After reading Michael Salinger’s poem ‘ If I Were A Gear, ‘ students experimented with metaphors and extended metaphors.
Lesson Note: “The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others, and it is also a sign of genius”.— Aristotle in the Poetics
Ms. Hernandez, 7th Grade
If I Were a Rubber Band
by Izzy G.
If I were a rubber band
I would bend and stretch to your every need
I would wipe away your worries
Clean the picture in your fram
If I broke, you would fix me
The other rubber bands say you wouldn’t, but
You’ve done it before
If I were a pot of gold
By Niko W.
I will have a black as death coat of pain filled with gold.
I appear with a rainbow.
I wanted to run free like the wind.
But my friend said I must sit here.
He said I can run once I’m found and that he would protect me.
I wait in silence as he runs on the rainbow.
Saddened, I wait.
I have been through 1000 rainbows just waiting to be found.
I sit still for 1001, but it’s enough.
I decided that next rainbow, I shall go out.
I go out and run and run and , my friend calling out for me to come back but I don´t.
An hour later but then it happens I find someone.
They take my gold, and I feel weak.
Now I understand my friend was trying to protect me.
I then close my eyes for one last time and go to a better place.
I hope you love me too.
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade
Si yo fuera una mariposa
por Mariana V.
Si yo fuera una mariposa
fuera de color morado con destellos color lila
fuera muy aventurera por allí conociendo
con mucha paz me sentiria
ir de lado a lado
conociendo más compañía
conociendo naturaleza sin complejidad
oler miles de olores
generando t7ranquilidad
Estar sola pero sentirme acompañada
alrededor de miles de cosas llamadas naturaleza.
Desplázate y encontrarás tu lugar
piérdete pero buscate
no todo será fácil
pero te sentirás liberada
TRANSLATION
If I Were a Butterfly
by Mariana V.
If I were a butterfly
I were purple with lilac sparkles
I would be very adventurous, exploring
I would feel very peaceful Going from side to side
Meeting more company
Discovering nature without complexity
Smelling thousands of scents
Generating tranquility
Being alone but feeling accompanied
Around thousands of things called nature.
Move and you will find your place Lose yourself but find yourself
Not everything will be easy
But you will feel liberated.
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade
If I were a bed
By Marley M.
If I were a bed,
I’d cradle dreams,
With soft embraces, gentle seams.
A helper in the darkened night,
Where souls take gentle flight.
I’d help you feel
I’d feel your weight, the rise and fall,
Your breath, a rhythm, soft and small.
With every turn, each shifting sound,
I’d be the place where rest is found.
In silence, I would say,
“Let go, let go, and drift away.”
For as a bed, my job is clear:
To hold you close, to draw you near.
If I were a shoe
by Margaret M.
If I were a shoe I would support you through sickness and health.
No matter what you get yourself into I have the sole to help.
You would ask to be in step together,
You ask me to be your pink to your leather.
I would say yes because the shoe fits.
I put myself in yours, when your shoe takes the hits.
We wouldn’t get tied up in any terrain,
In fact we would climb to the top…
We are two of a pair, a duo, the same.
When the going gets tough, we’ll push through the weather.
And that’s because I’m the pink to your leather.
