All posts in Poems

Poking Around the Family Tree

In “Pokeberries,” Ruth Stone recalls members of her extended family—mostly women—and how they (positively) impacted her life. Her brief yet potent poem is packed with vivid details and initiated many lively and fascinating conversations. […]

Reports from the Poetry Field

This week the young Viking writers explored reportage/jounralistic poetry. They read Muriel Rukeyser’s “Poem (I lived in the first century of world wars) and Mark Jarman’s “Ground Swell.” The students were then tasked with […]

Illustrated Poetry

During our 6th sessions, Swift students took turns reading – in both Spanish and English – the poem “Same Green Fate” by Francisco X. Alarcón. It begins: “let’s listen to/ the green voice of […]

‘We were stuck together like tape’

On the first day of our 6th Grade poetry residency at Sayre Elementary, we went over what poetry is, as well as the poetic terms “line” and stanza.” We then read a poem by […]

Personification Poems Pt. 2- 7th Grade

After some schedule changes and a week off, we were back at Perez to finish off our personification poems. There were so many great pieces written this week, some to the universe, the ocean, […]

‘Someone gave me a solar system’

On the first day of our 5th Grade poetry residency at Sayre Elementary, we went over what poetry is, as well as the poetic terms “line” and stanza.” We then read a poem by […]

Kindergarten Sound Poems

In Ms. Icho’s Kindergarten, we learned some 4th grade ideas today! We talked about similes, and how we can compare two TOTALLY different things. The kids put on their big kid thinking caps and […]

Making Poems out of Poems

It’s hard to believe we’re near the halfway point of our Waters residency, but we are! For the ninth week, we talked about erasure poems, also known as blackout poems. I found out that […]

The Name Game

Each of our names tell a story about us, and last week Sayre’s 8th graders dug deep into their origins. Some of us are named after loved ones, and others have names inspired by […]

Poems Are Like Burgers

Sayre’s 8th grade students had a lot to say about poetry. After reading Jamila Woods’ “Blk Girl Art,” we spent time crafting our own works about what poetry means to us. Check out some […]

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“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.”
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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