In our recent sessions, Kozminksi 4th and 5th grade poets took inspiration from Kwame Alexander’s book, How to Write a Poem, which starts off with “Begin with a question…” Students first brainstormed lists of questions. From there, they had the following options for writing their poems: (1) ask questions; (2) answer questions; or (3) write a poem inspired by any line or section from Kwame Alexander’s poem/book. I was very moved by the way students are opening up to their own care and creativity. Enjoy!
Ms. Manning
4th Grade
Daniel D.
What am I able to do?
Can I, can I see?
Can I jump?
Can I swim? Can I bring happiness to the world? Can I help people? Can I be nice?
Can I be mean, can I talk? Can I move, can I do anything I want to do?
Can I be a hero? Can I not be in trouble?
Can I get rid of people I don’t like?
Can I play soccer, can I play basketball? Can I play baseball, or even tennis?
Ice skating?
Planets
by Xion.B
What would happen if
I tried to explore a few planets?
What if I was a genius and
knew how to build a spaceship?
I would let my mind
unravel as I find an
equation.
I could make a spaceship so
I could use it to explore
planets like Jupiter, Mars
and Venus. It would be the best
thing that ever happened to
me.
That imagining could happen,
but I would go into the void
as I find another question
for big imagination.
Sarabi
by Phoenix B.
I love my cat, she has gray fur and green eyes.
She is furry and friendly and in my lap is where she lies.
She walks really quiet and doesn’t make a sound
She takes small steps and you will never know she is around.
Her name is Sarabi and I love her so much
Sometimes I want a dog, but it may be too rough.
I feed her and pet her all day long
I give her toys for her to chase around.
I think she needs a cat friend that is sweet like her
They can play together and hear each other purrr.
My cat loves treats
If you keep giving them to her she wll eat eat eat.
5th Grade
Imaginary
By Jada L.
You jump into the big black seed of the memories
you keep throughout your life. You pick out the seed
looking at your words coming to life before your very eyes
you lean into the deep depths of the milky way holding your deepest
darkest secrets behind. You see yourself jumping into a pool of
your dreams speaking gibberish to you in a voice full of nonsense.
You reach your turning point seeing a picture of your heart being
torn apart by your big black voice seeking attention of the crow
pecking by.
A MAN
by Christopher L.
1 cup of hormones
3 liters of freedom
3 cups of responsibility
9 quarts of manners
4 sprinkles of money
3 cups of civilization
Instructions: get a whisking bowl and put the hormones in
then mix until there’s no lumps
put in one liter of freedom. At the same time,
put in 3 cups of responsibility
whisk until fluffy like egg whites
put all 9 quarts of manners that do not MIX. It will get messed up
Put your 3 cups of civilization in
make sure to put your 4 sprinkles of money on like seasoning mix it.
Fry until golden brown
Recipe For Fighting!
by De’Kirra P.
To fight you need 12 words of name calling
To fight you need 15 cups of punches
mixed with 10 years of fighting lessons
To fight you need 2 cups of slaps
and you might need a cap full of kicking
To fight you need 3 teaspoons of anger
To stop fighting you need to be emptied of anger
and frustration
To stop fighting you need a bucket of calming down and
you need a handful of fresh air
and 1 bottle of cold water.
Kai Allen
2 cup fulls of excellent words,
3 emotional eggs,
5 teaspoons of action,
a handful of excitement,
half a teaspoon of rhythm,
12 slices of idioms,
add drama seasoning, with some metaphor frosting,
a spoonful of simile sprinkles
Put it in an oven of of mystery, and let it cool down on the table of rhymes.
Then give everyone a big slice! AND WIN THE POEM COMPETITIONNNN! 😀🎉👏
I have a question
by Goodness A.
What happens when you close the
freezer? Does the light turn off or
does a ghost eat all your food?
What happens when you stare at
a flower all day?
Do you get bored? Do you fall in love
with the beauty of the flower?
When you stay in the bath tub for
a long time what happens?
Do you turn into a fish or do you
become a mermaid?
When you bite into your ice cream
what happens?
Do your teeth fall out or
do your teeth just hurt
because its cold?
Questions
by Jada L.
What happens when you look in the
mirror too long? Does the mirror break
or does it just stand there?
What happens when you eat too
much food? Does your belly blow up
or do you just throw up?
What happens when you don’t brush
your teeth? Do your teeth break apart or
does your breath stink and you get cavities?
What happens when become poor?
Does your money disappear or
do you just live on the streets?
There are so many questions that you can’t
really answer but you can infer something funny
or maybe weird
to answer.
