We explored the powerful device of Repetition in Phil Kaye’s poem of the same name. Some poems in our workshop are ‘after’ Kaye’s work.
Lesson Note: Writer/Performer Anna Deavere Smith who interviews people and then writes those interviews down verbatim like poetry, insists that it is in our utterances between words and our repetition of them that finds us really ‘talking.’
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 1
The Night Everything Changed
Alex B.
I remember that night it all changed.
Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.
Something was going to change
For the better or for the worse.
For the better I hoped.
Good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts
good thoughts
But that did not help
It did the opposite if anything
Because everything good has its negatives
Worse-case scenarios come to mind
Forcing me to think
bad thoughts, bad thoughts, bad thoughts
ENOUGH
Yelling at myself in my head
Waiting for this whole mess to end
I run to my room
And jump on my bed
Good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts, good thoughts
when will this end?
Repetition Poem
Robert B.
I remember the first year I started school
I saw new people and learn new things
I remember my second year in school
I learned many new things
I remember my third year in school
I had to meet new people and learn
I remember my fourth year in school
I was seperated from those I knew.
Breakfast
Damian D.
When I eat breakfast I think about a lot
Food, food, food, food
I think of eggs & bacon
bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon
I think of the sweet
OJ, OJ, OJ, OJ
I think of the fish
salmon, salmon, salmon, salmon
I think of the sour
lemon, lemon, lemon, lemon
I think of the spices
cumin & red pepper, cumin & red pepper, cumin & red pepper
I think of my ful stomach
Yum, yum, yum.
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 2
Untitled
Owen F.
I was always told there was a golden rule
So many times. When you hear something so many times you
believe it. This isn’t bad. In this situation.
Treat others how you would want to be treated
treat, treat, you, others, want.
Over, over, over, over
This is good and right. Is what I’m told. I believe it.
Because it is right. Because they say so.
Untitled
Celena H.
Music is really cool
it brings people together
together, together, together
you listen to it everyday w/out
realizing it, realizing it
whether it’s on the streets
or in the car, it’s all around
you, you, you, you, you
because it relates to people like
us, us, us, it brings us all
together, together, together
Untitled
Cam V.
I remember
I got a dog.
He is cool.
Really cool.
Really, really cool.
Really, really, really
cool.
Then I got another.
He’s cool.
Really cool.
Really, really, cool
Really, really, really, cool.
Then I got another.
He’s cool.
Really cool.
Really, really, cool.
Really, really, really cool.
Yep.
Yep.
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 3
‘September’ by Earth, Wind and Fire *
*not mine but a good fit
Aidan J.
Do you remember?
The 21st night of September
Love was changing the mind of
pretenders
while chasing the clouds
Hey Hey Hey
Bada ya, say that you remember
Bada ya, dancing in September
This song is fire and has
multiple repeated lines
such as remember
Bada ya
Hey
September
Also the trumpet is nice
*(really good)
Repetition Poem
Hugo G.
Remembering is hard for me,
with all that made me who I am buried,
hidden under a pile of acceptance.
It’s tough when who you are is a mystery,
even to yourself.
Sometimes I know, or at least feel like I know,
what I am supposed to do in life.
But other times, it’s tough just ot know where I stand.
I remmber, but only on Wednesdays.
These are the days that I wonder, and dig myself
a little further out of the acceptance pile.
Reminding myself, I have two worlds.
A world with me, and a world with the shades of
my past. Sometimes they collide, and I
can almost reach out, almost feel, almost know.
Who I was, or just maybe,
Who I really am.
But I may never know that, for when the worlds
do collide.
I am truly someone else.
Switching, Changing
Cecilia B.
Things swich and change
Even when you want things to be the same
Switching Schools
Changing friends
Switching Home
Changing Family.
And you can never switch back.
Ever.
Just hope that things change for the best.
Because change isn’t always good.
You’ll leave things behind,
only to become memories now.
I want to stay in this moment
I think.
Can I pause time?
I think
Don’t switch again.
I think
Don’t change…
again.
Untitled
Jackson D.
It’s 10:22
English, English, English
Class
Seems to loose meaning
Especially when thought about 4,5,6, times
it’s rapid, rapid, rapid
I gotta do work, work, work, work
These words sound alien, alien, alien,
Reapeated 4,5,6, times
Words sound different, different, different
every time you say them
Comfortable sounds like comfortable, comfortable, comfortable
Comfortable
Why is the T pronounced before the R?
Has it losts meaning, meaning, meaning, meaning?
I’ve been looking out a window at a sky
full of clouds, all white, white, white, but never with an ‘h’ sound
I’m asleep, asleep, asleep, from asleep to asleep
I snap out of it
it’s 10:23
Parrot
Jakob C.
a parrot that speaks different things in
different situations is no different than a
human who does the same thing. the latter
is, however, arbitrary, explained by conciousness,
and other than this, a rabbit that follows the
same daily routine to fall in a niche is
no different than a human that does the
same thing, the former does so for its own
survival and becuase of its instinct, but
arguably so does the latter.
humans have build a complex ecosystem of
mutual cooperation, but it is different since
it is made of concrete and destroying the
one made of leaves humans cannot speak
with animals and they are the
intelligent ones. no other animal fights
its own species for reason above survival.
animals to not have spooks in their brains
to tell them how to behave. they act out for their
own and their offstpring and no one else.
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 5
In Rememberance To A Lost Family Member
Justin C.
Fidget Spinners are great
To Fidget Spin I can’t wait
Fidget Spinner tricks
Fidget Spinner flips
I’d call Fidget Spinners a hit!
Spinners here
Spinners there
Spinner to spin anywhere
Fidget Spinners are a win
I find myself in a wold to spin
Fidget Spinner, they aren’t a sin
If Fidget Spinners didn’t exist, I think I’d blurt.
I’d Fidget Spin myself into a world of hurt.
Untitled
Sebastian P.
Sometimes you were waiting for life to come for you
Waiting…waiting…waitinig.
But as you age the complete opposite happens
You love to and get life
Walking…Walking…Walking
The life starts walking away from you
Running…Running…Rumming
the life gets too far
Parting…Parting…Parting
Then life just leaves Earth and with life gone
you are too.
Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 7
Untitled
Maria D.
I saw that one sandwhich at that one shop
that is made of ham, ham, ham, ham.
Whether or not it’s pleasing to the
naked eye, eye, eye.
On the other side a McDonald’s staring
at my heart & soul.
I can see you, fast, fast, fast
Don’t ruin me.
Home
Amanda G.
The bright day welcome me
to a memory filled with joy.
I walk the halls of a house
Gentle and frail
The floor board creaks below
my feet
Liek a match striking fire.
The world around me crumbles
into dust
and the memory
begins to fade, far, far away.
Untitled
Ariana R.
I remember the sounds
of my mom
shouting, shouting, shouting
into the phone
on the other side of my Dad
Few years later
a ring, ring, ring
no longer on her finder
Everyday I walked knowing
that he was no longer there
Alone, Alone, Alone.
