Video Effect: Poems Inspired by Watching & Listening

As we continue distance instruction, students at Taft Freshman Academy continue to generate beautiful poems!  This week’s poems are inspired by “There was this bear cam” by Sandra Simonds.  In the poem, she describes her wishes, dreams, and hopes around viewing a live video. In and outside of class, students watched YouTube videos and then crafted their own ‘video response’ poems written in a conversational tone.

Lesson Note: ‘In a time of crisis, poetry can help focus our fears and transform ‘noise into music’ … In effect, poetry “aims in every possible way to reaffirm the world that we actually inhabit, in all its vital, messy, beautiful, tragic reality. Mar 10, 2020, The Washington Post.

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period One

Puppy Video
By benjamin m.

So I found this video in my youtube recommended
It was like 30 seconds so i clicked on it

A husky Pup (super small) was learning the stairs,
Then it got scared so it tried coming back up, after the 1st stair he went up he fell backwards

He tumbled and rolled on his back, then he rolled over his head and bounced off the stairs
He took a heavy tumble

His mom was also there to watch

Wow Cat
By Jeremy E.

I found this super funny video on YouTube earlier.
It was a video of an important business call but this guy
Couldn’t get a
CAT FILTER
Off of his face!

It’s even more funny because
Everyone else in the call
Is so monotone and nonchalant
But you can tell that on the inside they’re
Laughing their heart out!

I’ll show you later,
You’ve got to see it!

There was this video…
By Quintana W.

There was this video…
It had over 1 million views
It was about this baby husky…

It scanned the carpeted stairs
Testing it out with its small padded paws
Slowly it jumped around more comfortable with its surroundings

And you wouldn’t believe it!!
The puppy fell backwards
Like in a cartoon
On its side,
Back Legs,
On its head…
It’s made me laugh every time I watch it

Icarus
By Mischa R.

So basically
In class, we watched this compilation
Of a tiny grey hamster
Jumping off a bed
Like a skydiver,
Its furry body extending like a pancake

We watched intently as
The hamster flew through the air
In slow motion
And,
I don’t know,
I guess it reminded me of that myth.
The one about Icarus
Flying too close to the sun

It was like the hamster donned
Invisible wings of feathers and wax
And lept off into the unknown.
I know it sounds insane,
But I almost felt envious of it.
I wanted to fly.
To jump into the unknown.

Ms. Taylor, 9th Grade
Period Two

Video about orphans
By: Angelina A.

There’s this video about this Man who owns 3 different Orphanages and crazy thing is, almost a quarter of the kids in the country are orphans. Most of them are girls too. And you want to know the saddest part…in the country, they are in, girls aren’t really wanted. supposedly if your first kid is a girl, the house you live in will not be blessed.

You should watch it. it’s crazy, i don’t understand why they would hate their kids only because they’re girls.

 

A dog’s life
By Joseph K.

There is a dog video
It shows many dogs being silly.
One showed a small dog being chased by a duck
Another showed a pug attacking a leaf blower.
His mouth kept getting his mouth blowed open.
But he kept coming back.
He was persistent
He was going to teach that leaf blower
Who was the boss.
I laughed so hard
I think you would like the video too.
Dogs have great personalities.

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Four

Title: Email at 05/08/2015
By Andrew M.

To: Junior Researcher Davidson
From: Junior Containment Engineer Sanchez

Hey, Fred

You got to see this transcript excerpt of the SCP-███ containment procedures meeting. It’s really funny.

File Attachment:

Site-██_SCP-████_Containment_Procedures_Meeting_██.██.████_Transcript.txt

Note: The footage is a recording of an SCPFVC meeting regarding the revised containment procedures of SCP-████.

Skip to 0:40

Six out of ten members are currently present in the meeting as others continue to enter. When Containment Engineer █████████ enters the meeting, their camera footage is noticeably replaced with a dynamic image of a domesticated canine.

Site Director ███████: Hey, ████ what’s up with your video?

Containment Engineer █████████: I’m not sure, we’re trying to fix it on our end right now, I don’t really know what could of caused this

Site Director ███████: I think it’s some kind of filter that’s overriding your video.

Stream clip
By Audrey G.

There is a stream clip from quackity’s live stream
It was a video of a group of friends
And they were singing “Road Trip” by dream
I thought it was so wholesome that they were singing their friend’s song
Karl, bbh, skeppy and sapnap were dancing and singing together
While quackity tried to get them to calm down
I thought it was a perfect example of their close friendship
I shared the video on tiktok
It got 600 likes and 3k views
You should really watch mcyt and dsmpcc
WHat? I’m not obsessed!
I only stayed up till like… 3 am

“I Am Not a Cat”
By Chloe A. T.

There was this cat video
that went viral recently.
You know how there’s this Coronavirus, right?
And how because of it,
many people resort to
doing their work-at-home, on their computer?
From this, you can imagine––
picture, to put it lightly,
the confusion particularly from the older generations.
So, there were these three lawyers
sitting down in a virtual Zoom court hearing
just about to begin proceedings.
At first, everything seemed OK on print:
all three of the lawyers turned on the microphone, check;
all three of the lawyers had their cameras on, check;
all microphones worked as they spoke clearly, check.

But, wait a minute.
And sure enough
there was this “acute” detail that I glossed over.
Peering from my bowl of Special K,
I looked to see at the bottom right of my screen
and BOOM a talking cute fluffy white kitten
with the voice of “human” Presidio County Attorney Rod Ponton,
absolutely dumbfounded.
He said that he wanted to be a famous lawyer,
and, well, he did become one,
but not per-se exactly in the same way
or by the same means that he hoped or at least imagined.
I think this infamous line
from this cat/human “Presidio County Attorney Rod Ponton”

Ms. Taylor, 8th Grade
Period Six

Boxing Bear
By Jerry M.

Soooo…. There was this really funny video
of a man picking a fight with a bear,
They both threw some fists at each other,
but as expected the bear won,
with some really stylish moves
and some fast martial arts kicks.

You should really look up this video!
Anyways, this actually is a commercial
about John West Red Salmon.

The bear really had some skill,
so just to be safe,
I am probably going to buy some red salmon.

p5
By Evan R.

ok so i had ran across this video a while ago right like
4 years ago i wanna say and i have no idea what in me
decided to click on it
probably the bright colors and im a crow but nonetheless
i clicked on it and it was a video about a game i had heard about before
persona 5
i was really interested in it and it was a guide for people who had never
played it before and it appealed to me and it was pretty funny too
the editor broke up the flow of the video and information with an editor
joke often making the video feel fuller than if it was just the information
i cant play the game because i dont have the console but that doesn’t really matter

Untitled music video
By Sloane B.

One day as I logged onto YouTube
A video appeared in my recommended with no title
Out of curiosity, I clicked
And it started off as a normal music video with Japanese vocals
Suddenly the music changed into what seemed like an entirely different song
The beat, tempo, melody
But it all flowed together
Into a story about a Japanese myth

Ms. Taylor, 9th Grade
Period Seven

the game-winner
By Alex V.

We were down by 17

In the end of the third quarter

We only needed two points to tie

The game and go into overtime

With 3 seconds left I shot the ball

From half-court and it went in we won the game

By 1 point the score was 67-68.

The Chubby Cat
By Bissan A.

There was this really adorable chubby black cat video,
I am not sure what’s the cat’s name or where it was filmed, but
It looked like they were at their house in a bedroom.

The cat was in the middle of the bed sleeping on its back
It was so cute with the fluffy hair, anyways,
One person was standing behind the cat over the cat’s head
And another person sitting by the cat’s leg.

The person in front started petting the cat’s head,
The other person started teaching the cat’s leg.
Doing that back and forth without stopping
Making the cat move faster to do crunches.

You should definitely see it; it’s worth it.
You’re going to laugh till your stomach hurts.

Untitled
By Jermaury B.

There was a 1 on 1 basketball game. 1 person, didn’t know how to play basketball.
so that person charged at his friend and knocked him down and threw the ball at the rim and scored for his friend.

Then got hyped and said he won and even though his friend won he still said he won.

Let’s go sledding
By Mason F.

It was very cold, and we were sledding.
It was pretty fun, but a lot of work.
Sometimes it was soooo difficult
I always liked the activity, It always made me laugh
When people fell and face planted into the snow

I don’t like to wear the snow gear though
The snow gets so hard sometimes and I struggle a lot.

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TESTIMONIALS

“Writing poetry makes me feel like I can see myself, like I can see my reflection, but not in a mirror, in the world. I write and I know I can be reflected.”
-Oscar S.

“Writing poetry makes me feel free.”
-Buenda D.

“Writing poetry is like your best friend.”
-Jessica M.