This past week at Waters Elementary, Mr. Raman’s 8th graders used similes to imaginatively transform everyday classroom objects into things outside the classroom: hair clips became plants, water bottles—mountains, paper—the wind, and desks became remote islands. The poem we modeled ours after was “Safety Pin” by Valerie Worth, in which a safety pin becomes a fish.
Mr. Raman
8th Grade
Galaxy
by Gracelyn C.
In our room there hangs a globe,
Perfectly controlled in the air
Like a black hole
Or neutron star
In the middle of a galaxy.
Desks are set around the room
Like looming stars and celestial bodies
Sitting around a space of invisible stuff.
President Paperclip
by Stella D.
A small piece of bent metal
One human amidst millions.
So insignificant
Yet so crucial
Except…
They are both flawed.
Both occasionally slip out undesired documents,
Both don’t work forever
Both can be replaced.
Replaced with a more organized system,
A more beneficial one
For everyone involved.
is it a box?
by Xael C.
this square shaped
looking material looks almost
like a box but is it. maybe
it’s something else something new
well it has 4 legs maybe it is
an animal. but when I get closer
it’s a desk wow what a surprise
Prison
by Ameer E.
A closed book on a bookshelf
Never having the chance to be opened
forever alone like a man in prison
A deer staring at a car
frozen up from fear
Never moving a muscle
Just like a man in prison
Clock Race
by Niki K.
Ticking, ticking
Tick-Tick-Tick.
A race of hands but
Only one will be worthy
Only one is fast enough
Only one will win
And the rest were destined
to be slow from the start—
They can only progress once
Their faster opponent proceeds
Yet even the winner
Didn’t choose their fate,
Either.
But that’s how it was set.
How it was meant to be.
Ticking, ticking
Tick-Tick-Tick.
Forest Floor
by Cora L.
The symmetrical wooden paneling
Almost seems to change
Into forest ground
And foots with sound
Lasting for an age
The blotchy browns
that seem to evade
A messy painter’s job
Lay beneath the trees who sob
Casting sun and shade
The gaps between the boards
Reveal the olden truth
That before the trees
Were cut and given fees
The forest floor was all there was
Venus Fly Trap (Hair Clip)
by Soraya O.
Opens and shuts
Keeping it all together
Holding it all up
like a fly trap
crushing its prey
quietly
