Greetings West Park poetry friends and followers! During week 3, we read and discussed the poem “I Wish I Could Live (in Music),” by Nikki Giovanni. We discussed the term allusion—when a poet makes a reference within a poem to a person, place, thing, or work of art. We identified allusions related to music in Nikki Giovanni’s poem and talked about how familiar allusions can help a wide audience connect with a poem, while a more specific reference may only speak to readers who share identities or interests in common with the poet.
This week, students wrote poems reflecting their own feelings about music. They practiced “writing with” Nikki Giovanni by mirroring or responding to the words in her poem. We invite you to explore these poems carefully. They are rich with allusions and emotions, and they show how students are developing their own styles of writing. Can you find words that repeat? or poems that take different shapes?
Ms. Staudohar/Ms. Knight
6th Grade
I need me some…
Magelis B. R.
I need me some music
I need me some loud music
I need me some related music
I need me some love music
I need me some sad music
I need me some pop
I need me some rock
I need me some calm music
I need me some happy
I need me some sad
I need me some heartbroken music to cry
I need me some yelling music
I need me some friendship
I need me some weird music
I want to live in Lemon Demon
Ana Sophia S.
When I listen to it
I feel happy,
good, & calm
I need me a “You’re at the party,”
“word disassociation,”
“touch touch telephone,”
“I earn my life,”
“amnesia was her name.”
If Lemon Demon has 1,000,000 fans,
I am one of them.
If Lemon Demon has 10 fans,
I am one of them.
If Lemon Demon has 1 fan,
I am that fan.
If Lemon Demon has no fans,
I am dead.
Lemon Demon is love.
Lemon Demon is life.
Music space
Ja’maree Y.
When I listen to music I’m
in my own space
my music space
I can never be bothered in my music space
1 person, 1,000 songs
When I’m in my music space I’m in my mind
2 ears loving music
1 body groovy movement
I got mixed personalities
Azaiah L.
wishin I could live in a late
night kinda vibe. so caught up in the
sound don’t never know the rhythm. I’m all
kinds of menus, with a lil bit of peace
and crazy personalities, happiness, kindness,
gospel, and a real cozy kinda era, folk
tellin news but they don’t never know
my info
keep my moves onna low, listening
to jhené aiko, her music really hit tho,
but maverick city on speed dial, tryna
maintain my peace, so i start new life,
if you spend the block twice yo access
denied just like lil shordii named debo
moved all the mountains just to find my
person. lost in the middle of nowhere now
we stuck just like a libro
Ms. Lazaar
5th Grade
I want to live with music
Xavier M.
I mean hop hop hop won’t you come
along with me? hopping and jumping to music
I will be a bunny hearing music
come along it will be fun hopping
and jumping come along singing having
fun with me I want to live with music.
I mean come along don’t you think
it’s fun I mean hopping, jumping, singing,
and having fun
I need music
Yadiel V.
Music makes me happy
Music is amazing
Music fills me with joy
Music is life
Ms. Chambers
7th Grade, Group 1
I wish I could live in music
Mikayla C.
I wish I could
live in music
It bring me confidence
Now that I’m rapping
I focus on my dreams
it better me, making
me feel like a music
queen
My poem?
Robny Z.
i wish i was with lil durk
his music
is the best
i’d be in all of his songs
kinds like
hellcats and trackhawks
and best relationship i ever had
it’s just good
i’m always singing or saying
“durkiooooo”
he’s just perfect.
and we can’t forget
hispanic music!
ivan cornejo
peso pluma
anuel aa
bad bunny etc.
my favs i have a lot
i just can’t explain
because i will start
thinking and singing and
dancing i enjoy it
a lot i hope i can
meet them one day!
I wish I could listen to music every day and everywhere
Kimberly Q.
I wish I could live in
music if there was no
music I would die. The
music is just so good that I listen to it all day.
all my problems just go away
when I listen to music.
if there was no music I would miss something
like a hole in my heart.
But good that it’s there to help me
to help everyone.
Music
Amani R.
I like listening to
music
I choose it—
depending on
how I
feel
When I listen to
it sometimes
I can
heal
Coming from different
mouths and voices
I rejoice and
listening to it on
my phone I can
finally feel
at home
Music poem
Mariah C.
Listening to music is what I do
in different moods
it has different genres
and that
includes
romance
sad
happy
and
confused.
All the different
scenes I listen to.
Music is a great way of
expression
sometimes show
agression
or depression
you can overhear
confessions
it’s a whole
therapy session.
I love music and its different
impressions this isn’t based off
a question
Your slowest,
Best poet: Mariah C.
Ms. Chambers
7th Grade, Group 2
Music That I Like
Alex R. A.
Hispanic and American music
yeah I’d be down
Taylor Swift, Shake it Off
I want to be a guitar
play Santana’s beats
In music I’m free
My music
Adriana S.
I wish I could live in pop music
Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande
They belong with me
There’s 7 rings on my fingers
while I listen and go to a new world
I can feel many emotions
happy, sad, mad, excitement
but also feeling calm
sometimes it’s only one feeling
sometimes it’s multiple
This is my music
my world
Radio
Jeniah W.
I wish I could live
inside of a radio.
All shuffled up
many emotions
sentimental words.
Happy place.
Makes my heart gentle.
All moody inside.
I’m trapped in a radio.
Depends on the mood.
Rap, drill, blues.
I don’t listen to blues,
but sometimes music puts me in that mood.
Music = life
Miguel E.
I love music
Music makes me keep going
Music lets me be free
Electro and indie soothes me
The soundwave of every note calms my ears
The notes of harmony make my ear lobes
feel as if they were listening to angels in heaven.
It all makes me feel alive
Listening to music is like a flower dancing in the wind
That’s why Music = life –Miguel E. ♥
Music is sound, sound is air
Alex N.
Music is sound, sound is air
air is everywhere
it is in you in me in everything
we can feel and hear it but
you can’t see it
many styles, many ways
rap, hip hop, jazz, trap, many many more
like metal, country, and pop.
