All posts in Mayda del Valle

Food Poems

Food glorious food! Food is such a great way to explore the writing of poetry. Because it demands that we use all of our senses to experience it, and can conjure up vivid memories, […]

New Word Poems: Chillepy…

What is a word you love to use, or a word that represents something about you? This was the question at the heart of this week’s discussion after we read the piece “Hecky Naw” […]

” I am…” Poems

Have you ever taken a moment to celebrate yourself? For this week’s session at Perez Elementary we read Nikki Giovanni’s “Ego Trippin’ and talked about how she uses exaggeration and metaphor to celebrate herself […]

Where I’m From Poems- 8th Grade

This week we read Where I’m From by George Ella Lyons and talked about how the places we come from, influence and help to shape our identities. Students in Ms. Turner’s 8th grade class […]

Name Poems

Our names can tell a story. About our family, culture, and history. And maybe even about our parent’s favorite telenovela or movie star! This week we read “Alejandro” a poem by a former CPC […]

Where I’m From

Today we read George Ella Lyon’s “Where I’m From” poem and explored how the places we come from impact our identities and help to shape us. We focused on how using details rooted in […]

The People Who Made Us: The Idea of Ancestry

Today we read The Idea of Ancestry by Etheridge Knight. We had an amazing discussion about family, both biological and chosen. We talked about the stories that get handed down to us, who we […]

All Writing is Rewriting

This week at Simpson, we had a shortened period, so we dedicated our session to working on uncompleted pieces. We talked about revision as part of the writing process and how getting our ideas […]

All endings are beginnings…

We finished up the first half of our after school programming with Clissold students this week by bringing all of our Poetry Club participants together. After sharing a few sweet treats we read some […]

Let’s Get Started!

For our first session at Foster Park Elementary we spent some time introducing ourselves and talking about what poetry is and what it means to us. I introduced myself, by sharing a poem Ode […]

Donate

Support our student poets today!

CONNECT WITH US!

Twitter Facebook-f Instagram

STUDENT POETRY

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from current school partners.

POETRY ARCHIVE

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from our archive.

RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS

TESTIMONIALS

“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.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.

Search

CONTACT US

General Inquiries
info@poetrycenter.org

Programs (School & Organizational)
programs@poetrycenter.org

Reading Series and Events:
curator@poetrycenter.org

The Chicago Poetry Center is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
FEIN: 23-7400515

SEND US A POSTCARD

Chicago Poetry Center
1448 E. 52nd St, #256
Chicago, IL 60615

I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET