Summer in Chicago! - The Chicago Poetry Center

Summer in Chicago!

Although it is supposedly Spring, things have been pretty gloomy around here! In order to try to welcome some warmer weather, we read “Knoxville, TN” by Nikki Giovanni and relished her very specific descriptions of summer in Knoxville. We thought about how there are details of a place that can only be told by someone who lives there and why it matters that we tell our own stories. We also talked about form and why Nikki Giovanni may have used such short lines and lack of punctuation and considered how those elements could make our poems feel. Some of the students even combined this with our lesson on concrete/visual poetry and made some beautiful art to go with their poems!

Summer is Here Alan

Summer finally came
Now the long days happen
though the long bike rides were the same
Every second is like a fraction.
The hot smell of the barbeque
and the nice sunset.
The beautiful animals making sounds
along with my pet.
You can feel the nice breeze
while relaxing and watching youtube or playing Clash
and enjoying an oreo ice cream shake as if
I was a hungry tiger.

Chicago Summer Brandon

I really like summer
you should go downtown

And see all the
beautiful
skyscrapers
on a really
sunny day.

You could go pick
strawberries
or apples
or mangos
Whatever you want!
Sometimes while
you are walking
you can hear birds chirping

And smell flowers that
just bloomed

Chicago is more
beautiful than a
2022 Lamborgini
Veneno XR.