'now find the/sign': Table Poems - The Chicago Poetry Center

‘now find the/sign’: Table Poems

A common household object became the focus of this lesson while studying Joy Harjo’s poem, Perhaps The World Ends Here. The poet James Merrill once commented, ‘we understand history from the family around the table.’

Lesson Note: Harjo’s work is often autobiographical, informed by the natural world, and above all preoccupied with survival and the limitations of language.

“I feel strongly that I have a responsibility to all the sources that I am: to all past and future ancestors, to my home country, to all places that I touch down on and that are myself, to all voices, all women, all of my tribe, all people, all earth, and beyond that to all beginnings and endings. In a strange kind of sense [writing] frees me to believe in myself, to be able to speak, to have voice, because I have to; it is my survival.” -Joy Harjo.

Ms. Ramono 7th Grade

Untitlted Christopher D.

At this table I do homework boredom flies
around. At this table fun also floats
around here is where people gossip and
sigh and then I see a very bright
light come out of the dark now find the
sign the train stop by night.

Mrs. Turner 6th Grade

At the Demon Table Johan B.

At the table we play not drive
Just play don’t close your eye
At the table we saw the fire rise
Then the world will die
At the table when moons rise we have
lifelines.

The Table of Life Darylayla H.

At my table we talk we
laugh we love I feel happy at this table

At my table I do my work
but its boring I feel tired at this table.

Board games, snacks I love spending
time at this table.

Board games are fun and crazy.
My Mother prepares dinner at this
table.

But I feel sad at this table.

I feel happy too.

But at the end
the table of life
will always be here.

Ms. Romano 7th Grade

Being at the Dining Table Tyrone Y.

At this table we talk
about school that
makes me feel good.

At this table we talk
about drama and family
in conversations.
At this table we laugh with joy and
sometimes arguments break out.

Mrs. Turner 6th Grade

YK What Happens At The Table Nevaeh W.

*Yappy, laughter
*crack cracking up
*think about old times
*Joyful, Joyyyy!
*We fight sometimes
*and argue but
*it’s ok
*we think
*about then we
*were in 2, 3, 4
grade this happens
yeah
yeah
yeah
and yk this
all friends, all good vibes
when we
argue it all out
of
love, we still love each other
and BOOM

At this Table Marie B.

At this table we give
At this table we eat
At this table we talk
At this table we Black
We have to be respectivful at this table
We play games at this table
We watch videos at this table
We clean up our mess at this table
The world doesn’t end without that last
salty bite.