Concrete Abstracts

Moos – Week 8

This week was met with a small challenge – I love the poem “On Kindness” by Aracelis Girmay, and I usually teach it to High School students. In the workshop I make them list ten abstract concepts and write “On ______” poems. Since this workshop is tried and true, I didn’t realize the challenge of it until the words “Give me some examples of abstract concepts” left my mouth to the fourth graders. “What’s that?” “They’re ideas!” “Like what?” “Um, they’re nouns you can’t touch!” The kids did pretty good despite my idiocy. When the class was done, their teacher, kindly, said “Yeah, not really abstract thinking yet. Pretty much just concrete.” We changed it for the next two periods to write about emotions, which I wish I had done from the start.

Ms. Ramirez 4th Grade, Room 214

On Stuff You Can't Touch Angel J.

On stuff you
can not touch.
It makes me
fell so sad
when I can’t
touch stuff
like a joke
like Darkness
and like family.
it is so sad
when you can’t
touch stuff it
feels like you
touch it but
you are not
touching it.

On Inventing Juan E.

Inventing is cool
like building a mini insect
with a mini remote or
building a Penguin 1000 that
you can talk to it and it does
what you told it to do. My friend
and I will like to invent stuff
We love to invent cool stuff. Inventing
makes me coooooooooolllllll!

On Darkness Bianca O.

Darkness is bad
darkness is black
darkness is sad
darkness is rude
darkness is in you
darkness is anger
darkness is for fools.

Ms. Morales 6th Grade, Room 307

On Friendship Taja R.

On Friendship
I had a bff but she
betrayed me because
people keep telling her that I was talking about her
but I wasn’t
and she’s mad at me and I feel very mad
because all they do is instagate to see fight and like
it’s annoying me
and it needs to stop.

My Jealouse Pup Rosy M.

My pup gets jealous
when my dad hugs me
she want all the attention for no reason. When
no one pays attention to her
she gets sad and lonely. My puppy
needs love so she won’t be lonely, but
when she gets active she looks like she’s
stupid
but I still love her
even if she gets jealous of me. She gets jelous like
the actors on TV
she barks loud as a boat when no one
pays attention to her. But still I’ll love her
forever and ever.

On Boredness Oscar R.

I’m stuck at home alone
wishing someone would hurry up and come. I am
walking around the house jumping and running. Finally
I hear someone coming and I wait
and watch and it’s the mailman, Steve. Now I have to wait
for hours and lonely. I’m bored
for hours and hours.

(ed. note – Oscar just got transfered into this class, and this was the first poem he ever wrote. Ever!)

Ms. Moss 4th Grade, Room 212

On Scared/Unexpected Lauryn S.

When I’m scared
it’s not good. My stomach drops…
HARD!!!! I scream very loudly.
Even unexpected things scare me. I was
walking down the hallway in my house
and my brother called me. I came and he threw
a bowl of water on me
that was very unexpected. Or, when I’m
in the shower and unexpectedly someone
flushes the toilet! It was painful
and unexpected. And when my cat fell
from a shelf yesterday
it was unexpected, but at least
it didn’t happen to me.

(ed. note – her brother is in the class, and was really proud of himself for pouring water on his sister.)

On Hungry Lexany

To: My Stomach

I am hungry! I want to eat
something. Some people might know that
song that goes I really wanna love somebody,
but I made my own remix that goes I really
wanna eat somebody.

Boiling Deshawn K.

My fist bold up when someone
yells in my hear. Tears start
to drop like a lion is near. My face
turn red like markers on a teddy bear.

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