All posts in Poems

Blackout! Blackout!

This week Lawndale tried their hand at Blackout poetry. Using Aesop’s fables, song lyrics, and the full text of the national anthem, poets explored how to tear something up and put it back together. […]

Power of Voice

Today in Mrs. Siciliano 7th + 8th grade class, we looked at Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s poem, “Like Totally Whatever.” We learned about tone of voice, and the power of using it in poetry, particularly in […]

Chicago Born and Raised

This week Hyde Park’s poetry club read “Where I’m From” by Willie Perdomo, a poem about the people, lessons, and experiences that define our “origins.” Enjoy these poems by two Chicagoans about the push […]

Poetry as Play

Today in Ms. Reed’s 3rd grade, we talked about play and surprise. We talked about how poetry can give us tools to express some of our deepest emotions and thoughts, while also giving us a […]

Food Glorious Food

This week we wrote about all things edible! This is one of my favorite lessons to work on with students of all ages. Food is such a great way to engage all five of […]

Inside Out Emotions

This Tuesday for our 7th poetry session at the O-School we embraced our emotions. As a warmup activity students played saw scenes from the movie “Inside Out 2,” the main character Riley is going […]

A picture is worth infinite words

Beautiful magic can be made when words and images collide. For that reason, Waters 7th graders dove into the world of Ekphrastic Poetry. Ekphrastic poems are written in response to an image, often a […]

A picture is worth ______ words…

Beautiful magic can be made when words and images collide. For that reason, Waters 6th graders dove into the world of Ekphrastic Poetry. Ekphrastic poems are written in response to an image, often a […]

Poems after Paintings

This week students dipped their toes into art criticism. We read “Untitled #9, 1981” by Victoria Chang, after the Painting by Agnes Martin of the same name. We discussed how Chang’s poem described the […]

Lying About

James Tate’s poem, “Untitled” begins, “I sat at my desk and contemplated all that I had accomplished / this year.” The speaker then runs through a litany of ‘accomplishments’ growing more and more nutty, […]

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