Running into a new year

In Ms. Mild-Thomas’s 6th grade class, we read Lucille Clifton’s “[running into a new year]” and thought about how we’re moving into this new year through these complicated times. We talked a lot about how poetry can hold all of our emotions: good, bad, and complicated. We also thought about how Lucille Clifton uses lines, punctuation, and capitalization as tools of expression.

Ms. Mild-Thomas 6th Grade

[Shaking into the new year] Elizabeth Brolo

I’m shaking into the new year because…
I don’t know who to believe.
I don’t know what to do.
It’s like I’m drowning in the new year.

I need someone to save me and love me.
Someone to take care of me
Someone who will love me and all my flaws
Someone who would cook for me
Just like my abuela.
Im taking my abuela to the new year

The new year runs toward me Jaelynn S

A new year James G

I am crawling into a new year
nervous on how people will treat me,
not ready to move on to the new year 2022

but I am hopping into the new year,
like a frog hopping around on the grass

so I can start new year resolutions
but I am still nervous about this new year

Knowing if people will like me in the new year
like being the new kid at school

New Years Luis G

New years is the kind of thing that makes me confused on what’s going to happen next.
At first it’s just like standing there quietly,
Wanting to question everything from the past
And wondering what’s going to happen next.
Standing there quietly….

But I won’t mind it and continue on,
Walking slowly while concerned about this new year
It’s like I’m in a horror movie where I’m the main character.
But then all of a sudden..walking slowly this new years, I
F
A
L
L
Down the stairs, injured like a video game character.

Matthew M

This new year i feel like im walking by
doing everything at my pace but as i fall behind
it turns to a treadmill like im running constantly
yet nothing’s finished. as the sun set a sigh of ease
barely any sleep so now im the slow one

New Year Matthew G

I’m walking into the new year
like a snail
I’m sleeping in the new year
like I’m a hibernating bear
I’m crawling into a new year
like a sloth going up a tree

New Year Alexa G

I am running into the new year
but yet I can’t keep up with it
I haven’t had the time to process
the past 2 years
I feel like I am running too fast but
still not moving anywhere