Special Event-o: Cento!

For our poetry finale, I shared one of my own poems, “BFF,” which is part of a series inspired by acronyms. I talked a bit about my process of composing using such a constraint and also about writing and publishing as a career. As always, the students were enthusiastic and curious, asking probing questions and making astute comments.

I explained that writing-wise, they’d be creating a cento, or collage poem, as the culmination of the residency, with every student contributing a line in response to how poetry has affected them and/or makes them feel.

Thanks to Skinner West for once again inviting me into their classrooms and the individual teachers for their support and good humor.

Poetry Ms. Nelson's 4th Grade Class (AM)

There is time to rhyme.
Poetry was like crazy fun, I got published three times.
Poetry is as boring as watching a tree that takes 1,000,000 years to grow an inch.
Poetry makes me chill.
Poetry, fun as playing.
It makes me happy and interested.
Poetry is like a group of floating words.
Poetry is like a paragraph that can talk about anything.
Poetry is an interesting expressionism, it brings me happiness, sadness, fear; it’s funny too and I like poetry.
Poetry is like the world filled with excitement and diversity.
Poetry fuels my rhyme and my write.
Poetry is stunning.
Poetry makes me feel like I am floating.
Poetry makes me feel brilliant, like a star.
Reading weird, wild, imaginary.
Poetry as deep as emotions, exciting, sad, soothing, poetry an expression that shows how much I care.
Poetry makes me feel like I’m on a rollercoaster.
Poetry is more expensive than all the jewels in the world because it’s a different mindset.
Poetry makes me feel many feelings.
Poetry’s as big as an imagination.
Poetry is never ending sunshine.
Poetry is as relaxing as sleep.
Poetry is imagination.
Poetry is unusual.

Poetry Mr. Martens' 4th Grade Class (AM)

Poetry uses your mind, you think about it all the time.
Every line you make in poetry is like maple goo drooling down a pancake.
Poetry is like I’m on the moon.
Poetry is a jar full of words.
Poetry is the flow of words and as you read your tongue turns.
Poetry is like words jumping up and down.
Poetry is like rising and descending words made of shooting stars.
Poetry can go as high as the sky or as low as an ant.
Poetry is love, poetry is hugs.
Poetry makes me tired and makes me want to go back to sleep.
Poetry makes me cool, funny, and excited.
Poetry is like a tree in the wind.
Exciting, great, galactic.
Poetry is boring.
Poetry is like an ancient pact.
Poetry is really interesting with a lot of words.
Poetry is fun.
Poetry is a circus act.
Poetry is good and ancient.
Poetry is very very fun to read and I have fun.
Poetry is as colorful, endless, unpredictable as the universe.

Poetry Mr. Waterman's 4th Grade Class

You can feel every single feeling when you’re reading poetry.
Poetry is as unique as a snowflake.
Poetry is like words jumping up and down, in your face, making poems as they form.
Poetry makes me fly and shows my true colors.
Poetry is like an amusement park and the fun never stops.
Poetry can be anything, shapes, words, and feelings, it is whatever you think it is.
Haiku is my favorite.
Poetry is like painstakingly drawing a swan.
Poetry is like rhymes and words all mixed together.
Poetry is like flowering, blossoming sprouts.
Poetry is a fresh glass of spring water in the Sahara desert.
Poetry makes me happy as a snake in a hamster cage.
Poetry is like dotting stars in the sky.
Like dreams, they never make sense.
Poetry is everything and anything.
Poetry is where ideas get formed into stanzas.
Haiku, calming, limerick, laugh.
Poetry is like words flowing on the page.
Poetry is like everything in a one in a million quill.
Beauty on a page.
Poetry is like a sunset; different every evening but beautiful no matter what, trials surface, striking the sky no matter what seasons.
Poetry is like a trailing puppy, following my words.
Poetry is thoughtful but full of chaos.
Poetry is like a wave of calmness freeing my brain from stress and pain.
A lanternfish in a sea of darkness.
Poetry is putting the world on paper.
Poetry is as beautiful as a snow white swan.
Poetry is as imaginative as the whole world.
Poetry is a world of imagination.

Poetry Ms. Nelson's 4th Grade Class (PM)

Blank Blank Blank Write Write Write black and blue symbols fill pages, no longer blank.
Poetry stands out.
In the mournful country a magpie blows his tune floating in the wispy air.
My mind is free, to write down my creativity like the storm in me.
I think poetry is cool!
It’s nice and weird.
A random, jumbled mess.
A great sense of imagination.
Poetry is how I feel about dinosaurs, I think they are both cool, poetry has no limits just like the sky.
Poetry is as peaceful as a donut.
Poetry is an amazing way to express your emotions.
Poetry is a bird of its own.
Poetry is graceful as a feather.
I feel as if poetry makes stories come to life like the stars do in the sky.
Poetry is like a big open door that let’s me express my feelings for sports.
Poetry is special in a way you don’t understand, like the wind blowing hard.
Poetry is as deep as the ocean.
Poetry is like a rollercoaster, anything can happen.
Poetry is like a waterfall.
Poetry is like trees swaying in the air, poetry is graceful and exciting as the wind and it makes me boom in excitement.
Poetry has no limits, like the sky.
I hate to see you go but poetry, I want to go home.
The emotions sink, everything drops.
Poetry shines like a crystal.
Water is nice just like ice is cold just like bold.

Poetry Mr. Martens' 4th Grade Class (PM)

Poetry is like spreading butter on my warm toast in the morning.
Poetry is like a chocolate heart.
I love poetry, it’s a very fun thing.
Poetry = fun poetry = nice.
Poetry is confuzzaling.
Poetry is quirky, fun, and frilly.
Poetry is emotional like a death, yet joyful like a small child.
Hoi me like poetry.
After a million years I feel like a newt.
Poetry is goated.
Poetry is almost as good as Bon.
Poetry, full of words, also funny, makes me happy.
Poetry is calm, it is like the crisp breeze in the air.
Understanding to the brain.
Poetry is so relaxing and calming, even getting sucked into such beautiful writings.
Poetry is like a bee chasing you, not trying to get stung, bzzzz!
Poetry is like writing cursive smoothly.
Poetry makes me happy, when I make funny poems and make people though making laugh.
Poetry makes me feel good.
Poetry is fun, like jumping in space.
Poetry is good, loved, and appreciated, gives good ideas.
Poetry makes me feel happy because it’s really fun and I like writing interesting and funny words.
Googaggaagha poetry makes me like a hyena and like a dog times nice.
Poetry is like writing your feelings.