All posts in Timothy David Rey

‘I/ wanna be the places.’: Travel Poems

We took a look at Richard Blanco’s prose/mix poem about missed destinations, We Are Not Going To Malta. Students were then given travel brochures exhibiting lush locales (decidedly not always depicting reality), and asked […]

‘drumming out of lime.’ : Lousy Language

Students played word games that centered around sound and creative syntax, before delving into Kevin Young’s poem of altered cliché’s, Errata. ‘Errata’ means an error in a written text. ‘Syntax is identity,’ says poet […]

‘This book is a poem.’ : Listography!

This lesson circulated around the concept of lists. Through creative play we created and talked about lists and then read Albert Goldbarth’s, long poem , ‘Library’ ( a list poem truncated for our purposes […]

The Welcome Table

A common household object became the focus for this lesson, while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps the World Ends Here. The poet James Merrill once commented that, ‘we understand history from the family around […]

‘And that they treat you this way.’: By Executive Order!

From Executive Order 13841 of June 20th, 2018. ‘…any person, not a citizen or national of the United States who has not been admitted into, or is not authorized to enter or remain in, […]

‘Talking sky’ /’Talking about my life’: Calling Us… By Name

7th Grade students read Frank O’Hara’s A True Account of Talking to the Sun At Fire Island and then wrote their own lyric/personifictaion poems that showcased their feelings. The Freshman classes looked at Sandra […]

‘…like police crossing tape’: Working with Simile

We explored simile in Michael Ondaaje’s poem, Sweet Like A Crow. We also talked about using epigraphs and dedications in verse. Students created poems in praise of someone or something! Lesson Note: Students played […]

Our City/Ourselves

7th Grade students created city- themed group exquistie corpse poems after reading Lucille Clifton’s, in the inner city, and Freshman students also experiemented with the concept of ‘line’ by creating their life story in […]

‘When people say my name I look up.’ What’s In A Name?

‘I celebrate and sing myself…’-Walt Whitman Students explored names through a series of prompts which began with a reading of’ Name That Means Holy in Greek’ by Kim Addonizio. What occurs in the naming […]

‘Fold the gown/remember them.’: Graduation (first and last)

8th grade students reflected before writing their own poems about the act of ‘putting away’ and ‘looking forward’ as the speakers do in the poems, ‘the first graduation’ and ‘the last graduation.’ by Nate […]

Donate

Support our student poets today!

CONNECT WITH US!

Twitter Facebook-f Instagram

STUDENT POETRY

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from current school partners.

POETRY ARCHIVE

Click on a school name below to browse student poems from our archive.

RECENT FACEBOOK POSTS

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.

Search

CONTACT US

General Inquiries
info@poetrycenter.org

Programs (School & Organizational)
programs@poetrycenter.org

Reading Series and Events:
curator@poetrycenter.org

The Chicago Poetry Center is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
FEIN: 23-7400515

SEND US A POSTCARD

Chicago Poetry Center
1448 E. 52nd St, #256
Chicago, IL 60615

I’M FROM THE CITY LIGHTS / STREAMING OUT IN THE NIGHT / AND HUGE SKYSCRAPERS / TOWERING OVER THE LAKE – MELISSA E., 7TH GRADE POET