'Quinceañera': Poems of Play - The Chicago Poetry Center

‘Quinceañera’: Poems of Play

Students made the old-school paper game called a ‘Cootie Catcher,’, which is a form of origami used in children’s games. Parts of the catcher are labeled with words that serve as options for a player to choose from, and on the inside are eight flaps, each concealing a message. To create these poems, the students opened each flap and considered and then chose options to write on their page to make this poem or inspire something totally new!

Lesson Note: Games are fantastic for learning at any age but are particularly important for young learners. Research has shown that games are essential for healthy development in early childhood and beyond. -Cambridge University English Language Assessment, Article: ‘Why Games Are Important’.

Mrs. McClain 7th Grade

Milk White Cedric

Dream hour through
the window Spring. Storm
you’re hip you’re fly. Sadness
of the moon knowing what it
knows. Phantom a seam of light
briefly. Shatters and diamonds.

Blue Black & Milk White Anora N

Milky white, dreams
the shadow of the moon knowing what
it knows
phantom. sadness
days & days & days
dreams, wave
you emerged from change
hour vanishes the trees
blue black storm
I can see through the window is
Soring
sadness. shatters into diamonds
Joy, of the moon knowing what it knows
phantom shadows
Milky white & blue black storms

Mrs. McClain 8th Grade

Days and Days Lucy R

days and days of
sadness
a dream
shatters into a million diamonds
a phantom
Vanishes into the trees
days and days of sadness

Poem Pareezeh D

days
and
days and
days
shatters into diamonds
Spring through the window
your hip in first might
emerge the change
a seam of might briefly
of the moon knowing what it
knows
Emerge the change

Mrs. McClain 7th Grade

Poem Jackson K

In a dream about joy
There was a storm
For an hour
Change
No more sadness
There were
No more dream
There were waves
No more dream

Poem Robert W

Day after day
in and out
Trapped in the lead mine
The lead was milky white
filled with a soft calm
almost deadly look
too hold I can’t see
it anymore
and it fills me with shadow

Mrs. McClain 8th Grade

Quinceañera Carly G

It was time it was mine
my time to shine my golden hour
Shadows of people stormed over me
while a seam of light shines over my head
as if a crown
a wave hit
then everything was gone
it shattered into diamonds

Wave Max B

Wave
A Sean of light
Wave
You emerge from change
Wave
You’re hip in first light
Wave
Days and days and days
(Feels like hours)
Wave
Shatters into diamonds
Wave
Of the moon knowing what it knows
And
all
waves
end
up
in
Storms, sadness, shadows and Phantom
then
into
golden, joy, dream