'sometimes stare': Self-Portrait Poems - The Chicago Poetry Center

‘sometimes stare’: Self-Portrait Poems

After reading student poet Noor S.’s poem ‘Self Portrait with my Loose Hijab,’ students wrote self-portrait poems focusing on one aspect of themselves!

Self-Portrait with my loose hijab
By Noora S.
Trying to fix my hijab. I hear people scream
your hair is SHOWING! Even my mother
Screams at me but I don’t listen.
I wish to shout back at them but won’t
Because I like to respect others even
If they don’t respect me. I feel my hair
sticking out but it’s hard to keep the
hair in sometimes.I get confused
on why people care.

Lesson Note: “My thoughts are that you should be intuitive and playful in your choices and determined in your application. We are always full of worry until we begin the task, but I have found, in the end, things tend to find their way. Trust your intuitions…” – Nick Cave, artist.

Ms. Wright 7th Grade

Self-Portrait with jacket Salina X.

I wear this jacket mostly
When I have a T-shirt on.
Friends ask why I wear it all the time.
Not all the time,
I just told you that i wear it
When I have a T-SHIRT on.
It’s the only thing to keep me warm
When I have a t-shirt on.
It’s a plain pink camo jacket
And some people call it dirty
By its sleeves.
Sometimes when I wash it
Some of the dark spots
Don’t come off.
Some people complained
Why it still looked dirty.
I don’t get why the dark spots
Didn’t come off,
But i just let it stay as it is
And still wore it.
It’s because my own mother
Bought it for me.

Smile Xingzhi Z.

I never smile much
But when I do
It can mean a lot of things
Some people think I’m just happy
Others know the truth
And I need to say one thing
Just because you see a smile
Don’t think you know what’s going on

Ms. Wright 8th Grade

My shoes Alex R.

When I wear my shoes
I wonder how people will react.
People react by noticing my shoes
But then I wonder who else would notice.
People always react to my shoes
But how will they react each time?
Underneath

Untitled Rainbow L.

My shoes are dirty like dirt, they used to be more pink until I stepped on a puddle.
When I wear these shoes, people react by telling me how dirty my shoes are, and I say to them,
I only have these shoes to help me walk, not to look better than yours.
But then I wonder how people could manage to have such clean shoes.
I sometimes stare at my shoes, embarrassed, then I just continue my day