For our last class at McCutcheon, we talked about the importance of revision in the writing process. Looking back over everything we've talked about this year and everything we've read, we decided that most poets probably rewrite their work a fair amount before publishing, and discussed questions of revision: is this line break working for me? Could I use stronger language here? More powerful words? More unique imagery? We read Richard Wilbur's poem "The Writer," and talked about imagery, structure, meaning, line breaks, and word choice, and decided it probably took him a few tries to get it right. The students then experimented with re-envisioning a poem by taking only the words found in Wilbur's poem and recombining them to make something entirely new.

Ms. Koerner's Class

Untitled
by Keshila T.

In a room the door shut.
A smooth glove on the desktop.
I wish it was an easy figure
The house was heavy of wishes
A crack in the door was wild
and dark.
The window was smooth but
harder.
I wait in blood.

Untitled
by MarShaun R.

I remember I
tossed a starling
out the right window
of my house the
starling was humped
and bloody I wish
the starling would
have flown out the
crack of the door
instead the starling
was dazed but still
my darling

Death and Life
by LeJason N.

Remember dazed reject it
Chain hauled heavy strokes
Silent dark wild sleek
life or death is
bunched of clamor
Thinking of passage
Is it life passage or
the death passage
The harder is death.
Suddenly trapped
in death.
Wishing to life not
death
Clearing sill the
world.

Ms. Askounis's Class

What Is Your Name?
by Michael A.

Young in her room for a helpless hour
My daughter is like a starling
Wild and bunched in the commotion
of the
World

Trying to reach the window
But is still at the door
Humped and bloody in the dazed cargo ship
And still she is
Silent

Death only in the prow of the world
She wished for life
Lucky and Young
My daughter is like a
Starling

No matter how trapped she is.

The House
by Torkeshea

At the house I
Daze through the
Crack of the door

The house seems to
Be thinking of
Silent Creatures

Spirits Rose they
lifted humped and bloody
Clearing the sill of the world

In the stairwell
life or death smooth
Chairback lifted the

Whole house

The Writer Is Writing A Story
by Kiara N.

In the room at the top of the house,
the writer is writing a story

The whole house seems to be thinking,
as the writer is writing a story

Where light breaks hour and hour,
the writer is writing a story.

From the hard-floor to the sleek desk top,
the writer is writing a story.

With rejected thoughts and wits to try again,
the writer is writing a story.

                                          As
her brilliance greatens,
the writer is writing a story.