Taking a cue from my colleague Larry O’Dean, I shared “Colors passing through us” by Marge Piercy. The students wrote such glorious meditations on color that it was hard to narrow down for this post–some of my favorite work this year, I have to say.
Room 320
Our Colors
Emily H.
Purple as my uniform shirt
Purple as my flower
Purple on the perfect day sky
Purple as my eyes
Purple as my sour candy
Green as my backpack
Green as my shoes
Green as the sweater
Green as my hat
Green as my book
Black as silence
Black as death
Black as my expression
Black as simple darkness
Black as the clouds
Colors of the World
Pablo H.
Yellow as the morning sun
Yellow like a comic book
Yellow as a bird with tiny tiny wings
Pink as a crayon
Pink as a pig
Pin as cancer that’s fought every day
Orange as a fruit
that tastes so juicy
Orange as an ice cream with a salad and dressing
Friendly as a deer
and a pig being fat
Friendly as a girl who
loves you the way you are
Cool as water
at the beach with a ball
Cool as A.C.
that cools your feet
So this is how it seems
with the colors that follow me
Red
Ashley C.
Red is the color of a rose,
the color of love.
The color of a pain.
The paint running through his teeth
as a crack in the ice spitting out water.
Blue
Megan G.
Blue as the ocean,
blue as the glittery pens
in my pencil pouch, but
after drawing the line
inside the line there is
the strike of color racing through
my imagination to something I can’t
even imagine.
Blue as the pretty sky
and blue as the color of
sadness, but it’s also the
blue of that blue raspberry popsicle
and the blue of the bluebirds chirping
and the blue that stands for one thing: Unity!
Room 322
Evil Red
Zachary R.
Red is as dark
as a rose in a
cemetery or as
bright as blood on
the floor or as strong
as love in the sky
or as a fire truck
going to save a
life as the fire burns
through the house destroying
every last piece, the
fire is as hot as the
sun, or as red as the red
sea.
Blue
Steve M.
Blue as a sky
Blue birds passing by
Blue pants
Blue shirt
Blue shoes everywhere
Blue furniture
Blue playground
Blue men passing by
Blue everywhere
in the world
Colors
David S.
Blue as what comes out of the clouds
when it is cloudy. Blue as the things
kids wear on their legs when they
go to school every day. Blue as
the sky when the sunlight is out
in the summer.
White as the shirts Real Madrid
wears to their soccer games every day,
white as when a snowflake melts.
White as a blank piece of paper
when it is blank. White as the
white walls in my school that surround
me when I sit down in my chair.
Untitled
Giovanni G.
Red as blood flowing down your hand, droplets
falling on the floor and leaving stains on the
floor, nothing done red blood still flowing down
your hand.
Green as grass on a soccer field, watered before
each match, cut the same length not one
piece bigger than the other.
Blue as the paint in my room on the walls,
sitting alone, no one else blue all alone.
Purple as the shirt on me, worn until the day
it’s washed, unhappy when it’s dirty happy when
it’s clean.
Room 314
The Darkness Returns
Christian V.
He finally saw
the midnight sky
as black as a
black hole in space.
A dog as black
as if he were
finished rolling
in the dirty mud.
The room was
as dark as if
the house went
into a blackout.
His eyes got as
black as if a
human turned
into a bear.
He saw many
people in black
as if they were
at a funeral
but what he
really saw was
darkness coming
for him for more.
Colorful Nature
Erika R.
Blue as the daylight in the sky
Blue as the river water flowing
Blue as butterflies flying around
Purple as a violet that blooms
Purple as a squash growing ona vine
Purple as grapes picked by a farmer
Red as roses in a field
Red as a fire throwing flames
Red as magma from the core of Earth
Orange as pumpkins in a field
Orange as an orange on a tree
Yellow as thunder from a storm
Yellow as a sunflower growing in the sun
Yellow as the sun shooting rays
Chrome
(or Silver, they are pretty much the same!)
Alexander C.
Chrome, the color of my bookbag’s zipper
Chrome, the moving truck’s color
The solar panels of my friend’s house
Color of the frame for the light switch at
school which says “PLEASE LEAVE
ON”
The color of the dry erase board
People call it silver people call it chrome,
but just for the record, this is not
the program that is better than Internet
Explorer. It’s dedicated to my neighbor Jerome.
For You
Kiara L.
Yellow as in the beaming sun
we played in outside
Yellow, the color that represented
that we were in a little trouble
and had to move our clips
Yellow like the corn, the burnt corn
our moms would prepare for us
Ivory like the beautiful necklace
you wear for special events,
ivory as in the wedding dress
we looked at when we were much,
much younger
Grey like the sky on the rainy days
where we go outside and play in mud
Grey, the color that meant so much
to you for some reason
You were yellow, so bright
then you were pale like ivory
but your life changed
now your life is just grey
The Way You Make Me Feel
Yahaira E.
Red as your cheeks when
you blush, red
as the roses that you pick,
like the lipstick you leave on the glass,
on my face.
Red as the blood that
falls off the corpse, like
the ruby in the sun, red
like the flame that
I see in your eyes.
