The Winter Blues

I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so sunny and warm for today’s session with Mr. Reinholdt’s 7th graders, but decided it was still a great day for a snowball fight! Inspired by a lesson by fellow CPC teaching artist Fullamusu Bangura I decided to have students write poems about winter where they would also have to incorporate their classmates’ words. Everyone received a few sheets of paper, and after completing a series of short writing prompts, they would crumple it up and put it off to the side. When we finished everyone had an arsenal of snowballs they could launch at each other. After a 30 second “snowball fight” students collected whatever snowballs they could find and used the words on those sheets of paper to write their own poem about winter. Enjoy this week’s poems! 

The Perfect Winter

Axel T. 

Ah winter, 

The jolliest time of the year

Christmas gifts and grapes with 

champagne

Campfires with gingerbread houses

The perfect cup of hot chocolate

tastes like a scorching volcano but then

cools off and tastes like a warm hug

by my mother. 

Many time to be jolly and 

merry. 

But next come January and 

February 

Valentine’s Day and Groundhog day

the snow starting to melt into 

puddles. 

With no more coldness, means less

cuddles. 

More water coming to the ground. Oh no!

It’s raining. 

Out comes March 21st. “Dad, look, 

it’s spring.” 

Dark Light

Juan S.

If I could change anything about winter

it would be the dying trees

The trees look like dead

skeleton bodies

The sun doesn’t come

out for days, or a month. 

The boring Christmas 

bread makes me wanna cry. 

I am so cold in winter, I

would change the weather. 

The chocolate chip cookies

make me emotional. 

When I play with snow I imagine 

to stay active. 

The Christmas food

makes me full. 

The Christmas tree makes

me think of Santa. 

If I had a wish it would be 

to have snow ‘till summer. 

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TESTIMONIALS

“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.