"A poem that runs out of ideas" - The Chicago Poetry Center

“A poem that runs out of ideas”

For our 4th poetry session, students thought about different kinds of dreams and wrote Dream Poems. For our 5th session, we began with a game of rhymes, before talking about coming up with crazy ideas using out-of-the-box-thinking. We read a poem made from out-of-the-box ideas such as “a hat of kisses,” and “a person of books.” Students viewed a video of poet Kwame Alexander, who talked about the following ingredients of poetry: rhythm, rhyme, and repetition. We then collaborated on a poem which combined all of these ideas.

Mr. Adenuga 4th Grade

Dream Poem Raven W.

Most of my bad dreams turn into
good dreams like when a dinosaur flew
into my house and kidnapped me and took me
to its lair
and for some reason the dinosaur was nice
and just wanted to be friends
so we became good friends
and in the dream my mom was so scared
that I died
and now the dinosaur is my pet.
The end.

A Horror Poem Makyla C.

I dream about the purge.
It’s very scary and makes you feel afraid
it makes you get shivers down your spine
it has people that murder
people have to run away
before they get you

And you have to hide
find a hiding spot
maybe behind the refrigerator
or
you don’t make it out alive
so be safe
don’t make a sound or weep
don’t make a peep

NFL Dream Ah'Mir D.

I might feel honored
to be in the NFL
and be a quarterback
This is my dream
I want to be in the NFL
like my dad
he played baseball, basketball,
and football
I want to be just like him
and he likes football

I Have a Dream to Be a Doctor Josiah T.

After school they had Science Scholars
and we did science experiments
making volcanoes,
and how to make light, and sounds

On the last day of Science Scholars
we went to the University of Chicago
and did body experiments
we touched a brain
don’t worry, I had gloves on!

And doctors make a lot of money

Collaborative "Swan of Bees"-style Poem Class

a bookcase made of bacon and grits
and a desk filled with division and multiplication,
addition and subtraction,
fractions and decimals
a world of numbers that run to school and work

a world of numbers that moonwalk to Michael Jackson songs
a world of numbers that dance all the way to the hospital

it doesn’t make sense
to jump over a fence
with words that rhyme
to check the time

we need more dimes
to combine
making a poem that chimes

a poem that makes pizza
a poem that runs away
from its problems
a poem that runs out
of ideas