Last week we wrote poems inspired by Nikki Giovanni’s poem “Knoxville, Tennessee” which examines her childhood memories of summer—food, activities, family parties, etc. We revisited our childhood associations with summer as well and then contrasted it with our summer right now in Chicago.
Here are a few examples of their work from Mr. Peterson’s class:
Dearl B.
Chicago, IL
I always like summer
best
you can wear shorts
and go to the beach
and pool
and the family picnic
and barbeque
and spaghetti
and block party
and bike riding
and fireworks
and fourth of july
and hot popcorn. This is the summer of hot classroom
for credit recovery.
And driving with the top down,
waking up early.
Kwantina W.
Chicago, IL
I always like summer
we can sell snowballs
make a lot of money
especially at the block club party
going to raging waves
getting to see family
and eating till I’m about to explode
I like going to Six Flags
and being out all night and
my 18th Birthday
smelling my neighbor barbecue everyday
then my other neighbor’s dog crap
but the violence
the shooting, funerals,
tears, families torn apart
fights, arrests, gangs
and city drug dealers are not apart of what I like—
safe summer, fun summer, hot summer, fast summer,
college summer,
is why I like summer.
Tekia M.
Chicago, IL
I always like summer
because
the city is more active
It’s live
spiritual
bright
comfortable
beautiful
The kids are enjoying the pool
and the water parks
they love to hear the ice cream truck
the holidays are lit
everyone barbecues then
the city has many different smells then
people are cruising
children playing
carnivals
fairs
beaches
lake fronts
late nights
early mornings
fun in the sun
sports
amusement parks
This summer is like
funerals
deaths
babies
tragedies
summer school
boring
workouts
games
tournaments
heat
rain
fights
loved ones being lost
crazy
killers
bad news
hot as…
terrible
