All posts in chicago poetry center

‘Remember that love is free’: Poems on Memory

Students wrote memory list poems based on Joy Harjo’s poem, ‘Remember’. Lesson Note: Harjo’s work is often autobiographical, informed by the natural world, and above all preoccupied with survival and the limitations of language. […]

‘impossible….good’:Blackout Poems

Blackout Poetry: A blackout poem is created when a poet takes a marker (usually black marker) to already established text–like that from a newspaper–and starts redacting words until a poem or image is formed. […]

Inquiring Minds

At this session the Sayre students brightened my day with their inquisitive capacities. We asked “What are questions like? What are they not like? How does it feel to ask a question? How does […]

‘Apple.Apple.Apple.Apple.Apple.’: Concrete Poems

Students created concrete poems, which rely on their visual depiction to express meaning more clearly. Here are some of their beautiful examples of that form! Lesson Note: “Art has a way of bringing to […]

‘Withdraw/ Deposit/Invest’: Diamond Poems

Students created Diamond Poems using parts of speech and their wonderful imaginations. Lesson Note: A diamante poem is a poem in the shape of a diamond. It can be used to compare and contrast […]

‘Por eso es mi felicidad mirar…’: Concrete Poems

Students created concrete poems to showcase shape and style. Below are the first drafts, which were hand-drawn and written! Lesson Note: “I think you should be intuitive and playful in your choices and determined […]

‘sometimes stare’: Self-Portrait Poems

After reading student poet Noor S.’s poem ‘Self Portrait with my Loose Hijab, ‘ students wrote self-portrait poems focusing on one aspect of themselves! Self-Portrait with my loose hijab  By Noora S.  Trying to […]

‘when there’s more in the world?:’ Self Portrait Poems

After reading student poet Noor S.’s poem ‘Self Portrait with my Loose Hijab, ‘ students wrote self-portrait poems focusing on one aspect of themselves! Self-Portrait with my loose hijab  By Noora S.  Trying to […]

‘Quinceañera’: Poems of Play

Students made the old-school paper game called a ‘Cootie Catcher,’, which is a form of origami used in children’s games. Parts of the catcher are labeled with words that serve as options for a […]

‘now find the/sign’: Table Poems

A common household object became the focus of this lesson  while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps The World Ends Here.  The poet James Merrill once commented, ‘we understand history from the family around the table.’ […]

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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