In 8th grade, we read “Running into a New Year” by Lucille Clifton. We discussed how her lack of punctuation and short lines and single stanza gives us a sense of movement and speed. We brainstormed ways that we could use the page to create other feelings.
New Year Poem
-Faizan
I am teleporting into a new year
with rapid
speed chang is
coming
upon us
It is a sensation of great
bliss
like warming up
next to
a fireplace.
I’m zipping through
dimensions, to get
to this New Year
Change will come rapidly
like a
time machine.
Biking
-Abdi
I am biking into the new year
Pedaling slower and slower as the new
year starts approaching.
I am going to
miss what I had at
Clinton but
I am excited for what is to come.
I feel the wind holding
me back while I
start to pedal
faster
and faster
and
faster.
New Beginnings
-Maryam
I am tiptoeing
into the new year,
like a child
attempting to
steal cookies
from a cabinet,
my middle school
memories fading,
like clouds on
a clear day,
slowly moving
on from the
familiar faces
that I have grown
accustomed to.
I will be walking into
an unfamiliar building
willing to start all over.
