All posts in Washington

Night Poems

Inspired by a few poems from seventh and eighth graders at Haines taught by Timothy David Rey, eighth graders at Washington wrote poems about their nighttime thoughts and experiences, focusing on tone. We loved […]

Persona Poems

This week at Washington, we studied two persona poems, “In Another Dream, I Work at a White Tower” by Talin Tahajian, a persona poem of Miley Cyrus, and “aunt jemima” by Lucille Clifton. We […]

Haiku Love Letters

Inspired by Cincinnati Poet Laureate Yalie Saweda Kamara’s “Haiku Love Letters for Gabby Douglas,” we thought about the density of haiku and how, in a series, they offer different angles on the same topic […]

The power of line breaks

Last week we had a bonus session at Washington! We took a break from our usual routine and got hands on with poems, focusing on revision and line breaks. After reviewing all the different […]

Migration-inspired poems

Inspired by a poetry lesson by fellow poet-in-residence Joy Young, this week’s session centered around migration, journeys, and what we bring with us to make a new place feel like home. We read Wang […]

Contemplating Silence

The week before spring break, Miss Davis’s eighth graders contemplated the nuances of silence in U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón‘s prose poem “The Quiet Machine.” We talked about prose poetry and thought about types […]

Winter, spring, summer, or fall poems

This week at Washington was high 50s after a weekend of snow! This drastic change in weather had us thinking about what we like and dislike about winter. We read Linda Pastan’s “The Blizzard” […]

On the day that I was born…

During our last session, we dove into our pasts, to the year we were born and beyond. Inspired by Jacqueline Woodson’s poem “February 12, 1963,” we incorporated research into our poems and imagined the […]

Our Pet Peeves

We had a lot of fun with this week’s topics, rants and our pet peeves. We were inspired by brilliant poems by student poets Sabrina Y., who wrote “You must let the truth fly […]

Revision Day

It was revision day at Washington this week! Poems are rarely finished in one sitting, so we got the chance to look back at all the poems we’ve written so far and dive deeper […]

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