Friday, December 2, 2011

Poetry Friday: Tiny Roads Inside the Cabbage

I have this book, titled above. I'm not even sure where I got it -- a teacher's conference I suppose. It was published by New Hampshire poets Marie Harris and Deb Alberts; made possible by a grant from the NH Commission on the Arts and National Endowment.

The book celebrates ten years of poets working in the schools, and highlights some of the poems written by students from 1972-1982.

Here are a couple I love from Marie Harris's students:

Great Grandad

He was a strong man,
sitting up in his chair,
his calloused hands
running through his thin gray hair.
He was a funny man
always with a hat upon his head.
When he pinched Great Grandma
her gentle face turned red.
He would reach down to his shoe
and pretend he was tying a knot,
then when she wasn't looking
he would take a shot.
He told us never to tell
about his little bottle.

              -- Mike Evenson, Grade 9, Spaulding Jr. High, Rochester (NH)


Shy Soup

What to put in?
Let's try the loneliness of the corner
The pain of downcast eyes
The lone gloom that hangs above
The damp chill of the closed door
Maybe the soreness of quick moving feet
The rapid heartbeat
Or the yellow mist that drowns the soul

We will cook it on the smallest match
A broken spiderweb
A drop of dew.
With luck it will taste like a cleraed throat
or the loss of breath.

We'll stir it with the thinnest icicle
and it eat with a butterfly's wing.
Lastly, it will look like a piece of silk,
alone in a field of cashmere.

                     -- Carrie Steadman, grade 8, Spaulding Jr. High, Rochester




Carol his hosting Poetry Friday over at her corner. Check it out!

7 comments:

laurasalas said...

Wow. These are amazing. It's always so terrific to see what brilliant free verse kids and teens can write when they are guided, supported, encouraged. Thanks for sharing these.

Doraine said...

I love reading student poetry, and these are wonderful. I wonder what these two talented writers are doing today, so many years past those high school days. I hope the love of words was planted deeply and took root.

Janet said...

These are both so amazingly observant. Brilliant, as Laura says. I wonder what has become of these writers, too!

Linda B said...

Terrific insite by the students, of course! I think kids love those little secrets, like Granddad's little bottle. What a sweet little book you've re-discovered.

Tara said...

These are wonderful! The last two lines of the first poem had such sly wisdom. I would be good to know if these two went on to write more.

Carol said...

Wow! These kids are poets! I have such a picture of that granddad. Like several other folks, I wonder what happened to these kids. I wonder if poetry still a part of their lives.

Mary Lee said...

Ooh. Those are wow-ful! In such a few lines, I feel like I know Grandad!!