‘It was like I was sleeping/But I noticed it.’ Meditation Poems

Students participated in a 10- minute creative writing meditation and breathing exercise. I read them “I Close My Eyes’ by David Ignatow. After the meditation, they were asked to write whatever came to mind. Classwork was conducted in silence. Daydreaming and even boredom were encouraged! Most poems will be presented without titles.

Lesson Note: “Boredom heightens daydreaming because moments of boredom resemble sleep. Each inhale and exhale becomes part of the experience. When the mind finds itself in an interlude of rest, synapses connect in different ways, and new thoughts are formed. The listener creates his or her own harmony in the space, just as our minds [might] fill boredom with a story or observation or memories-to escape the boredom. Mysteries abound in the time we’re not ‘entertained.’ “–Pep Talks for Writers (2017) by Grant Faulkner: Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month.

Ms. Taylor, 9th Grade
Period 1

Untitled
Emelyth S.

ZZZZZZZ Zoned off and took a nap
silence is never a thing
just put it in your head a high pitch
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee can you hear it?

Untitled
Marcus F.

Baseball, through the fall, is all work
through February and August is games and
Championships through the season all
of the hard work you put on
the field will lead you to greatness
like the World Series or the
Playoffs, it’s all about working,
working, working. Without work
and practice you’ll not succeed
in life in baseball, you get 3 strikes
in real life, you get “1”. After that 1 shot
you can’t get it back unless you find a
different way to go towards it. If you
succeed in baseball you’re going all the way
when you’re there you better have the dedication
and have a passion for the game because when you get
there, there is not stopping all you do is
KEEP PUSHING forward and keep pushing
hard

Untitled
Adrian G.

School every morning 7:30 for 12 years plus college.
Where’s the end of it? From the 9th year, it may
seem like an eternity as these years come slow
but the memories and experiences come fast. As
we gain knowledge and experience, good or bad
throughout the whole 12 years. It doesn’t seem
to end and we want it to end so soon but when
the time comes, we miss those years. We miss those
experiences and memories, good and bad that we
ha throughout these long and forever years. Do
we want it to end or do we want it to last forever?

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 2

Untitled
Patrick G.

This is excruciatingly DULL. I would rather be at home
on my computer, sleeping or eating. I have no clue why
we’re doing this I am getting sleepy. I’m imagining winning
the World Cup and the Stanely Cup. This is excruciatingly
DULL. And by that, I mean school. I wonder about our
education systems and how outdated they are…they were
literally for children to shift their gears toward factory working.
However,l everything today is on computers, phones, tablets, and
televisions. Our education system must be changed.

Untitled
Gabriel R.

Only darkness
at first
Then moving images
all colors, mostly green and purple
I didn’t hear anything
Just breathing
It was like I was sleeping
but I noticed it

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 5

Untitled
Jeremy P.

I look around to see all of my fellow
brothern falling, some not getting enough water, some not getting enough
nutrients. What is the point of growing up to just be plucked in your
finest time? Sure some of us make it out and complete
living our life in the finest way, but what does that take? Days and
months growing on our own. Why don’t we just give up?
Sometimes our friends cheer us up but
eventually, they have, or I should say, that we have. I stand
tall watching my dying brotheren being eaten or turned into
mulch, just for their own children to use them to repeat
the same process over and over again. Why don’t we just
give up? Sometimes you’ll see others being alive for all
your life, tall maple trees by the barn, but they get cut short
or their fullest potential and beauty and instead used to make
a table that one of the lucky few of us will sit on.
Why don’t we just give up?

Untitled
Arthur Z.

Life
Everything that has to do with it
is always fighting
whether it be the Earth
striking itself repeatedly
in erosion
or even fights in between
two forms
like two different animals
or weather against animals.
But humans are causing
struggles between themselves
for nothing in the end
fueled by greed and no
way to control it.
Humans make up countries
Humans made up positions of power and
eventually
humans’
intelligence
will strike
harder
and harder
until one blow ends
all fo the fights. And
then the struggle ends
but so does life.

Untitled
Megan W.

What you aid before was like a bouquet of flowers
I’ve heard those words about a thousand times
It’s easy to not call yo mine
When I look at you it feels like the first time
This song in my head keeps playing on
But what I am thinking about is the only question on my mind.

Untitled
Aidan N.

It was a warm summer evening
yelling and screaming from kids
seeing all of them on their
bikes but then it started
to rain and then
pour and then lightening
and it was so close
they couldn’t move
they stopped and thought
this is it the end
of us.

Untitled
Oscar G.

Flame like amber burning in a bright green.
With light flooding in from the corridor
This light begins engulfing the entire hallway
illuminating you to become privy to a new
perspective, new ideas. The amber begins to burn
out now. You woke up back where you started but
with your mind like the corridor, engulfed in light.

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period 6

Untitled
Jovanny S.

Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep
Think about all the Z’s
It is said you spend 1/2
of your life sleeping
you might want to
change that but
you shouldn’t as
If you sleepless
the more tired you
are so if you want
to remember being tired
then go for it but
If you want to live
refreshed and remember
the good times with
remember how tired
you were and not
enjoying it then
Sleep Sleep Sleep Sleep

Get up Get up Get up
you want to but you
can’t there’s a force
pulling you down
you try to right it
you do try, but all
your efforts Just
tie you down until
you have nothing
left the fear taking
over your body.
Slowly invades your
body.
You can feel
it as it moves up
your legs into your
hands. You try and
try to move but
you have nothing
left but the broken
soul left in you.
YOu are said to start growing up
it is expected of you but you want
to staying young, you want to never
get old, never start getting slow, never die.
But you can’t it eats you inside thinking one
day you’ll see everyone around you slowly start
to die one by one, all saying they love you
but do they like you? Dying is a good thing
for you don’t have to suffer anymore.

Untitled
Joshua J.

hello
is a word
Why do we say it?
I don’t know.
hello
goodbye
hello just doesn’t make sense
greetings makes sense
but why do we say hello
bruh. I just don’t understand
is it some cultural word lost?
Why don’t we say something like
gree-hi or something
English is weird
kinda cool though
not gonna lie.

Untitled
Diego M.

The room is quiet
since it’s normally not.
Everyone is quiet
letting themselves drift away
into their thoughts. My
hand is sleeping. It’s annoying.
My mind is calm, like the lake.
The water is still.

Untitled
Conor M.

Silence
Nothing
A grain of sand could fall
and nobody would hear
And then something
all of your days
your ideas and thoughts
jus reenter your brain
one after another
until you reach the end then
Nothing

Ms. Taylor, 9th Grade
Period 7

 

Untitled
Audrey G,

The word RELAX is the word I use often.
I use it when I’m stressed. When I
am overwhelmed and when I play volley
ball and keep messing up. All I do
is take a deep breath and tell
myself to relax. It really helps
because then after that, I just
shake off all the negative things
off my mind and keep on
moving forward. I also try to help
people to stay calm or to relax when
they are going through something
because I don’t want them to be
feeling like that, because I hate that
feeling.

Untitled
Mohammed M.

My head is set down
My feet are touching the floor
Myself sitting on the chair
I feel relaxed

Minute after minute I feel more relaxed
The more relaxed my body is,
the more things get released
out of my mind
When I’m relaxed I feel
all my muscles reset
when I close my eyes it feels like
I’m in a different Dimension
when I open my eyes
I still feel relaxed
when I open my eyes I feel better
When I open my eye
I feel this fresh taste of humor
when I open my eyes it feels different.

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.