All posts in Shoesmith

Becoming a Dream

For their second virtual poetry lesson Shoesmith students explored poetry about dreams. Dreams are the images that play inside our heads while we sleep, but also what we imagine, or wish will happen to […]

Youth For Social Justice

  For the past month Shoesmith students have been going virtual! Despite the COVID 19 shelter-at-home order, students are still learning and writing poetry using Google Classroom. For their first virtual lesson we explored […]

Laughing Limericks

This week at Shoesmith, students experimented with limericks, a humorous verse of three long and two short lines with an aabba rhyme scheme. Limericks first gained popularity in the 1800’s by British poet Edward […]

Imperfect Haikus

This week at Shoesmith we experimented with haikus. Haiku is a short Japanese three-line poem written in a 5/7/5 syllable count. Together we read the poem “Haiku for How to Screw Up Middle School,” […]

Tech Savy Poets

This week at Shoesmith students explored poetry about technology. Students were asked to discuss the positive and negative effects technology had on their lives. Most students agreed that technology has created faster ways to […]

A Poet’s Toolkit

“In terms of writing a poem, for me it really is more about showing up than waiting for inspiration. I try to think of writing a poem in the same vein as any other […]

The Power of Asking Questions

This week at Shoesmith we experimented with question poetry, where poets ask a series of questions as a form of self-reflection and deeper meaning. Why do people ask questions? Does every question have to […]

Stories from the Body

This week at Shoesmith we explored poetry all about the body. Many poets in the past have written about the human body’s beauty, flaws, and capabilities. Together we listened to the poem “Hands” by […]

Ode to Kool-Aid

This week at Shoesmith we learned about ode poetry, which is when a poet gives praise and celebrates a person, place, or object. Together we read Marcus Jackson’s poem “Ode to Kool-Aid.” Jackson creates […]

Enchanted Masks

This week at Shoesmith we learned about persona poetry, where the poet puts on the identity of someone else. In Greek the word persona means mask. Large masks were often worn by Greek actors […]

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