Are You Smarter Than A 7th Grader? Parting Words at Taft (#1)

Believe it or not, we wrapped it up, last Tuesday for Ms. Munoz’s 7th Grade classroom in our exploration of: “Writer Who Are You: Identity Through Poetry.” Over the past 10 weeks we indeed studied the poets, Lucile Clifton, Audre Lorde, Richard Blanco, William Carlos Williams, Albert Goldbarth, Roque Dalton, William Shakespeare, and Li-Young Lee. But always, and sometimes as equally important, came the photograph and the story behind each writer. The 7th Grade classroom, exhibited courage, gall and tons of energy during our time together; it’s the stuff of great writers, whether they know it or not. Writer…who are you? hopefully took the poets out of the ether and into the real world of the classroom with some fun, challenge and ease. Hats off to Ms. Munoz and her 7th Grade Class! Here are two parting poems and the noted lessons that informed them.

Ms. Munoz 7th Grade, 6th Period

Chicken Greg M.

From a dead chicken’s flesh comes
This box of chicken
We bought at KFC
at a mall where we drove toward
the drive through with signs saying $5 Fill Up.

O’ to take what we love inside,
to carry with us a farm to eat
not only the skin, but the meat
to hold the food in our hands, smell it
then bite into
the crispy skin of chicken.

There are days we live as if death
were nowhere
in the background, from thigh to thigh, wing to
wing, from leg to leg, to impossible wing, to
crispy, impossible wing.

Ms. Munoz 7th Grade, 8th Period

My Dream Daniel A.

My dream is like the sun,
so bright yet so far away.
My dream is to be the best
like no one ever was.
My dream
is to try
like everyone else
Perhaps fail just
like the best.