This week at Washington, we began by reading Aracelis Girmay’s “Self Portrait with the Pirate’s Gold,” one in a series of self-portrait poems from her poetry collection Kingdom Animalia. We looked especially at how she used lines, stanzas, and white space to mimic the shape of a lost tooth described in the poem, then we thought about items we ourselves have lost. Check out a few of this week’s poems below!
Miss Davis
Eighth Grade
Yellow Group
The Ghost of You
By Sonia E.
When I was 12 at the time,
I had a best friend
who I thought was my everything.
We had each other’s backs from
everything we went through.
I help them on their work,
I help them through their pain.
But the next year I knew
our friendship would never be the same.
On my left there were coffins,
on my right there were ghosts.
But when I look in the mirror,
I see I’ve lost my dreams and hopes.
Self Portrait: Phone
By Brian M.
I play games
on my phone something
to entertain my-
self with
I love my phone
me and it are
like magnets
we stick to each other
and never let go
Miss Davis
Eighth Grade
Red Group
Self Portrait
By Isabela C.
The carnival fair is where we were
going to all the rides in one day
Flipping upside down I
heard a bang!
Checking my pockets yet
nothing is there
How I remember that
rainy day as I watched raindrops
fall down as they play.
The music’s rhythm dancing
in my ear, I follow along with
a tapping thumb.
A black marble case is
where I locked you away.
At the carnival is
where I lost you that day.
Self Portrait as the Bracelet
By Ethan C.
I was 13 years old when I became unlucky. The Bracelet is yellow bright like the sun, and black as dark as space. Gave me all the luck in the world.
Its eyes protected me from evil.
It was a gift from God.
Self Portrait: My TV Remote
By Adrian G.
My TV remote is something I use daily
I lost it the time I woke up
I was so sad that I couldn’t play freely
I couldn’t turn on my TV no more
I can’t play no more
I can’t do anything but sit on my phone
It felt like it just didn’t want to be here
It wanted to leave and never come back
It was sadder than sadness
I looked in one more place
It came back to me
It returned home for good
It felt like it missed me
It decided to come back and stay till the end
Atlantis
By Joaquin H.
Stolen from my hand by a man named Juan
The map to Atlantis is what I lost
The man who stole it could not handle it either
Juan lost it too, the map was uncontrollable
Miss Davis
Eighth Grade
Green Group
My Dog
By Lisandro G.
My small
fluffy dog
wanders around
suddenly gone
don’t know what
to do
scared
frightened
because of the
thought
of losing her
[At the park]
By Niko K.
At the park
with my dog
painting lines
with my mom
when suddenly
my dog
ran away
now I’m on a hunt
to catch him today.
Socks
By Miliani H. and Anneliss N.
So warm and comfy
lost so easy
one under the bed
one in the dryer
one in my bookbag
and one in my hair
Just like me for
always getting lost
always mismatched
always running out
nowhere to be found
but always somewhere around
[I lost my phone]
By Martin O.
i lost my phone and for awhile i was lost too i had nothing to do i was bored i was lazy then my parents made me go outside i didn’t want to at first but then i rode my bike awhile rode it by the woods and i stayed there for a bit and admired everything and really took it in i have been really connected with nature since then
