…to help spark imaginations, each student was given an image and invited to create a Lyric poem using Personification to create voices/speakers/situations. In part, this exercise is based on The Poetry Center’s ‘Poet’s Look At Pictures’ call for submissions, where local writers were asked to respond to an image through poetry. Students were also encouraged to pursue any other ideas that might arise during the creation process.
Mrs. Collins, 6th Grade
I woke this morning, and a little robot spoke to me. It said to me, “You shouldn’t have stayed up that late
on a screen.
With tired eyes
When you told yourself one more minute.”
I replied, “I couldn’t fall asleep and was
so bored and needing a break.” The robot shot back, ”If you were needing of a break, you could have simply just gone to bed. And when you woke in the morning, there would be no complaining about how early it is and how you desperately need to go to bed. Save breaks for appropriate moments. And limit your time on screens- spend more time with your family. Also, your average screen time is 9hr 40m-”
I never let him finish because I drifted off to sleep.
I woke up this morning to my feet dramatically sighing as loudly as they could
“Wait, how are you talking?” I questioned
“Well, I mean, everything talks behind your back,” my big toe scoffed
“Well, why do you need to talk to me? I thought you were only supposed to talk behind my back!” I exclaimed
“I need to give you some advice, because I’m very tired of doing the same thing,” my pinky toe groaned
“I need you to stop wearing yourself out. My little body is too tired all the time,” the toes stated
“I mean, I guess I kind of feel tired sometimes.”
“And you need to be more careful and quit stubbing me!” my pinky toe said
“I guess I do have a bunch of bruises on my pinky toe,” I sighed
My toes seemed to be quite, and they had fallen asleep.
And then another voice seemed to yell
“Heyo!” my toes said in sync
“Wait.. The other foot didn’t say anything in sync. How come you guys do?”
“Because we are all stuck together!” they exclaimed in unison.
“Stop wearing your shoes so often, mister.” “We are getting sculpted into a different shape than we want it.”
“I mean, I guess so?” I said confused
My right and left foot had both awakened.
They both started to sing about heavy boxes and getting stubbed on them
My left foot had perfectly harmonized into one group, but my right foot had been all scrambled into different parts of the song
“These boxes are too heavy for me and for my little beans.” Both of my feet sang collectively before falling asleep and giving me pins and needles.
“Well, that was weird,” I said while I started to fall asleep
And my toes seemed to sing to me one last time,
“DONT STUB YOUR TOES ON BOXES!” They screamed in a very non-singing voice.
Mrs. McClain, 7th Grade- Group 1
I sit
Rocking with the lapping of the waves
The sliding, gentle strumming of the ukelele
Transfering melodic tones to my ears to settle forever
I know this might not stay forever
The fabric brushes against my bathing suit
I feel the pages scraping against my arm
A rushing, air-cutting sound interrupts the flowing music
And lands with a soft thud
Then a sharp, high-pitched snap
I look over, my sunglasses cracked in both eyes
I hear an “ouch”
The coconut is
Speaking, I don’t understand
Have I discovered the meaning of life? Or just a supernatural
Thing
The coconut is sad
It does not have a face, nor an expression
I can sense it
I question him
I get an answer
He had to leave, his home
He couldn’t have stayed forever
I had to too, Partially
I couldn’t stay forever
We talk for a while
Does he need help? He’ll be fine
With my green, glossy, shattered glasses
I leave him on his journey
Happy, knowing all I need to know
Things can be broken, even my favorite glasses but
I’ll always have the memory of how it used to be
“Hello,” “Hello, robot, how are you?”
“Sad because my life is boring.g” I feel bad. “Why is your life boring?”
“I have no heart, just metal coded into a servant.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I am happy also, though.h”
“Why?” I looked at him with confusion
“Get to slide on my wheels.”
“Where are your wheels, robot?”
“Here,” he points to his shoe
“I see”
He slides in circles, zigzags, and donuts with lines following behind
“Looks fun, robot.”
“It is fu.n”
“Want to try?” I look at the wheels. “Yes,s but how can? I”
“Watch his wheels slide off and slide to me. “Wow.
I step on them “how do i slide?”
“Think”
I slide away in grid patterns and waves. “This is very cool.”
“I know, but I must go now.”
“Why”
“Somebody needs my wheels.”
“Okay, here you go,” I step off the wheels
“Thank you and goodbye,” “goodbye,” he is gone
Mrs. McClain, 7th Grade- Group 2
The apple and donut
Two completely different foods
Sweet or sour
The apple says, “ I look way more handsome.”
The donut said, “ I look way prettier” in an annoyed way, “ A lot of people prefer me than you.”
The apple put his hand on his round hips and sighed.
The donut was very sassy. She knew people would buy her from the grocery store.
The apple told the donut, “But im more healthier to eat i provide many things to humans, they will definitely buy me before you,” he said mockingly
The donut gasped, “How dare you say that!
A customer entered the store.
The apple said, “Let’s see if I’m right,”
The apple and donut waited anxiously to see if one of them would be bought first.
The human walks up, and surprisingly, both the apple and the donut were bought.
The end.
“Wakey-Wakey eggs and bakery”
“Time to get up”
“Who is it, and it is still dawn.”
“It is me, the red ball.”
“Technically, it is morning, so…”
“WAKE UP!”“Ok-Ok, I am up now.”
“Good, now play with me at the big park like we used to when you were younger.”
“I can’t. I have to get to work.”
“But you can, though. You have worked from morning to late night because when you don’t, you feel like you are losing money.”
“You need to take a break.”
“No, I don’.t”
“I am fine the way I am.”
“I have been watching you for now for a long time.”
“I can see that you are stressed.”
“You have to let go.”
“Have some fun just for a little bit, ok?”
“Ok”
“I will play with you at the big park for a little bit before work.”
“Yay!”
“Just know I see this happen to a lot of people that they put too much pressure on themself and they can’t enjoy anything, so just remember.”
“Relax and do what makes you happy instead of the quest for money.”
Mrs. McClain, 8th Grade- Group 3
“I see you, let me follow you.”
“Of course, follow my trail on the beach.”
“Oh, paw prints, where are we going?”
“We are going home.”
The place he called home was the ocean, deep ocean.
The parts of an ocean no man or woman can reach
And he was going there, with the paw prints,
He is reaching the water
the closer he gets
the more water
The less sand
“Follow me into the ocean, my home is close.”
“But I am not made for the water.”
“You are now.”
“Ok i trust you.”
In the water, he is confused. Why can he breathe?
He starts to hurt, he feels pain, he trusts the paw prints.
They are gone. His vision starts to fade. As he loses his consciousness.
He says, “I trusted you.”
He finally opens his eyes. He found himself
On a distant shore, gone from the real land.
I was about to fall asleep
I had finally found a comfortable position to rest in
Impossible as it may seem when sat in economy
When that god-forsaken cloud woke me up
I don’t know why it did, or why I was the one it decided to pester
But alas, I cannot change the past
It asked where I was going
I replied that I was going home to Chicago
It asked why
I told it that I had been on vacation, but it was over now
It asked why
I told it that school was out and that my family felt like having some fun
It asked why
Now, at this point, I had gotten rather annoyed with the cloud outside the airplane
So I snapped at it
If you don’t have any better questions to ask, I would really like to go back to sleep
So you being quiet and leaving me alone would be greatly appreciated
It became quiet for a few seconds
A few glorious seconds
And then it asked why
AGAIN
So i responded because I’m tired and bored
And if you ask me that stupid question again, I will go out there
And turn you into rain
It finally shut up
And I could get my sleep
I never saw that cloud again
And I am forever thankful for that fact