The Taft 7th and 8th graders and I continued down our path of strange realities with an appropriately winterized poem this week, Wallace Steven’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
Our writing goal for the day was to take an everyday something and look at it from as many angles as possible!
Here’s some examples of what our illustrious poets came up with this week–
Ms. Foley
8th Grade, 8th Period
“Toothbrush” -or- “Not Me”
Max V.
Waiting with my kind
Ready to be used
Nobody else gets as up close and personal to teeth
as me
He’s never asked if this is the life
for me
Everyone here waits between meals
like me
I don’t have legs
nope, not me
Oh and when he doesn’t rinse my bristles
Or leaves bubblegum paste on my tummy
That’s not for me
How I hate when leaves me on the window sill
Staring out at all the worry free bees
This is not the life for me
Untitled
Victoria K.
I.
One way to look at it;
the pencil.
It writes across the
paper, and then,
it erases.
II.
It gets lost
underneath desks
and kicked by shoes.
III.
The tip of the eraser
is chewed and
a grown-up pacifier.
IV.
An advertisement
disguised as a
piece of fancy wood.
V.
#2, #1,
decorated, plain,
Tyconderoga,
and many others alike.
VI.
In the end,
it always flies
across a sheet of paper
to complete a
piece of
unfinished homework.
7 Ways of Looking at Taft High School
Bart B.
1. The smoke curls,
Out of bathrooms
On the high school side
2. Classrooms buzzing,
Like a hive of hornets,
Silent in the hallways
3. Smack of an open book,
Scribble of a misfit pen,
An army of scratches,
A sea of pencil shavings,
Cover the classroom floor
4. Bubbles on paper,
Some half full,
Pristine, Round
Graphite to the brim
5. Sound of school bells,
Echo, reverberate,
remind of the past,
remind of the present
6. Littered floors,
Apple cores,
Cover the floor of the lunch room
7. Front of the school,
An old reality
Paper
Kaela G.
The foundation of life’s happiness,
paper and pencil; the ingredients for a happy receipt
Smart Phone
Gus K.
1. The bleeps are pops
as flappybirds echo
from the phone to all
crevices of the train.
2. The nuissance of the
tone broke the immersiveness
of the play.
3. Many a time has a plastic
rectangle been used to
resolve ones sense of
abandonment.
4. From computers the size of a house
to a single device the size of your hand,
technology leaps where others dodge.
5. Soon there will be P.A.A.
Phone Addicts Anonymous
Ways to Look at a Mirror
Lia G.
1
Here there
you follow me, but
I find that when I exit
you don’t follow
why?
2
We are the same
me and me
but indifference can be the least
Look close and you’ll see
3
I looked at the mirror
expecting to see me
but just as every other day
the morning was eating my face
4
I told my sister
there’s a stranger in my room
she turned around and then
pout, shrugged, left
5
I heard a knowcking in my room
I looked to the door
But the sounds don’t come from there
it was the mirror… again
Ms. Taylor
8th Grade, 6th Period
5 Ways of Looking at a Sandcastle
Sara L.
A mom and a daughter
running to the ocean
to grab water
to make the perfect sandcastle
The seagull lands on the deserted pill of sand
that was once a palace
for a princess and the prince
The child looks for shells
to decorate the broken castle that
she made too close to the shore
Boyfriend and girlfriend
create their dream home
with the necessities of the beach
Packing and packing
Journey of the Paper Scrap
Ryan D.
It begins its journey
from an overflowing void
the scrap sits on a mass of disorder
__
A discarded idea
a child’s dream
a dirty joke
the scrap keeps these secrets to itself
__
Its creator abused it
whether ripped in half
or rolled into a ball
flowing out are the ideas
__
The wind tells
it, O young idea
dont give up yet
another child may find you
and keep you
__
The scrap has anger
as it cuts through the
skin of something human
while blaming the strong winds
__
Its dark, its scared,
abused again in a hurried
pocket
__
Is this my dream?
No, it can’t be. I
am neither dead nor
alive I am not a being
__
Buried in dirt for
over 40 years. Still forgotten
still unknown. It still
cannot even hear the
footsteps above
__
While a human forgets
a scrap of paper instantly,
that “scrap” has its
own journey.
__
Maybe, just maybe,
it had more of a journey
then you could ever dream of.
10 Ways to View Your Dog
Jennifer P.
Maybe a companion,
or even a bestfriend.
Maybe a rabbit jumping in the yard,
or a coyote in the woods.
They can be a person you go to,
or maybe something you run from.
Something you can play with,
or something to push away.
People and dogs
are one.
Young Love
London M.
Young love is beautifully ugly.
There are no ways to see it
but yet there are thousands.
It is painful beyond repair;
young love flushes unhappiness down the drain.
I am so far from feeling young love,
but soon will ask to break free.
Young love isn’t real; its concrete.
Up and down hallways, young love is
seen, heard, and lost.
Young love is something everyone desires to have,
but only some can capture it.
Seeing two love birds, I wished I
grew a beak; yet I
cannot, so I do not.
Young love is something Aristotle
can forget, but something
nobody can take
from their mind.
It is harsh and amazing,
light and dark;
young love is endless
but it ends too close to its
start.
9 Ways to Fly Away
Sahra A.
1
Jump out the window
and take to the sky
2
Let the breze
carry you away
3
Jump with joy
and fly around
4
Become a bird
and flap your wings
5
Fall asleep
and dream away
6
Meet a fairy
and tell her why
7
You deserve to learn
to fly
8
Make a wish
as you go to bed
9
Remember there’s no limit
as you fly away
Ms. Asvos
7th Grade, 7th Period
Water
Kevin W.
On the big cliffs, the only thing moving is water.
The water zoomed down the cliffs, all you heard was splash.
The water & cliffs are 1. The water, cliffs, & rocks are 1.
The icicles melting in the winter snow.
People moving through it like rats.
Water falling from the clouds.
Getting wet, having fun, frozen fun.
Water is a differential way of life.
13 ways to see a Flower
Anahi M.
I
A flower given for happiness
Bright petals make somebody’s eyes bright
Thank-yous and hugs are given
In happiness
II
A Flower given for sadness
In a time of need
A flower is given to cheer up a soul.
III
A flower is given to congratulate
Given to tell someone how well they did,
How hard they worked
IV
A flower is given to remember someone special
To show respect and love
Looking back at the memories
A flower is put on its stone.
V
A flower is used to make a room brighter
A pop of its beauty can do lots.
VI
A flower is used for its delightful smell
An amazing fragrance that
Makes a flower, a flower.
VII
A flower is used in a garden
Many, many beautiful flowers
All unique and beautiful
Pulled up in one amazing scenery
VIII
A flower is used to peel off its amazing petals
“He loves me, He loves me not”
IX
A flower is used for an amazing thing,
Love.
Given to a special someone from a special someone,
To show how much they mean to them.
Love.
Flowers can show love.
X
A flower is given between lovers, on a special day.
February 14
Valentines Day
A day especially for love,
Flowers, maybe roses, are given to show their love.
XI
A flower is used on that special day,
Flower girls throwing petals to the ground
Walking down the aisle with flowers in your hand
Adding that special touch.
XII
A flower is a beautiful thing,
Endless amount of different kinds.
Roses, tulips, sunflowers
All beautiful and unique in there own way.
XIII
Most importantly, flowers are used for their meaning.
Flowers can show a lot of care for a time in need,
Or a very special day.
A flower can mean so much to one person.
13 Ways of Looking at the Sun
Michelle S.
1
Sometimes shy Hiding in the clouds
2
Sometimes vivd, bright and loud
3
Some days its mean and shy
Some days its kind and warm
4
Helping things grow
Melting the snow
5
Forcing the winter to run away
But making it warm and nice to play
6
Yellow and bright
With rays shining, with all their might
7
Bright Sunny Rays
Shining for days
8
Chasing away the cold
Because its so bright and bold
9
If you lay at the beach on the sand
It’ll make your skin golden and tan
10
Morning to night
With strength and might
11
Sometimes its too hot to handle
So dont walk with bare feet! Walk with sandles!
12
Sunglasses to hide the rays
13
But dispite the warmth and the rays
Nobody gets tired of summer days
Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Tear
Georgia C.
Starting at the beginning
That very scary place
Where no one wants to be
Causes the tears
To try to break free
Of the undetermined future
They feel they’re unprepared for
In the quiet hospital
The only noise came
From faces
Filled with tears
Though tears spoke
More than faces
Tears went everywhere
When nobody understood
That all they asked for
Was some food and sleep
Not getting that thing
That everyone had
Brought tears and sadness
To those who thought
They almost had it
In their hands
When they’re “still too young”
And “act too old”
The tears run to hear
Freedom calling their name
Tears that have had enough
And feel they aren’t enough
To please the society
They feel they need to please
Last only until they break
And silence themselves
The tears that don’t know
Who they can trust
And whom they should make
Their enemies
Get confused
And don’t let anyone in
Wishing they could go back
To those simpler times
Tears start to remember
Where and when they came from
And they start to question
Why they came
In the first place
Wondering if they made
The right choice
Untitled
Celina D.
13 windows and,
through all of them
stares the butterfly
The river flows north,
and following the river,
is the butterfly
In the summer, spring, and winter, or fall,
I sit up tall,
and there, watching me, is the butterfly
As peaceful as it may be,
sitting on a tree,
it’s there, watching me,
the butterfly
Running towards the danger,
Sitting upon my shoulder,
is the butterfly
Wherever I go, wherever I sit,
it’s always there next to me,
the butterfly.
