For the last day of our summer poetry residency, MLK Academy 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students explored the idea of creating a new country. What will this new country look like? What type of people will live there? Together we read and discussed the poem “The Republic of Poetry” by Martin Espada. In his poem Espada creates a country that celebrates poetry. Poets rent a helicopter to bombard the national palace with poems on bookmarks/ and everyone in the courtyard rushes to grab a poem fluttering from the sky. For Espada the Republic of Poetry is a place filled with possibilities, where odes are used for recipes in restaurants and parades with kicking horses and village bands honor poets. In this country poetry touches the lives of its citizens in fantastical, yet meaningful ways.
Inspired by Martin Espada, students used poetry to visualize their own unique countries. Please enjoy these published poems.
The Republic of Kids
By Stephon
In the Republic of Kids there are no adults
In the Republic of a Kids everything is free
In the Republic of Kids there are no bedtimes
In the Republic of Kids there is no school, everybody knows everything
In the Republic of Kids you can be 13 or older to drive
In the Republic of Kids there are no police
In the Republic of Kids there are no guns
In the Republic of Kids I’m the president
In the Republic of Kids there are no racists
In the Republic of Kids there is no homelessness.
The Republic of Black Lives Matter
By London
In the Republic of non-racist people
In the Republic of a better president
In the Republic of no white supremacists
In the Republic of no police brutality
In the Republic of all types of music
In the Republic of where you don’t get judged by how you look
In the Republic of where you get to know people before judging them
In the Republic of where people can look how they wanna look
In the Republic of Black Lives Matter
In the Republic of Anything is possible.
