Poetry in the Present... Voices from the Past

At Lafayette School, our annual Poetry Parade is in full swing! We're reading and writing poems, sharing them with friends and family. Sometimes, we find inspiration in history and cultural tradition.  Here's a Lafayette Original celebrating a modern international sporting event evolved from games held in ancient Olympia, Greece:

Olympics

by Kaleigh C.

Work hard

All the time

You'll get the gold

And always shine

You're always first

You're never last

Otherwise

You won't be fast

You're standing there

Tall and strong

While the crowd is chanting

Number 

One

Let's take a look at a Lafayette Original created by Rory and Sam, inspired by an important historical and cultural event.  Passover commemorates the Jewish people's liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt:

Check it out in the LMC: Hand in Hand: An American History through Poetry presents illustrated poems detailing lives and events that shaped our nation's story.  Here's a poem featuring a Revolutionary War patriot with a famous signature:

John Hancock

"There,"
he said,
signing 
his name

BIG,

BOLD,

FAT.

"King George

won't need

spectacles

to see

that!

He can read

it from here

to his

British clock,"

proclaimed

the rebellious

John Hancock.

--Lee Bennett Hopkins

Finding the Light: Illuminating Line Breaks

Eureka!  We've seen the light about line breaks!  In library classes, we've been exploring this useful poetic tool.  Line breaks may occur at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a thought.  They change the pace of a poem, asking readers to stop or to continue, to speed up… or to pause and think.  Line breaks highlight a word or image, and they help a rhyme along.  When they work their magic, line breaks turn prose paragraphs into magnificent poetry! 

First, we read the paragraph:

Light Bulb by Juan Olivarez

The light bulb shines in my eye.  In its ray of light I see hope.  It offers a bright future.  I feel a sense of optimism than can only be felt by a child learning to read for the first time.  I fee tranquil, serene.  When the switch is flicked off.  Shhhhh.  Darkness arrives and everything changes.

After a lesson about line breaks, we read the poem:

Light Bulb

by Juan Olivarez

The light bulb

Shines in my eye

In its ray of light I see

Hope

It offers a bright

Future

I feel a sense of

Optimism

That can only be felt by a child

Learning to read for the first time

I feel

Tranquil

Serene

When the switch is flicked

Off

Shhhhh

Darkness arrives and

Everything

Changes

Fresh from a Writer’s Notebook: Check out a Lafayette Original that makes good use of line breaks, transforming a personal narrative paragraph into an expressive poem about a Cape Cod experience:

The Surprise

Then 

He

came up 

to the boat

He

swam away

but

We followed him

We followed him

Until the water

got too shallow

His gray head

disappeared

under the sea

heading back

to his

seal family.

-- Jack W.

Finally, we share Helen Keller, written by American poet Langston Hughes and performed by Emma and Grace.  The poem features powerful line breaks and pays tribute to an American heroine’s spirit and courage... her inner light.  

Helen Keller

She,

In the dark,

Found light

Brighter than many ever see.

She,

Within herself,

Found loveliness,

Through the soul’s own mastery.

And now the world receives

From her dower:

The message of the strength

Of inner power.

--Langston Hughes

Poetry not only helps us see the light, it helps us feel the light.

We're in This Together: Celebrating Earth Day

The Earth's a Big Blue Marble

When you see it from out there.

The Sun and Moon declare

Our beauty's very rare.... 

Happy Earth Day!  Big Blue Marble, a 1970s-80s television series, featured stories about children from around the world, encouraging us to be kind and respectful to each other-- and to be good caretakers of our planet.  The show's name refers to a famous photograph of Earth, taken by the Apollo 17 crew in 1972.

After all, we're in this together! Take a look at a Lafayette Original, written and performed by Brooke and CC:

Go Green!

an Earth Day poem written by Brooke and CC

The grass is green,

And the sky is blue,

And we want to keep it 

The way it is, don't you?

Imagine if the sky was gray

Everyday!

And what if the grass never grew

And it looked like poo?

So listen to what we are about to say:

We have to help EARTH every day!

Or else it may not stay this way.

Sooo...

Let's keep the earth green and keep it clean!

We can do it, so let's get to it! 

Some communities extend Earth Day into Earth Week, planning seven days of earth-friendly activities.  But why stop at one day or one week?  Let's make Every Day Earth Day!

Three-Times Sparkle and Little Twinkling Stars!

Poetry on Parade celebrates the language of poetry... and poetry in many languages.  Let's take a look at Sparkle, a Lafayette Original written and performed in English by Emma.  Sparkle continues, recited in French by Molly and in German by Gemma, helped along by their French and German-speaking Grandmothers!

From Sparkle to Twinkle: Here's an early nineteenth-century poem that became a popular lullaby, a soothing piece of music played or sung to young children.  The poem includes six stanzas of rhyming couplets, although we usually sing only the first group of metrical lines.

The Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

When the blazing sun is gone,

When he nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveller in the dark,

Thanks you for your tiny spark,

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,

And often through my curtains peep,

For you never shut your eye,

Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,

Lights the traveller in the dark--

Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

--Jane Taylor, Rhymes for the Nursery, 1806

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Hatter performs a parody of The Star:

Twinkle, twinkle little bat!

How I wonder what you're at!

Up above the world you fly,

Like a tea-tray in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little bat!

How I wonder what you're at....

The Hatter's humorous imitation is interrupted by the Dormouse, leaving us to wonder and wonder and wonder how those final sparkling stanzas would go!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hair Days

Did you ever have one of those days?  A day when everything seems to go wrong, when nothing works the way it should... when your hair is completely unmanageable?  Today, Poetry on Parade celebrates these less-than-perfect times with poetry about Bad Hair Days:

Bad Hair Day

I can’t do a thing with this hair-do

I've tried but it's simply no use.

I can't make it stay where I put it today

with styling gel, hair spray or mousse.

No bobby pin, brush or bandana,

can get my hair under control.

I've tried every comb, every clip in my home,

but still I resemble a troll.

I've tried using forks in frustration.

I've tried using pokers and picks.

I've tried using straps; I've tried headbands and caps.

I've even tried shoestrings and sticks.

Regardless of how I attack it,

with rolling pins, wrenches or rakes,

it's simply no use, I'm the Gorgon Medusa;

my hair is a bundle of snakes.

--Kenn Nesbitt

Let's take a look at The Bad Hair Day, written by Karma Wilson and performed by Rachel and Despina:

Bad Hair Day

I’m having a very bad hair day today

‘Cause some of my hairs began to turn gray

And purple and pink and chartreuse and red.

I think I’ll go buy a big hat for my head.

--Douglas Florian

While we're on the topic of Hairy Poems, check out this one, written by Shel Silverstein and performed by:

Here's a styling tip, Poetry Paraders: Next time you're having a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hair Day, put away the comb, the brush, the styling gel, and the mousse... and pick up a poem.  Things will look a little brighter!

Whatever the Weather: Wondering about Wind

The wind: whether it's gust or gale, tempest or typhoon, cyclone or zephyr, poets find inspiration in this mighty, magical force of nature. Let's take a look at a poem by a nineteenth-century English poet:

Who Has Seen the Wind?

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you;

But when the leaves hang trembling

The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I;

But when the trees bow down their heads

The wind is passing by.

~ Christina Rossetti

Hundreds of years and many breezy days later, poets are still wondering about the wind.  Check out a Lafayette Original that makes good use of personification, a figure of speech giving human qualities to things that are not alive-- the wind, for example:

The Wind

Oh wind.  You are a very loud person,

Outspoken.

You howl for no reason,

You get very emotional,

Especially when it rains.

You bang on my window and

Keep me up.

Oh wind

You make mankind run amok.

~ Kiara W.

The wind: we can't see it, but we feel it.  Poetry captures that elusive feeling and invites us to see the world in a different way.

Here Comes Our Annual Parade of Poetry!

Ah, April: it’s a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, rhythm-jamming, rhyme-slamming time of year!  Once again, Lafayette School is celebrating National Poetry Month—a thirty-day opportunity for Poetry Paraders to read poems, write poems, perform poems, and share the magic of poetry with friends and family.  

 

Poetry invites us to look at the world in new and exciting ways.  For example: what happens when an aquatic reptile visits a dental health care professional?  Let’s get our parade started with The Crocodile's Toothache, written by Shel Silverstein and performed by puppeteers Casey D. and Michael R:

Well, that puppet poetry performance painted a colorful picture!  (We're using lots of alliteration today). Speaking of colorful, take a look at these Lafayette Originals:

Blue

Blue the color of the sea.

Blue the color of eyes.

Blue different shades it comes in.

Blue is a color of gems and diamonds.

Blue the color of clothing.
Blue my favorite of all.

~Kiara W.

Created by Grace T.

Haiku

Beautiful flowers
Come in all shapes and sizes
Colorful petals

~Anna S.

Haiku Illustrations by Marianna Z.

Eyes

Blue eyes, Green eyes

Hazel eyes or maybe Evil eyes

To learn their expression

To know how they feel  

Big eyes, Little eyes

It doesn't matter

You see through them 

To play to laugh to giggle

Close you eyes and you'll see what's

Inside.

~Kiara W.

Haiku

I can't see a thing

I'm thinking I have gone blind

Who turned off the lights?

~Matthew S.