the violence.
The shows, the carnivals make me burst in excitement.
All the culture that’s spreading feeling so natural.
But then it all comes rushing back. It only lasts so long.
At the end of it all, there’s the good and the bad, spreading through the air.
When we go back to the violence, but after all this is Chicago.
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Yurem M.
In winter it is so cold.
The cases have gone up.
Lots of people have sadly died .
People have suffered a lot.
In summer the sun is up.
The sky is blue.
The birds are flying high.
The temperature is very hot.
I feel like just squeezing the sun to feel warmth in my heart.
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Jose R.
Depression in the city economy failing.
The air is getting weird and I don’t know if it’s me.
I’m sitting down while the rats eat my leftover pumpkin seeds down at the dumps wearing this useless mask I’m while getting stuffy.
I can’t taste my food. It tastes so bad I don’t know what to do.
Shooting on the roof presidents running away from the people down in his bunker with his cash in a tub When we really wanted was a cure to this mess…..
Well let’s go back and see the good old days
When I was sitting down with the boys going to a target grabbing all the cokes in the market.
Sitting down at the beach eating grammas homemade food rice and beans with some pork too.
Heading home can’t wait for the new day so I can go outside with my friends
All day I’ll go to my friend’s house and play games doing my homework for some good grades.
And when it was the weekend I would go to my gramma’s house playing on the computer or play a board game like Adventure, Time, or Monopoly while watching my show.
Listening to Girnos theme playing a game being determined to end the game
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Adriana N.
I hate the dark because I get scared
I hear creepy scratching sounds
I hate the traffic it makes a lot of noises
It makes my ears go crazy.
I like when the stars are out
They look shiny I like when the blue sky is out
Sun makes me get warm
I like to see the clouds make cool shapes.
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Selena F.
Gun Violence, people get shot a lot,
Chicago can get very cold,
There are gangs and people wanting to murder each other
The Pandemic is spreading more, people don’t want to put on their masks.
But, vaccines for the pandemic should be coming soon so corona can go away and people will get better,
Downtown’s lights are beautiful and glowing
Chicago is famous for our delicious food. Yum!
Chicago can be a very good city.
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Tania L.
The pollution in Chicago must stop or it might be too late
The crazy weather that you don’t know when it’s going to be hot or cold
The violence in the city and walking at the night feels unsafe
The traffic in the city is too long
The community is united and beautiful
The delicious food everywhere that it’s hard to decide what to eat
The parks with families having fun
The beautiful buildings in the city are too big and you feel too small.
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Arichely M.
The city get dangerous at night.
The city police can’t stop criminals
The city has garbage all over the beach and sidewalks.
The city has a lot of abandon buildings were fires happen and dangerous people are there.
The city glows in the day and night Like the shining stars.
The sky is blue as a blue lake and
The food is amazing in restaurants.
Downtown as a great place for family memories.
