Tag Archives: poetry

September Iris (A Golden Shovel Poem)

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Screen Shot 2017-09-22 at 9.40.44 PM

Autumn approaches, kind and Just
Throwing hints of its arrival— aloof, cat-like—
Prowling and batting frost through the passing moons,
But by day, hiding, napping, and
Basking in brightness, allowing heat like
a season of summer suns.

Leaves shed their green With
Emerald subsiding to olive before the
Tawny, coppery shades show with certainty.
Dried and crumbled memories fall off of  
Branches, covering the earth with umber tides.

Though the equinox expresses endings, you, Iris, are Just
Standing there, a September bloom, proud-like.
You remind me to harbor my hopes—
Inward singing for eventual springing—
Iris, surrounded by delicate falls, your standards held high.

The world tries to remind you that summer is settled, but Still
Here you are, Iris, regal and resplendent. I’ll
Remember watching you, Iris—brave, beautiful rebel—rise.

This a Golden Shovel Poem, which I learned about in Nikki Grime’s amazing book called
One Last Word.   

My Golden Shovel poem is written based on the 3rd stanza of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.
Advertisement

Stay Gold (texts to accompany The Outsiders)

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Thank you, Mary Stassen, for inspiring this text list!  As requested, you will find books, videos, and a Newsela text set to serve as additional resources when you read The Outsiders with your class.  When you can, buy your books at an independent bookstore.  Anderson’s Bookshop is one of my favorites!

 

Newsela.Com text Set “Stay Gold!”

BOOKS WITH SIMILAR THEMES AND/OR DISCUSSION POINTS

The Crossover by Kwame Alexander      

Josh Bell is a baller and a twin brother.  He needs to sort out what he has in common with his brother and how he is different.  He also needs to face the medical issue going on with his dad.

 

Solo by Kwame Alexander and Mary Rand Hess  

This novel-in-verse tells the story of Blade and his broken rock-n-roll family.  Blade grieves the loss of his mom and the shame of  his drug-addicted father by writing his own songs.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson 

Melinda is miserable at school.  Kids laugh at her and make it obvious that they are doing so.  They are still mad at her about something that happened over the summer.  As she struggles through each day, she is trying to heal.  She was the one who was hurt, but nobody will know until she finds her voice.

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous 

This book is the diary of a high-school girl who Runs away from home, and gets mixed up with drugs.  At some points she seems like she has the world ahead of her.  Other times, she seems so lost . . .

 

Tyrell by Coe Booth  

Tyrell can’t get a break.  His mom is useless.  His dad is in jail.  He’s got a kid brother that needs too much from him, and a girlfriend that wants too much from him. All he wants is a place to live, and a new start.

Bronx Masquerade by Nikki Grimes   

Wesley doesn’t write the required essay for Mr. Ward’s class, but he writes a poem. This leads to an open mic poetry event every week in Mr. Ward’s class.  Girls and boys from different races, cultures, and circumstances open up to each other through their shared words.


Between the Lines by Nikki Grimes (Available February 2018)
In this companion/sequel to Bronx Masquerade, Darrin is a  budding news reporter.  He and Mr. Ward bring back open mic poetry and a new group of students learn about each other through shared vulnerability.

 

Joseph: A Novel by Sheila P. Moses  

Joseph is about to start at a new school.  The problem is, it’s hard to get to know anyone when you can’t talk about your life.  Joseph and his mom live in a homeless shelter, because she can’t keep a steady job with her drug and alcohol addictions.  Joseph is trying to figure out how to help her while he also tries to deal with his own life.

Bottled Up by Jaye Murray  

Pip is desperate to escape his life – he skips school, drinks, and gets high trying to escape.  When Pip gets in trouble at school,  the principal gives him an ultimatum:  See a counselor, or his dad will be called.  Pip will do ANYTHING to avoid his father, so he sees the counselor, who wants him to see what he’s doing to himself and to his little brother.

Handbook for Boys by Walter Dean Myers   

Jimmy and Kevin could really use a guide to life.

Their activities almost land them in juvenile detention until Duke employs them in his Harlem barbershop. Duke has rules for everything. But is he offering good advice or just more aggravation?

Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers    

Lately everybody’s messing with Jamal. His teachers, the kids at school, even his dad. And now that Jamal’s brother Randy’s in the slam, Crazy Mack has a crazy idea. He wants Jamal to take control of the Scorpions and run crack.

All the gang jive–Jamal has no use for it. Unless, like some say, it’s the only way to “get money” for Randy’s appeal…

The story of twelve-year-old Jamal, whose life changes drastically when he acquires a gun.

 

I Can’t Keep My Own Secrets:
Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure
by Larry Smith

Based on Earnest Hemingway’s six-word-story, teens wrote their own six-word-memoirs—powerful, vulnerable, truth-telling memoirs.

 

Boot Camp by Todd Strasser   

After getting caught with drugs, fifteen year-old Garrett is sent to Lake Harmony, a disciplinary boot camp for troubled teens.  At the boot camp, Garrett is abused and controlled until he “obeys all orders immediately and without hesitation.”  Part of him wants to escape, and part of him is terrified to break any more rules.  Can he escape while he still has his own personality?

Teen Angst? Naaah… by Ted Vizzini  

Ned’s angsty teen memoirs can be read in order, or not.  Each chapter is complete and can  stand alone.

YOUTUBE VIDEOS 

Thug Notes: The Outsiders (Warning: Explicit Language)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJl3cEOpFH4

Gone With the Wind in 60 Seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIpNvvVN13Y

Bunnies: Gone With the Wind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsOIn0IBAdA

Interview with S.E. Hinton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJnfleLeOZg

Robert Frost recites “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDPUdK2tcdA

Stop-Action Animation “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (Good For CCSS RL7)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLYj1A5Z_t8

 

Elfchen (Das Trio)

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

 

The prompt was to write a double elevenie, or Elfchen.  I chose to write 3 single Elfchens that are not related in any way.

 

Sommer-
Frische Luft
Eliminiert die Belastung
Jetzt kann ich atmen
Erneuerung

 

 

Grazia
Amore sacrificale
Elimina la vergogna
Asimmetrico, benevolo, e intenzionale
Libertà

 

 

Oprimido
Marginalizado agora
Além das fronteiras
Último será o primeiro
Afinal

 

 

 

NaPoWriMo.net  DAY 23  “Our prompt for Day Twenty-Three comes to us from Gloria Gonsalves, who challenges us to write a double elevenie. What’s that? Well, an elevenie is an eleven-word poem of five lines, with each line performing a specific task in the poem. The first line is one word, a noun. The second line is two words that explain what the noun in the first line does, the third line explains where the noun is in three words, the fourth line provides further explanation in four words, and the fifth line concludes with one word that sums up the feeling or result of the first line’s noun being what it is and where it is. There are some good examples in the link above.”

Forewarning

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Truth
Self-evident Exactspeak
Illuminating, Vulnerabling, Braving,
There is no grey; there is only gray.
Blaming, justifying, Avoiding
Opaque daggers
Lies

NaPoWriMo.net Day 18  “Today, I challenge you to write a poem that incorporates neologisms. What’s that? Well, it’s a made-up word! Your neologisms could be portmanteaus (basically, a word made from combining two existing words, like “motel” coming from “motor” and “hotel”) or they could be words invented entirely for their sound.”

Let Us Waltz

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

NaPoWriMo.net – Day 17 – “And now for our (optional) prompt. Today, I challenge you to write a nocturne. In music, a nocturne is a composition meant to be played at night, usually for piano, and with a tender and melancholy sort of sound. Your nocturne should aim to translate this sensibility into poetic form!”

 

Instead of a nocturne,
I wrote a waltz today.

No foxtrot,
Merengue,
Or mambo.
Can move us
Properly.
Let us waltz.

Hair flowing,
Feet dancing,
Hands holding,
We’re swinging,
Hearts beating—
Let us waltz.

You’re smiling;
I’m grinning.
We’re twirling,
And spinning.
You and me,
Let us waltz.

 

United Airlines

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Budget-changing United Airlines
Has found it’s way into the headlines—
While peanuts are no longer complimentary,
They’re happy to throw in a concussion for free.

 

 

 

NaPoWriMo.net – Day 14 – a clerihew poem

 

Choking Humanity

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Today’s news, quietly screaming the ugly truth,
We are a completely broken humanity.

Hatred, violence, and political pretense
Are prowlin’ about provokin’ humanity.

The “bliss” of ignorance has become our disgrace
We’re the kiss of poison oak in humanity.

Change will not come unless we humbly face the facts —
Primary facts — and get woke in humanity.

Can I, Julie, help turn this Ship of Fools around?
I’ll use voice — with an outspoken humanity.

NaPoWriMo.net (Day 14) “Today’s is an oldie-but-a-goody: the ghazal. The form was originally developed in Arabic and Persian poetry, but has become increasingly used in English, after being popularized by poets including Agha Shahid Ali. A ghazal is formed of couplets, each of which is its own complete statement. Both lined of the first couplet end with the same phrase or end-word, and that end-word is also repeated at the end of each couplet. If you’re really feeling inspired, you can also attempt to incorporate internal rhymes and a reference to your own name in the final couplet.”

This writing prompt — writing a ghazal — after today’s events is necessary, critical,  and Timely.

Lipgloss

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

Screen Shot 2017-04-12 at 10.19.04 PM

Brighten
Bee-stung
Bow-shaped lips
With burgundy blush.
Swab some
shiny,
sleek,
slick,
slippery,
shimmery, silicate silk
sideways
To play up
That part that pouts.
Grab a tube of
Glassy glimmer glitter
A tube of twilight tulips
A wand with wintry wine
Or be
Pleasantly Pleased
with plain pink.

NaPoWriMo.net – Day 12 – “Today, I’d like you to write a poem that explicitly incorporates alliteration (the use of repeated consonant sounds) and assonance (the use of repeated vowel sounds). This doesn’t mean necessarily limiting yourself to a few consonants or vowels, although it could. Even relatively restrained alliteration and assonance can help tighten a poem, with the sounds reinforcing the sense.”

Portrait of a Student Who Desperately Wants to Learn

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

 

Hearing a hullabaloo from
the next classroom over,
I hopped into the hallway
To see a student spewing sass at her teacher.

She flips her hair and rolls her eyes.
At the same moment —
Smack —
A smart snapping sound sails off her lips.
“Whatever,” she huffs,
Crossing one arm over the other,
Pointing her elbows out
Like the quills of a porcupine.
“I didn’t want to be in your class anyways!”

She pivots,
Fifty percent ballerina, fifty percent basketball player—
One hundred percent attitude.

I spy
the same student
several hours later,
Beside a classmate,
During after school tutoring,
Blatantly whispering
“You know what I hate?”
She begs of her buddy,
“Teachers that say they don’t care.”

Her companion corroborates,
“Mmm-hmm.”

“They should know
I’m fronting.
They got something
And I want what they got.
That’s why I show up.
Now, why would you
Tell someone
Who show up
Everyday
That you don’t care ‘bout them?
Ain’t you the grown-up here?”

Again, her friend
Renders Assent,
“Mmm-hmm.
They should
just know, no
Matter what,
No matter how you act
No matter what you say,
That you want
What they got.
They should
just know.”


 

NaPoWriMo.net – Day 10 Prompt “Today, I’d like to challenge you to write a poem that is a portrait of someone important to you. It doesn’t need to focus so much on what a person looks (or looked) like, as what they are or were.”

Spam (NaPoWriMo – Day 9)

Posted on by The Read-e-ologist

SPAM

I can meet other folks,
Cure illnesses and strokes,
And win lotteries in Chad.

Change sizes of things I don’t own,
Qualify for a hefty loan,
And pay off debts I never had.

Princes will send lots of dough —
I have to open these emails, though.
Hmm, maybe it won’t be so bad.

NaPoWriMo.net – Day 9 Prompt “Because today is the ninth day of NaPoWriMo, I’d like to challenge you to write a nine-line poem. Although the fourteen-line sonnet is often considered the “baseline” form of verse in English, Sir Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene using a nine-line form of his own devising, and poetry in other languages (French, most particularly) has always taken advantage of nine-line forms.”