“The sounds of friends laughing” Imagery and Memory with South Loop Poetry Club!

This week at South Loop Poetry Club, our poets studied imagery and asked ourselves, how can we put someone else in our shoes? Using Nikki Giovanni’s Knoxville, Tennessee, we drew inspiration from the different sensory details of one of her favorite memories to write our own poems. We talked about how first and second person can change what a piece of writing sounds like, and decided to implement it in some new pieces. Hope you enjoy!

South Loop Poetry Club

The Migrants... Cole C.

Every time you going somewhere

you past…

a police station

you see migrants…

Sitting here feeling safe

kids using

donated stuff…

You think about

how they got here

and know….

They were

slaves

from Africa

and escaped

for freedom.

You felt sad for them

you wanted to help them

your feeling made you

feel bad…

You walk again

to the police station again

you decide to give

donations

food

clothes…

The migrants

really thanked you

You were so happy

you helped…

A Trip to Midway George

Totally not the other airport

I see planes all around me

laughter and talking is what you hear

you smell not that fuel

your fresh air

and smell the melting of a fighter jet

Friendly Mia P., 5th Grade

Friends at a

Asian restaurant in

Chinatown, laughing, talking, singing,

chewing. The smell of Asian food

that makes your stomach rumble.

Delicious sauce and meat

with the sugary, sweet, fizzy

taste of strawberry ramune.

Birthday Story Audrey

I had

Birthday presents

My friends sang me

happy birthday

the birthday cake

smelled like vanilla

whipped cream at

the end I felt happy

that people came.

Championship Game anonymous

Opponent faces in a champion game

People cheering and screaming

Smells like turf and rubber

The Pool Annabel G.

Best friend in the pool,

with me and her siblings

The sound of friends laughing,

and water splashing.

Warm food I eat after the pool.

tastes like pool water because it is.

light and warm

My big bro Morgan F.

My big bro breaden

As quiet as a chicken on a grill

smells like too much perfume on a woman

tastes like boba tea

smooth as a baby’s butt.

"Do-or-die" A Dream - The Battle of Midway Zachary G.

Zero’s blackening the sky

with the Rising Sun on the

wing

Anti-air-craft fire pounding bam-bam

and the sound of fighter planes

Smells like gunpowder and fuel

Tastes like blood and dust

My finger on the cold metal trigger of

an AA gun aimed at the sky

Land of Dreams Oliver G.

let me take you to a

world dreams a lush forest

covers my mind leprechauns run

free and sirens roam seas I

smell fragrance in the place of

m favorite myths of kings and

queens fairies fly and dragons

die when I find the end of the

rainbow I know I’m there.

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