Juice Up The True Say

Meet our New Teachers

2010-05-23T17:18:00.000-07:00

Above, Chenelle, a Flagler College sophomore, working with fourth and fifth graders at the OUR Center.

Mollie, a Flagler sophomore working with second and third graders at the OUR Center.

Above, Alan with Maleek, Josh, Marlon at the St. Johns County Teen REC Center.

Seventh grader Maleek reads:

This summer semester, five Flagler students are teaching with me in Hastings as part of a class called Writing in the Community at Flagler College. Please visit their blogs on the right of this page. The kids love their student teachers, and it's a great experience for everyone.

Thanks to Flagler College for making this possible!

2010-02-26T07:37:00.000-08:00

The things about my soul
by T'Asia

My soul is like a caring person.
My soul is as thoughtful as anybody else.
My soul is as loving as my sisters and brothers soul.
My soul is like the puffy white clous in the beautiful blue sky.
My soul is like an owl taking care of her baby owlets.
My soul is as tasty as a pack of pancakes.
My soul is the thing in side me that makes me happy and stops me from being sad.
My soul will always be with me.

My Color Person
by Carson

My favorite color is silver if it was a person it would be silver and eat silvero's all the time he would love to do everything but homework. He would buy anything I wanted. And he would be a firefighter.

My Soul That Follows Me Everywhere
Carson

My soul is smart and happy and it's also the color of glue. I love my soul and he loved me too. And if he left me I'd drop dead literaly, when I die I'll go with him to heaven after all I am stuck to him.

My Life
by Brianna M

My soul is the light inside of me that makes me shine and dazzle. My soul is something that looks and tastes like chocolate. My soul is the pattern inside me that makes me smart. My soul is the power inside me that lights up my brain and makes me the second smartest kid in my class. My soul will lift up to heaven when I die.

Red Soul
by Branden

Soul is red like a fire burning like a hot sausage wrapped in clear piece of plastic. My soul works 24-7 non-stop. When I drink water my soul charges. My soul is red because that's the color of my heart my heart stands for love. Loving is important to me so is my soul. I'm on this earth not to impress other people but to impress god.

Soul poem
by Michael

My soul cries out to blame those with fame and fortune. My soul tries to board the eagles that soar. Why do I blame the fame I'm ashamed. But I can take hold over and take control of my soul.

My Happy/Angry Soul
by Jessica

My soul is like a dragon fire in a burning house with no exits
but on the other side of the burning house
is a green meadow filled with happiness
but farther away is the dark side where all my angry goes
but there's also a place above the sky where peace and love, and joy and angels

Moon Ring Soul
by William

My soul is white like clouds
When I'm mad my soul turns red as a cherry. When I'm happy my soul turns green. When I'm sad my soul turns yellow like cheese.

Chad Sweeney Visits

2009-11-20T04:47:00.000-08:00

Poet Chad Sweeney, author of Arranging the Blaze, A Mirror to Shatter the Hammer, and An Architecture, visited the Teen Center in Hastings. Sweeney was a speaker at the Other Words conference held at Flagler College, and our student poets were thrilled he made a special stop on his book tour to meet with them.

Here, the students are entertained by Sweeney's reading of "Karawane," Hugo Ball's sound poem of nonsensical German words. The kids wrote their own versions and performed them.

Sweeney continued the discussion about sound, asking the kids to identify a few people who say our names often. How does it sound when our mother calls our name? Our brother? Our teacher?

Here are their poems:

My name Harkia C

When my B friend Kelvon
says my name it sounds
like “i L y Kia so much!” and
then again it can sound like
“You’re so aggravating”

When my mom say my name
it sounds like “Kia go clean
that Room” or it could sound
like “Birds sing in the sky”

When my friend Rakiya
says my name it sounds
like “Girl guess what?!”

When my G-ma says my
name it sounds like “Soft
cold running water!”

When my niece Zizi
says my name it sound
like “tt Kia me love you!”

When my sister Tara
says my name it sounds
like “So what’s been up.”
Or it could sound like “I miss you!”

I would prefer you not to say my name

- Harkia

Timothy

When my mom says my name
it sounds like clean your room, but
sometimes it sounds like sugar
pouring.

When my dad says my name
it sounds like, Feed the dogs, take
out the trash, but sometimes it
sounds like A Army Commander
giving orders.

When my brother says my name
it sounds like let me get some
Halloween candy, but sometimes it
sounds like a bunch howling
wolves.

When my youngest sister says my
name it sounds like a 1 year old
baby, but sometimes it sound like a
squeaky duck.

When my oldest sister says my
name it sound likes get out my
room leave my stuff alone, but sometimes
it sounds like a grumpy grandma.

- Timothy

When my mom says my name
it sounds like “clean the dishes!”
and it sounds like thunder in the sky,
When my brother says my name
it sounds like “I was playing
the game first.” And it sounds
like an earthquake is
coming.

- Maleek

When my mom says my
name it sounds like,
“Do you want anything
else,” but sometimes
it sounds like
waves forming.

When my dad
says my name
it sounds like
“Let’s practice” or like
war.

When Charles says
my name it sounds
like “I can and always
will beat you in
basketball.” It sounds
like mice talking.

When Willie says
my name it sounds
like “I can beat you
in Madden” or like
pool balls colliding.

When Deraje says my
name it sounds like,
“Let me hold your
Belt,” or clapping hills.

When coach says my
name it sounds like
“get your team right” or
“let’s stretch.”

When you say
my name say it
with happiness.

- Stefan

Charles

When my mom says
my name it sound
like an elephant
blowing its trunk.

When my teacher
says my name it
sounds like a
TV staticking!

When my coach says
my name it sounds like
an army commander
give instructions
for someone to
follow.

When Trevor says
my name it is like
weezy.

When Mrs. Singleton says
my name it’s like Come on
you can do better than
that.

When my grandmom says
my name it sound like
skipping CD from her
stuttering.

When you say
my name say it
strong like the wind
driving a hurricane.

When my mom says my name it sounds
like “I told you to bring your clothes out
to the laundry room.”

When my dad says my name it sounds
like “I told you to do your
homework.”

I felt that I was going to be killed
right there.

When my sister Jessie says my
name it sounds like she is trying
to protect me from getting in trouble.

When my friend says my name it
sounds like I am going to get beat up
by him.

When my teacher says my name it sounds like I am
going to get a bad grade.

When a soldier says my name it sounds like
“You have worked very hard today.” Or “How are you.”

When a stranger says my name it sounds
like they are begging for money from me.

When you say my name
say it soft but not
angry.

- Zackery

When my mama says
my name it sounds
like a scratch cd.

When my sister says
my name it sounds
like “gurl you get on my
nerves.”

When my friends
say my name it
sounds like gurl
let me tell you
something.

When Charles say
my name it
sounds like Bryanna
let me tell you
what he said.

When Mr. Harris
says my name it
sounds like get out
of here Chess Kat.

So when you say my
name say it soft
but right.

- Bryanna

When my mom says my name it sounds
like “Run that ball” but it usually
sounds like take out the trash.

When my brother says my name
it sounds like “stop” but it usually
sounds like I’m going to tell.

When my uncle says my name it
sounds like “See you when I get out
of jail” but it usually sounds like
I’m goin to get you.

When my Dad says my name
it sounds like “Nice hit” but it
usually sounds like ready for Madden.

When my sister says my name
it sounds like “the TV is on mute
when it’s not” but it usually
sounds like let’s go play.

- Enrique

2009-11-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

After reading "Abandoned Farmhouse" by Ted Kooser, we talked of derelict houses we've seen in town. What happened? The children imagined stories behind the broken windows and chipped paint.

What happened here? Who knows?
The pretty white polished walls are
demolished. Hey remember
the time when we formed a hole in the wall
the kid was in it then we
accidently closed up? We are sorry!
Hey we’re fallin’ bye bye bye byeByyyyeee
WORLD WE ARE COLLAPSING The world my
friend you’re not my friend.
- Morgan

The old house had no windows
I wonder what happened
the fence is so raggedy and old
Maybe the people got ambushed.
Maybe there was a storm and
they died possibly dragons
ate them but I think pink monkey
ruled the world and covered it
in chocolate!
- Logan Morrison

Old house

We are old said the rusty
chain by the door. “Be quiet
you old coot” said the broken pencil left behind by a child
“the people arecoming back!” but it was only a red truck driving by
the dented computer started to cry
“I miss the wonderful people that download stuff on me and play fun games”
"Will you be quiet for goodness’sake they’re never coming back.”
- Amber Kidd

Say the what does

What does my father say at night. While I’m sleeping at night say the stars are out. Other children are sleeping too. Say the monkeys are missing. Say the kids are sleeping let’s put water on them. Say the horse is missing. Say the abandoned house up the street is scary. Say the boys are weird and double dutching. Say the everything is weird. Everything creeps me out. Say the way is everything weird. Goodbye.
- Kara

The house

There was a tall house, says the door that was as tall as the house; a tall window too; says the broken bedroom door.
- Aivona

The old things

I was once loved says the old raggedy doll. I was once drunk out of says the old china teacup. I was once used to make bread says the toaster. I was once used to let people sleep on at night says the old bed. I was once used to watch things says the old, dusty t.v.I was once used to clean with said the old, rusty sink. I was once used to cook with says the old stove and oven. I was once used to take hot stuffout of the oven says the potholders.I was once used to let people eat on says the old, dirty table. I was once used to sit on says the couch and chair. Quit it! Says the old refrigerator. What about me? I’m supposed to be used for food says the old refrigerator.
- Jasmine

Something new is in my house it howls at me and scares me. I want to say get out ghost but if I did it would probably kill me! I couldn’t really see it in the light but you can see it in the dark. I’m warning you don’t go near ghost!
- Teretha

Says the

I was once happy says the depressed dog; I once was shiny
says the ugly floor. I once
was new says the rotten table.
I once smelled good says the
old flowers. I once was working
said the worn out t.v.
- John P

The abandoned stuff

I once was loved says the old
rotten floors. Why have they abandoned
us says the broken windows. I was
filled says the empty dusty cabinet.
I was full of joy says the rotten old roof.
I had a family says the upstairs attic. My family used
to live here says the walls. I am
always cold because of the broken windows says the old rags lying in
the sink. I was clean says the dirty
concrete. I was alive says the
dusty dead flowers sitting in thewindow. Why should we care
they are never coming back says the door.

- De’Andrea

The house

There was thousands of people on me says the lonely lawn,
we are nothing, we are stupid trash said the angry porch. I am so sad if I had arms I would burn myself up said the frustrated house.
- Gage

There was a big greenhouse? it was big but not at all
but if you go in there the
witch would take your bones and cook them and eat them. She haves a green face that looks so ugly that she look at a window it would break. The kids mother go to jail but that the end of my story.
- Eric

There was the house there but the walls said to me when I walk in they said how are you doing and the floor said to me I love you. The dark said to me want to see your mom when we went to see my dad
my dad said to me.

- Latavia

Love poems

2009-11-17T06:34:00.001-08:00

After reading "Love Poem" by Robert Bly, the kids wrote these poems. Oh, but the look on some of the boys' faces when I told them they were going to write a love poem today! Classic.

Love Poem
When we are in love, you lovebugs, scorpions, and othercrimly and crawling things or even a person who you know but when they look at you they just turn but you think of things like ants, ladybugs, and even homework that’s how love attacks and even a burned down rusty abandoned house or how most kids love Barney, Dora that’s how love feels and seems in most fairy tales or
most dreams, even imagination.
- Jessica McCloud

When we are in love we just fall upon the grass. When we are in love we just walk in heaven. When we are in love it just don’t feel so right. When we are in love we always take a bow. When we are in love we just fly over the trees. When we are in love we play together. When we are in love we break a part.
- Teretha

When we are in love, we love trees, wind blowing dogs barking rain dropping fish jumping sharks swimming
- William

Love Poem
When we are in love the fire calling and waves splashing and wood go booooom in the fire and the trees crack.
- Colby

When we are in love I think of wind in my eyes, and the dogs barking in my ears.
- Brianna C.

Love Poem
When we are in love, we love the trees,we love the roads that are abandonedall night, we love the old windows of theold rusty house.
- Zachary

A late spring day in my life the sunlight it is flyingin the sky and it is and is going to coast like a bird.
- Colby J.

When we are in love, we love someone very much, we can’t let go of the person, when we are in love we love everyone we know.
- Brianna M.

When we are in love, we love dirty playgrounds, we love the dead plants just lying in thegarden, we love the green grass,we love the light poles, we love the barns, we love the heat and we love the small animals.
- Alivona

When we are in love we see the cops pulling us over and the gum on the floor and the polluted river and your watchb reaks and you daydream like William and you trip and the ugly cat.
John Michael

When we are in love we love the brick walls of our school and the polluted driver bank abandoned at night and we love the dirty sidewalks.
David Ponce

2009-11-01T16:44:00.000-08:00

We're a little behind here (as in two batches of poems from the OUR Center and the Teen Center. So, lots to come.

This first poem is from "Tim Tim." He wrote it last year in another class, and I just discovered it in his notebook:

When I Look in the Sky

at night I thinkof my uncle who died
when he was looking in the sky and got shot. When I look in the sky I think of all the soldiers that died. When I look in the sky I think of my parents and my whole generations. When I look in the sky, I think of my true love.When I look in the sky at night I think of all my dogs
that died.

- Sincerely

Timothy F.

The following poems are a continuation of our poems based on Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself."

Hasting teen center
Marlon walking across
the room looking lost
Harika making dumb sounds
Ms. Brooks eat her lunch
Breanna is eat candy
Zack playing pool and
he think he’s good.
-Willie

Hastings

The teen center is as loud as it could be

everybody is shouting
and running and Mrs. Singleton
stops and yells
Everybody stops
Bryanna sleeps withher mouth open and feet on the couch
as if she was home
Willie plays thePS2 and get mad
when he is losing and
Mrs. Brooks is watching
Jeeper-Creepers talking bout O no she
didn’t
O yes she did.

- Charles

Flagler Estates

My home town is Flagler Estates,
I live in the section named…
Guzeman Avenue, Sometimes I
see this woman and her 4 year old
son walking from one street to the
other, there is this one man walking
his German Shepherd every day, and
there is this one man who jogs every day
for fifteen minutes until he gets
5 streets down the road, and stops and
drink some water until he starts
sweating out of his forehead,
like the Gatorade commercials
with the people sweating blue
and red Gatorade

- Maleek

F. Estate my House

Mom – sitting in her room doing hair
Oldest sister – yelling at younger sister
Youngest sister – yelling back at oldest
Dad – come home from work yells at sisters
Brother – cleaning up our room
Me – play the game laugh and tease at youngers, on and on and on allnight long.
Dogs bark all day dog drama
Computer on all night
TV on for two hours straight
See Halloweens decorations
Room looks a mess.
Lights on all night long

- Timothy

Hastings

The houses look like they are haunted.
The kids look like they are statues.
The adults are running like it is a race.
The roads look like they are dark and dusk.
The vehicles are going very slow like they don’t know everybody.
The other people on the streets are lying on the ground.
The city feel like it is a bright sun just coming up.
The ditches are so deep thatthey look like they never end.
The grass is like it is too short.

- Zack

Flagler Estates

Dirty, muddy, kids
I don’t like
Boring, Dead, Depressing
Me, my cousins at my
house on the weekend
playing football, playing games,sitting down talking

- Marlon

I see CJ walking down mainstreet eating
Willie sit in his chair at Rec.
Bryanna sleeps with her head down on the couch.
Stephan is looking at
Bryanna write sentences.
Mrs. Singleton is sitting at her
desk eating chips.
Marlon is sitting down playing the game.
Harkia is sitting with
her back to mine.
The office is a gaping door of silence.
The library is a fun safe place for kids
CJ and Bryanna hold hands on the couch.

- Willie

There are sleeping mummies draping around.
While there are raining rats and bats.
There’s rotten potatoes floating around.
While there’s swimming cats and cows.

- Stefan

2009-09-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Marianne Moore's poem, "The Fish"

The
fish galloping peaceful.
ducking & tucking,
in the deep
and
shallow, avoiding
and causing
trouble.
Looking
for food &
shelter.
- Stefan

The eagle
Soaring
through the air
like a heron trying to
find fish, like

a
big and fat tuna
fish swimming in the
water which is blue,
like
the sky but the
eagle gets confused
so he thinks that
he
gets a fish but he
bites a satellite
but it zaps
him
for almost an hour
until he lets go
like he got cooked,
like
new as fried
chicken on
a Sunday
night.
dinner plates
with marble
and glass
that
you can clean
all night.
- Maleek

The Pit bull!

Standing
there with her broad
shoulder waiting to take
charge to get her food
like
a furious bull at a
rodeo.
- Charles

The snake

Slither
cruising on the ground
enormous big veins
patterns on the back
Bites
lovely kids on couple’s
television thing being evil
killing kids it’s
Brutal
lives in holes and
slither through the
night and water
guess who
snack

- Tim

The Moon

Sleepy
never up in the middle
of the day only at night
very shiny at night
a sleepy head sometime
but give u light at night
- Bryanna

Our grandparents

2009-09-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

I asked the students to imagine their grandparents or parents as children. What did they do? What did they dream of? What kind of children were they?

Picking taters
I remember those day when
my grandad had made us work
in his field we were picking
tater, and cabbages it was
hot I think it was during
the summer.
I think he made us
do it because had to
do it so I didn’t say
no mumbojumbo
- Joshua

My Grandmammy!
When Betty was little she probably
talked on the phone all times of
night.
She didn’t have a boyfriend
because they always use to
fight.
She probably had a bad attitude.
and to the teachers she would
be rude.
She probably didn’t participate
in p.e.
trying to be fast
and got a “F” in class!
She probably gave her
parents a hard time.
that’s why it’s so hard
to make this rhyme.
- Deraje

Kid dad
My Dad as a kid:
He was a skinny little boy
He looked like a basketball player
He helped work on any automobile with his
dad
He didn’t’ play pool a lot
Now he is 41 years old
- Zack

G-ma world
When my Grandma
was a child she was
the most silliest girl,
she loved to have fun
and jump rope they say
she knew every jump
rope song. She really
wasn’t all into the boys
she got her education
before she worried about
boys. She had a lot of brothers
& sisters. They use to fight
each other all the time, and
then be back talking in
5 mins. At the moment
my grandma she’s a little
cranky but can still be
silly at times I love my grandma
- Harkia

to my Grandma
When my Grandma was little she wanted to work for old people.
and she kept on calling her mom so she can do it right
so when she was 15 she bought a car and drove to
work. and when she got to work she jumped out of her
car she had a big smile. and when she walked in everybody
said hello. But she was kind of scared to walk in the eating
room buy everybody stared at her but she stared back. So they
took her to the first room 1909 but the old lady was
sleeping with her covers over her head. So she
tapped on her about like 5 times but she didn’t wake
up so she went home and fell asleep.
- Shayla

My Grandmom as a girl
This all started at St.
Augustine where my grandmom
live when she was a little girl.
I image her in a nice yellow
dress with flowers and skipping
down the street with her
friends playing hopscotch,
double dunking, or maybe
playing ball, then I can
image her mom calling
her for dinner and running
because it smells so good.
after that image her eating
fried chicken with the mash potatoes
and gravy with a small side
of mac-n-cheese with a nice
glass of milk then when the
day is gone I image her changing
in her white night gown
in her own room sound
asleep dreaming to be a singer.
- Jessica

My granddaddy lived in South Carolina
and met my grandmother in Jacksonville
at a party. Now today he lives
in St. Augustine on the west side with
half of my family around there.
- Marlon

My cousin was once a
little boy who struggle
with school when he was
a little boy but now he
is in college with ab honor
roll on ever report card.
He made to college by
stop hanging around
the wrong crowd and
he didn’t want to go
anywhere unless his
work was done his
friends thought down on
him but he come out
an winner.
- Charles

When my grandfather was little he
was a construction worker he plumbed he
said that he had to plumb because
his mom and dad told him to I think
that it was hard work because
what do you think do you think
it would be hard if you had to
do that well I think it would be
hard. I think my Grandfather
was a good man. He just was.
- Zachary

When my Great Grandpa was
little he always wanted to
join the army he
liked to play with his toy
trains. He always does his
homework.
- Ryan

When my grandmom was little
she love to make potatoes.
She love to eat potatoes.
she love to cut them up
and boil the. When she went
to school she love to make
friends. One day she went
to school and the friends she
made were not her friend
anymore. So she was very
sad so se was crying. So
they picked on her. So
she ran home and ran to
her room. So when she grew up
she work at the Greater she
love to work there. She had
people work with her. They
helped my grandma cut up the
potatoes so she paid them
20 dollars every week. They
put the potatoes in a big
white bag that had a horse
on it the horse was brown.
- Kayla

When my grandma was a little girl
she was sweet and nice to everyone
she knew and she always said she
wanted to work at a barbershop
she always dreamed of being a
professional hair person she said to
her mom can you teach me how to
do hair. I would love to learn how.
- Brianna

My grandma was once a gal
When my grandma was
young she said that she used
to fight little boys at school
and on the road, my grandma
is funny all my aunties my
grandma sisters are very nice at
some points but they are all
loud at any time of the day
my family is on a rollercoaster
ride that won’t stop
- Bryanna

My grandma was a hair dresser
she was always doing a perfect
job at doing someone’s hair
when I was little she
braided my hair and made
me look perfect and dressed
up, like I said that’s my
grandma and she was
doing people’s hair perfect.
- Deashon

My Dad
I imagine my dad playing
Monopoly twenty four seven and
going to KFC getting and
stealing coleslaw when he
was about my age I also
imagine him staying up late
partying and playing games
and his mom getting on to
him and him waking up on
Saturday going to the bus
stop wondering where the
bus is I imagine
- Logan

My Grandpa
I imagine my grandpa sitting on a
horse wearing black jeans and a long-sleeve
shirt and boots
I imagine my grandpa climbing lots
of trees
I imagine my grandpa at school
with all his friends playing on
the playground.
I imagine my grandpa hunting and
exploring new things.
- Amber

My Grandma
I imagine my grandma in a
beautiful red dress with flowers
in her hair playing with the
gentle cows in the flowery field.
- Amber

My granddaddy
When my granddaddy was 5 he was
a person who would always would
clean and mow his lawn and cut
trees for his dad and mother every
day at 3:00pm to 12:00am until his
mother told him to stop for a break, he
always said he had a 4 minute break
then he went back to business
for another 5 hours of the day
- Maleek

What are we doing?

2009-09-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

Writing poems, of course!

Follow us!

twitter.com/JuiceuptheTrue

We're Back

2009-09-15T05:15:00.000-07:00

For the third year!

Many thanks to Flagler College Creative Writing and English Major Sarah Wallace who will be busy assisting me this year on the blog. So many poems!

Great things to happen. We started with some quiet poems based on D.H. Lawrence's "White Horse."

All the animals
I think the quiet thing is
you and me and a frog
and a horse and white rose

- July, 2nd

Quiet is like a meadow floating around your
head. Quiet is like a storm around your
room. Quiet is shhh stop talking. Quiet is
nature. Quiet is a garden. Quiet is a word.
Quiet is quiet.

- Teretha, 5th

Wow all I can hear is the leaves dropping to the ground
and the squirrels chewing on their nuts and a rhythm
going through my body.

- Ashlynn, 2nd

I can hear my mom slicing her ham and the
fan and the wind going through my hair and my sister
quietly trying to sing.

- Ashlynn, 2nd

A very quiet moment is when I look in
my dad’s eyes oops…I’m in trouble why
did you tell on me.

- Ashlynn, 2nd

And, a few poems that were accidentally forgotten from June:

a poem is peaceful and it has a
lot of expressing. A poem a story that
is some sad but some are glad.
a poem is peaceful like when the
sun sets.

- Ryan B. 2nd

A Poem Works
A poem is strong it is fit it
works out every day and night
and it never sleeps it is restless
it will work work to the
end of the universe!

- Nathan, 4th

I am the beach waves crashing
& winding back up again, I am
the blue sky playing with my puppet
clouds. I am the white water sparkling
like the sun. I am the air that
smells like grass. I am the stars in the
sky that twinkle & point to the moon. I am
the wind that whooshes in the night.
I am the bright morning star that
twinkles every morning. I am not a
tree in the swamp. I am not the
lightening that flashes through the sky.
I want to be the horse I see
running. I want to be the
fish swooshing through the water.
I want to be the salty air of the
ocean.

- Jacob S, 2nd

Congratulations, South Woods Elementary School!

2009-06-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

With the exception of my middle schoolers (Gamble Rogers Middle), most of the poems you've read on this blog are from children who attend South Woods Elementary School in Hastings. It was just announced that the school raised its grade from a "C" in 2006, a "B" in 2008....to an "A" this year!

Great work staff, instructors and of course, students. We're proud of you.

Read about it here.

Window Shopping for Poems

2009-06-14T12:13:00.000-07:00

Take a walk in the St. Augustine humidity and sunshine down to San Marco Avenue and do a little window shopping this week. Not only can you purchase Juice up the True Say at the St. Johns Cultural Council's Art Advocate, you can read poems from our next volume: Juiced II, Where We're From, (which I'm at work on right now). The poems are arranged all along the windows, so stop in for a sneak peek!

2009-06-09T11:30:00.000-07:00

J-villia (The Monster)

J-ville is a teenage boy
that lives everywhere
he never stays home
sometimes he is nice
but most of the time
he is a back stabber
he is not a heavy sleeper.
You say one thing about him he
will shoot you.

Bryanna, 6th

Palatka is like my grandmom
who never go anywhere like
setting down eating watching TV
Sometimes it be like KeKe like having
fun.

Keyona, 6th

Flagler Estates

Only one town is in the middle of nowhere

He's a wonderful man, very caring and rejoyceful person

He cares and helps everyone he can
He feeds his guests
He has kindness for playing pool
And he is so nice you could
write more than one poem
about him

He lives in a nice house

He had one dog and it
keeps him company

Zack, 6th

Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay is a thug place when you
walk the streets of Tampa you already
know what's it's all about
What I want to see change is all
the little boys get out the chain gang and
stay in school. All these little girls
stop selling their bodies, these single
mothers keep believing and these
men stop thugging.

Kenisa, 6th

2009-05-22T04:27:00.000-07:00

This year, Jontae has missed our Teen Center classes due to timing conflicts. However, his wonderful teachers at South Woods Elementary, pass the assignments on to him and he is still able to participate.

Hastings

Hastings is a teenage boy
on the corner. Not 12 no more
Playing with a toy too deep in
the game to back out now. Not
on the football field with a
crowd to cheer him on. Not no
mom or dad to give him a
hug. He on the corner with
the killers and thugs not thinking
mind on one thang that is to
get money or stay out the
chain gang. He hip he cool
he not in school he Hastings
with his own rules.

Jontae, 5th

2009-05-18T10:04:00.000-07:00

I asked the students to write about someone they saw often, but might be afraid of, or intimidated by. Get inside that person's head, I told them. Write about what he or she thinks and regrets and longs for and hopes.

I hear people talking about me saying
other people look at me. I'm just
minding my own business riding my bike
What did I do to them to make them
call me field rat? I'm just a nice old
lady. I wanted to be treated like they wanted
to be treated. I know everybody is different
and we don't look a like but I want to be treated
how they get treated.

Ranesha, 5th

I walk around Hastings always drinking
at Tang's. I fell asleep at the barber shop
and got a mohawk.
I'm always being talked
about because of some
of my bad habits,
but it's addicting I just can't stop.
People talk and talk about
me behind my back saying
I'm a bad influence. I just
want someone to love and
cherish who would be my
friend forever till the
end of days. It's hard that's
all I can say.

Erica, 5th

Geography

2009-05-02T11:44:00.001-07:00

Hastings is a boy. He always yell
but the best thing he like to do is
sing. He's always wearing tights and
a T-shirt. He also always be riding a
bike. He is the tallest in the class.
I think he should play basketball
because he's tall but the mst
thing he likes to do best is sing.

Teretha, 4th

Hastings is a dog, a light brown baby
puppy that don't like being mean.

Da' Miah, 4th

Elkton is a girl with overalls
and a red shirt and her favorite color is blue.
Her favorite game is checkers and her favorite
sport is horse riding. She doesn't like TV
and she plays outside with all of her
friends. She loves slimy bugs and nice
quiet stories. She has a dog named Alexis.
Her favorite food is cream corn and she
likes chocolate milk. At school her favorite
subject is math and her bedtime
is 9:30 pm and she loves her horse,
Sunshine.

Haillie, 4th

Flagler Estates is a muddy
boy on a four-wheeler mud bogging
in the deepest mud hole he
can find. He will meet up
with all his buddies and
they wll show each other
to different mud holes.
At night him and his
buddies will go home and
put their four-wheelers up
and take a shower and
then get into bed to
dream the best dreams
he can dream.

David, 4th

Flagler Estates

A middle age brunet stands
in the middle of nowhere.

She's a sweet lady, very kind
and resourceful.

She helps everyone she can
She has mudholes for rednecks
She has nice soil for gardening
And she is so pretty you could
write a million poems about her

She has lots of friends but
lives all alone

She has lots of animals, they
keep her company.

Whitley, 8th

Let these poets sing, let freedom ring

2009-05-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

I'm especially proud of the student's work in this post and the post to follow. I see their amazing improvement as my year with them comes to an end. Proof that writing on a regular basis, keeping the poetic foot in the door, makes a difference. We read Jane Kenyon's "Let evening come," and listened to the repetition of this poem about night falling at her home.

Shine

Let the earth shine
Let spring come
Let evening come
Let my shoes clap
Let Miss Barb shout
Let the earth adore you.

Teretha, 4th

Let the

Let the owl come. Let the black cat
come and eat leftover chicken. Let Mrs Shaby
come out and associate with her friends.
Let freedom rang. Let birds come out
and sing. Let Ashlynn and Tyson play trampaline.
Let the sun go down so we can get
ready to go to bed.

Ranesha, 5th

Let Evening Come

Let the sky get sparkling stars
Let the horses go to sleep. Let horses
that are white become dark. Let the
houses shut down their light and
electricity. Let the sun go down and
moon go up. Let evening come
alive.

Amber, 3rd

Let Horses Come Cantering Home

Canter home down across the
valleys. Canter home bay, black,
chestnut and white come on home.

Amber, 3rd

Let Jesus Come

Jesus was not sitting next
to me this morning. Why didn't
he come? Why oh who didn't
he come. I could not feel he
stringy hair in the air. Was he
mad or sad? I wonder
what.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Darkness and Light

2009-04-24T06:50:00.000-07:00

Great new poems this week. In our Teen Center class, I'd like to welcome Keyona and Tyre. We hope they join us again!

Light Ghosts Roaming in the Dark Night

Dark is a very rich black color. Ghosts are
a light white color that rome through
the streets in the dark alleys in New York. New York's
very bright lights scare the
roming ghosts into a grave that's pitch
black so now they're sealed just like an
envelope that's getting ready to get sent off.
Ghost hate bright lights. They just
like the pitch dark. New York is very
bright, it's very light. It's just like a
knight ready to fight. New York stays
light and bright at nite so you can
scare away the light ghosts who
are ready to scare at night.

Tyre

My Soul Court

Light is so many things like my soul,
Dark is so many things like a basketball court,
Light is so many things like my heart,
Dark is so many things like my room,
Light is so many things like a video game,
Dark is so many things like a pool table,
Light is so many things like my house,
Dark is so many things like my family,
Light is so many things like my personality,
Dark is so many things like a radio,
Light is so many things like a self,
Dark is so many things like shooting darts.

Zack

St. Augustine is light
Hastings is dark
Florida is light
New York is dark
Football is light
Every other sport is dark
Games are light
Work is dark
Number 8 is light
Number 9 is dark
Letter M is light
Letter O is dark
A smiley face is light
A sad face is dark

Marlon, 7th

Dark! Light!

New York! is light. Mississippi is dark!
A snow storn is light. It's so
bright with white. Thunderstorms
is dark and mysterious dark as a black
room with no white in it. You
can't see sun. It is light bright hot!
Dark TV screen. Like a dark
midnight sky with no stars. With closed.

Brandon, 7th

Light is all right
Dark is very good

Light is my mother when
my mother make me clean
my room

Dark is my dad
when my dad
give me what I want,
money and clothes

Sometimes I'm light
Sometimes I'm dark
When I'm dark I have fun
When I'm light I be boring

Keyona

Darkness

Darkness is creepy through
and through. Sometime it help
me to see the things that I've
been through. Like when I was
a child darkness scared me
a lot because of darkness I
couldn't sleep a lot. My brother's
room was near mine which made
me a little safe but when he
went away for a while I couldn't
see his face. So as I got older
I had to realize the opposite
of darkness is light from God which
I have now found.

Ms Singleton

Darkness and light

2009-04-23T04:49:00.000-07:00

The owl in the yard

In the darkness,
an owl sees
to hunt. An armadillo
goes out to dig for worms.

Ryan, 2nd

Black is a mad gesture of
dark and light mixed together.
I think of it this way -- it's light and dark
getting in a fight but really no one knows who
and they will never find out. It's a mystery
we'd all be amazed if
it really did happen.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Shooting is a dark mysterious
and very scratchy like a
light flickering on and
off.

Ashlynn, 2nd

My Soul

2009-04-21T04:03:00.000-07:00

My soul is something that nobody
Can take away from me. I think
My soul shows who I am. It
Is something that will stay
with me at all times. I don't
know what I woudl do without
my soul. My soul is as blue
as the sky pitch blue. It is
the only thing that shows my
idenity. It looks like an ocean
as bigas space. It is as
smooth and soft as my dog's
fur. My soul will explode if
I get bother by an annoying song
or something. It is very
innocent.

Logan, 5th

My Soul

My soul is different

My soul is colorful

It is sometimes like a rainbow
when I have mixed emotions

Or as red as a hot chili
pepper or like the raging inferno

It is sometimes as the still ocean
when I am sad

But when I' upbeat and
happy my soul is millions
of things. It smells like fried chicken.
It feels like velvet or silk,
it tastes like crabs in garlic sauce
and butter. It looks the color
of the hot sun. Or like
fire. Just like fire crackers.
That's my soul.

Erica, 4th

My Soul

My soul is like my basketball career
My soul is like my attitude some
times good, some times bad.
My soul is like a comedy show
My soul is like my family, like a
quiet beach.
My soul is like a guitar at a rockstar
concert.
My soul is like a helmet in a
football game it takes the pain and
throws it out the game.

Joshua, 5th

My Soul

In my soul, I want to be a football player. In my
soul I want my dreams to come true. In
every boy's soul there's future that might come true
too.

Marquelle, 3rd

My Soul

My soul is clear like magnifying glass.
My soul is like a star shining up the whole
sky.

Marquelle, 3rd

My Soul

In my soul, I have my own imagination.
In my soul, I can have fun without
anybody knowing about it. In Miss
Kim's soul she feels like an old lady in a
wheelchair. In my soul, it fills like it's going
to burst.

Imani, 3rd

My brother's soul is hard like the ground
we walk on
My brother's soul is kind of scaly like
a dragon's skin
My brother's soul is sometimes silly
My brother's soul is sometimes
gentle.
My brother's soul is sometimes
rough like very very hard sandpaper.
My brother's soul is sometimes nice
My brother's soul is sometimes
funny.
My brother's soul is sometimes
rought around the edges but
somewhere deep down is a
sweet spot of a sugar cone.

De'andrea

Dreams

2009-04-21T04:00:00.000-07:00

Mother and Dad getting along. I have more friends
than usual. Me walking up to a black pale sky.
Seeing a pale black lady staring up above
talking to god. How can that be? Me being
good for one time a day.

Ashlynn, 2nd

I dream of my papa in
heaven and having chocolate.
He would be eating it and eating it
and when it's gone another load
is coming. He would be playing
with Max and Bo in heaven.
He would have a lot of
fun. I would dream of
me in heaven, too.

Dream Cloud

Black white chestnut
colors of the wild horses running the
eagles, flying with the wind, racing
down the field and back. They're
tired now they stop to rest. They
get back up and graze a while
then it is quiet as can be. They let their
food settle and they're up again racing
down the field and back,
the little foals nipping each other settling
down again and peacefully go to sleep.

Amber, 3rd

Pictures from the Reading

2009-04-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

Far left, Zack signs a book for Deltra Long. Near left, Bryanna reads her poem, "Red."

Did you hear that?

2009-04-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

We are still just happy as we could be about the arrival of Juice up the True Say. Meanwhile, there's poetry to write. Yesterday, in between signing books, the Teen Center REC poets wrote these poems about silence:

Silence is a stray dog
Silence is a class with sleepy ghost kids
and a teacher wondering how much sleep did they get
Silence is a green way of a grownup waiting for kids
to say sorry to each other
Silence is two ants fighting one another
Silence is a word of prayer
Silence is when you think someone is there.
Jameka, 6th

Silence
Silence is a white cloud
Silence is myself
Silence is what i want
Silence is an empty place
Loudness is all around the world
Loudness is a place full of people
Marlon, 7th

Silence is
I don't know the true
definition of silence
but I think the definition
in my heart sounds and
looks like the birds whistling
church bells ringing. It looks like
a church bible. It smells like hot
cocoa. It feels like a baby.
Bryanna, 6th

Silence
Green and black are loud colors
Pink and Red are silent colors
Green and black are like music in your head
Pink and red are when you are sleeping
Green and black is like dancing
Pink and red is when you are thinking
Green and black are banging on drums
Pink and red is like reading a book
Zackary, 5th

And from the younger REC and OUR Center students:

Silence is
A light pink
A no-leaf tree
light blue sky
White
black
gray
dark room
gray dark pencil
attic
X's
broccoli
black and brown rotten teeth
dark blue
red
clear
a black cat with green eyes
a flying butterfly
sunflower
ghost

Da'Miah, 4th

When I'm at the beach in the cold
blue water it feels like I'm day
dreaming and never hear others
When I'm in my classroom, my
teacher puts the soft sweet songs on
It feels like I'm in the rain forest.
Marquelle, 4th

Pretty is not quiet but ugly is
Pretty is like a dream that you
want to let out of the box
ugly is peaceful and quiet. Silence
is all I need to have white
gray and black they're all so peaceful
and quiet.
Ashlynn, 2nd

My mouth is loud. My feet is noise. My
nose is silence. The classroom is silence.
Lauren is silence since she got two checks
by her name and Teretha is laughing silence.
I am sitting silence. The clock is noise.
A dog is loud a mouse is silence.
My hair is silence. A pen is noise
when you write with it. A person is
loud. TV is loud. Janekia is noise.
Ms Kim loud. Mrs Brown loud. I am
sometimes loud and noise. Alivona is silence.

Ranesha, 5th

2009-03-25T16:45:00.000-07:00

The book is here!

Last night we celebrated with a reading and signing at the Hastings Public Library. This library, by the way, began in the early 1970s in the concession stand of the old high school football stadium. It is now located in the renovated former Hastings High School which also houses an assortment of county offices.

We had a full crowd of parents and friends and students listening to amazing poems by the kids who have become accomplished poets. Standing room only. Thanks so much to librarians Harold and Michelle for being wonderful hosts.

You can purchase Juice up the True Say, Volume I, directly from the publisher here. All proceeds go toward publishing Volume II. If you're local, books are available at Johnny's Kitchen on Main Street, Hastings -- you may want to come for breakfast -- doesn't a plate of Johnny's biscuits and sausage and grits sound good? Or stay for lunch -- fried chicken anyone?

Psst....We're going to be spending more time at the library. Beginning in April, we'll meet for a monthly poetry readings. More information on that later.

Kids! I'm so proud of all of you.

Where We're From

2009-03-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

I realized there were a few of my new students who haven't taken a shot at this popular poem that has a fun beat to it. So we revisited this assignment again last week.

Where I'm From

Kids playing, baking sun
Some people smoking in a chair
Camp people coming from picking
cabbages in the hot sun. Some
people with nowhere to go
Fights happen at the crack
of dawn. This is Armstrong.

Christopher, 4th

Where I'm From

Where I'm from. A place of peace where
everybody can get good night sleeps.
Where I'm from in a smart town where
Everybody lives and wanders around. Where I'm from
in a small town where everything comes
around and goes around.

Marquelle, 4th

Where I'm From

Where I'm from the sun
is always bright. Where I'm from people
are always fighting. Where I'm from
people are on the streets. Where I'm
from people are killing other people. I'm
from the west side of Orlando that is not
a place you want to be. Where I'm from people
are crazy and always dranking. Where I'm
from people keep hating. Where I'm
from a killer lives next door to me.
Where I'm from you have to watch out
for bulldogs. Where I'm from people are
fighting their dogs. Where I'm from people
don't help each other.

Imani, 3rd

Emotions

2009-03-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

What is love most like? What is boredom, sadness, hate? The kids worked hard to compare their feelings to something concrete or metaphysical.

Tyson, I don't like frowns

The frown on your face makes
me cry. I wonder why you have a
frown as pretty as you are you're
not so much today. Your blond hair
is usually shiney and soft. Today,
ruff and crusted. I wonder why.
I really do.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Love

Love is like you are a germ that
conects when they get married

Love is like rain that makes
a big globe of rain

Love is like a universe connecting
into one

Love is like a war into
freedom

Love is like you are a
rabbit's ear tangled together
forever

Zachary H., 3rd

Boredom

Boredom is like a bed that does not do anything
It is like a stick laying on the ground
in the middle of nothing It is like a pencil but
no paper or scissors. Boredom is like a
deck of cards and only one person. It is
like a computer that does not work
It is like a puddle of water in the middle of the
desert. It is like a white board but no marker.

Hailey W., 3rd

Haunted House

I feel something is creeping
upon me and is taking
my arm. Whatever it is
it is scaring me to
death. And I want to
move somewhere else
but it is too strong.

Bri, 3rd

Jontae is back

2009-03-04T03:56:00.000-08:00

Two new poems from our fifth grader, Jontae.

A day on 8th Street

Some kids play
Some beat or rap
Some sit under a tree and nap

Where boyfriends and girlfriends meet
Where they come to talk or eat

At night cars roll by some throw rocks
Some go up to the store and stick candy in their socks.

Afternoons they lick on lollypops
Some still on run from the cops.

Some kids fight some kids hit you with baseball
bats as you ride on your bike.

Some kids rob
Some fight over corn on a cob.

Now you see how we live on 8th Street
So when you come to town you best bet is to leave.

Jontae

Where I'm From

Where I'm from the night is cool
Where I'm from there is no light in the street pole
Where I'm from the day seems dark
Where I'm from kids are smart
Where I'm from you do not want to know
Where I'm from people can not afford clothes
Where I'm from people have no food
Where I'm from people just lose their cool

Know I just told yo

Jontae

Oh, how wonderful you are.....

2009-02-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

We read John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and wrote odes on our favorite objects, people, places.

Oh beauty to my star. That
guides us to a beautiful night.
Oh, pumping blood. That sings to
the heart. Oh lovely moon to a
pretty sun that shines like a star.
Curious, but lonely. Oh how can
that be?

Ashlynn, 2nd

Ode on my twin kittens

How loud you purr
how black you are
how alike you are
How wonderful you run up to me and
Purr
How is your hair so black and shiny?

Amber, 3rd

Four-wheeler

Red cat how fast you are
Red cat how do you like to be treated?
Red cat how do you think how fun it is
when we go camping
Red cat do you like your tires?
Red cat how do you like your motor?
Red cat do you have a panther friend?
Red cat how do you like your body style?

Morgan, 2nd

My dog is special to me
My dog's a dog. How did you get so big?
My dog is furry. She likes to jump when I have a treat.
When I get home I like her. She is funny.
She is black and on her neck is a white line.

Bryanna C.

What is in the sky?

2009-02-21T05:53:00.001-08:00

The sky

When I look at the sky I think
of a blue star that's wrinkled
up and that's falling out of
the sky like the sky is
falling down on the whole
entire planet and landing
right down to the ground.

Tyrese, 2nd

When I look into the sky I
see blue cars racing in the
Daytona 300 on a Saturday morning
And I'm in the first row of people.
And that's what I see in the sky.

Maleek, 4th

Day and Night

When I look at the sky, I see
clouds dancing, wind blowing, the sun shining,
planes flying above me and knowing
that the creator of us all is looking
down on me

In the pitch black night I see
the moon light shining, your thoughts
are going out of your mind, the stars
jumping. This is what i see in
the night sky.

Christopher, 4th

When I look up at the
sky I be thinking I'm
going to die. And when
I look up at the sky I be
thinking my family's going to
die too and that's sad.

Kenny, 3rd

The clouds

When I look at the sky
I think of god and the clouds
I think of birds and rain.
And I also think of smoke
in the air.

Daniel

When I look into the sky I see a bright
light that looks like a god. When I look
into the sky I see big fluffy pillows that
are clouds. When I don't look in the sky
I don't see nothing, that is it. When I look
into the sky I see the moon going around
the world.

Imani, 3rd

When I look into the sky I think of
shapes of animals, the bears, when I look
in the sky I think of stars forming together.
When I look into the sky I think of plants
and the moon. When I look into the sky
I think of galaxies. When I look
into the sky I think of people.
And when I look into the sky
I think of
me.

Michael, 4th

When I look at
the sky I think
of the stars on the
moon.
When I look at
the sky I get sleepy.
When I look at the
sky I think of
animals in the woods.
When I look at the
sky I get weak
in every muscle.

Cameron, 4th

When I look in the
sky I think about
my grandma. My friends.
And my bike. And my grandfather.

Eric, 2nd

Day and Night

When I look in the sky
I see a big juicy cloud filled
with water ready to blow. When I look
up in the sky I see the sun
from over 100,000 miles away.

When I look up in the dark
sky it looks like the moon
is an eye. When I look up in
the sky I see eagles flying
down to catch its pray.

When I look up in the sky
I think about daay and night
combined.

Zachary, 3rd

I see deers
I see frogs
I see fish
I see hippos
I see animals
I see them swimming
I see a deer drinking
I see a fish, a hippo and they are friends.

Jacob, 2nd

Where the loneliness goes

2009-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

In my second and third grade class, we have a new ritual. As everyone gets settled in their seats, Zachary reads poems from one of the many poetry collections he has checked out from the library. While I am handing out notebooks and pencils, he reads Shel Silverstein and somehow the class comes to attention and gets off to a great start. I'm especially proud of these guys this week. We end each class by reading our work of the day, and the students have begun to notice lines in each other's poems that they like. Ashlynn loved Bri's line about the wind whispering.
[Whitley, a seventh grader at Gamble Rogers Middle School is helping out in this class, and is writing along with us].

Rose petals falling off. It's
frustrating me. Cause it
makes me sing. Cause it gives me a beat. Like
heaven. The neighbors tell me
to shut up.

Ashlynn, 2nd

When I sing

When I sing I hear beautiful sounds
When I sing I hear whispers when
I sing the wind whispers my
name and starts to sing along
with me when I sing I make
people smile and I make
them happy.

Brianna M., 3rd

Homma went to the hospital.
I was really sad. It felt like
my guardian angel was not next to my side.
No one to get money from
No one to say goodnight to.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Sadness

I felt sad when my papa
died but I tore it up and
said stay away he's in my
heart. I always have my papa
in my heart because he
lost a leg in a car accident
and took my chocolate away
and hid and ate it and always
called me pain in the butt.

Zachary, 3rd

When I sing. And what happens when I sing

My favorite thing is singing. It opens
my heartand the sun will shine
on a rainy day. The wind will
blow the trees will blow from side
to side. And when nobody is around
I will bring them back home and
make them smile. The rain will
go away and the sun will shine
and my heart will open the birds
will whistle. The flowers will grow.
I can make people here again.

Brianna M, 3rd

Anger is always creep up on me
It's no ordinary thing, anger.

It can hurt you or make you hurt
someone else.
Anger can make you a different person

While there is anger in you there is
no happiness or love

I once heard a saying that you need
love and happines to grow
But if you have anger, you're
going to be a short and angry person.

Whitley, 7th

2009-02-09T11:26:00.001-08:00

The children wrote poems based on photographs of elderly men and women.

Hey Hey that's my dad's friend

Hey Hey that's my dad's
friend. They were friends since I
was born. When they were 17 or
16 they used to at night
look at the stars and
imagine that it was something.

Alleria, 2nd

Old Man

Why does this old man look so sad
and glum. Maybe he lives alone but
you never realy know how he lives his life.
You know that it has to be some sort of
reason why but we just need to konw
Why he feels the way that he does, but
we think that we are just going to have
to find out by asking him why he is
very very unhappy about his life. I think
that he will come around someday
when he wants to talk to someone special
that he loves will probably understand
him to make him speak.

Ebony, 5th

Man on a Tire

One day a man was sad with sorrow
He thought he would cry
He thought he had lost everything
But he still had a car. He was leaning on his tire
So he is just letting his life past.

Chris, 4th

This is me when I was 80. I was
starving and everybody hated me. I sit
in my house and wonder why everybody
is eating and driving cars.

Daniel, 4th

If I was this old man, I would pray to
god every night and morning.
I would wash my hair every night.
I would put on handsome clothes
when I'm going to work.
I would draw sale stuff and get money.
I would take care of myself.
I would watch my grandkids.
I would take good baths.
I would not scream at anybody or argue.
I would brush my teeth.
I would get new teeth.

Da' Miah, 4th

Hi my name is Jill. I am 59 years old. I like
to eat donuts and drink coffee. I like to lie
and watch TV and read the newspaper.
I think one day I would be in the newspaper.

Branden, 2nd

I imagine that I was a poor person that have
water coming down from the wall. And I see
bushes and tress and the birds chirping and
the sun shining down at me. I have plants and
pictures. And the blinds is opened up. And people
is playing outside playing with me

Bryann, 2nd

I See Plants

I see a lady
she is standing
in a garden.
She is looking
at all of the
plants. She
is wondering
what kind of
plants they
are. She
thinks they
are lemon
trees. And the
lemon trees are
making her
hungry.

Brianna M, 3rd

Skeleton Whisper

I whisper to my poor skeleton
I whisper to my skeleton, Protect
me so I am happy to whisper my
secrets to. I whisper, Quit so
no one hurts me.

Amber, 3rd

Stepping inside paintings

2009-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Poems based on paintings of Salvador Dali:

The Strange Mirrors

What do the signs say?
Why are there mirrors on it?
What kind of sign is that?
What do the mirrors have in it?
What is behind the mirrors?
Does it look like a shirt?
What does the other side look like?
Why is there a mask in the middle of the picture?
What is on the paper?
And what does it look like?

Destany, 2nd

The Beautiful Queens that Shine

The stripes are so beautiful they can shine bright like a star
And a moon the stars in the sky and the moon in the metal
and the stripes they can shine like a butterfly
and they can shine like a siney big heart
and a flower and make a big lovely stripes heart
And they all will be so big, a little girl will pop out of
it like a little pinhole and she will say that
she is so beautiful that she can do what she
wants but she really can't and she acts
like it. And it makes a flower and a spotted
heart and a butterfly. And it's like a blister
and a hot spot and they all shine like
a buttery polka-dotted and spotted heart.

Ken-dija, 2nd

I see this picture with
something familiar inside,
it looks like a giant tooth
with a cavity inside?
No it's a giant bird beak
with an eye! Wait, it's all
of those and some other
things oh oh I wonder what's
inside.

Summer, 4th

I see a man who is sleeping

I see a river flowing through a

chrystal reflection
I finally step through a
painting filled with secrets
I step through a painting
filled with holes and dreams

I feel like an empty
space I feel like I can

finally breath

Lauren, 5th

This picture reminds me of California
because California has mountains and
a big rock that is
brown. If somebody put me in a picture I
would want to come back home
to my family because I will be
scared and they wouldn't let me
out.

Alleria, 2nd

I like this picture because

it makes me feel good like this

painting because it makes me fee

better. This pictures feel like I

am in this.

Princess, 2nd

This picture reminds me of

a man that is covered by a bunch

of papers. The other pictures looks like

a tooth in the air. The giant tooth has

an enormous hole in the inside

of the tooth. THere are clouds in

the dark light sky. It looks like there

is a stone that is under the giant

tooth. It looks like the boy and

his father is watching the giant tooth.

Eryca, 4th

Stair World

This painting makes me lost

inside, it make me want

to stare at it for a long time

it has a lot of blue blue

blue blue blue blue

Bryanna, 6th

As I step inside this picture

A big giant tooth is above me. I

walk down this big picture

it make me want to give more

and more to share.

Amy T, 5th

This picture reminds me of shapes, all kinds of shapes

I see a mask. It looks like a triangle.

I see bunches of rhombus.

Makayla

This picture reminds me of thousands

of shuttered pieces of diamonds

falling out of the sky.

Precious, 5th

Getting Ekphrastic

2009-02-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

In my absence week before last, Mr. Mike introduced the poets to ekphrastic poems, bringing some funky sculptures and objects to class for the children to write poetic responses. As soon as I set up my new scanner, I'll post the pictures of the objects). When I returned, I brought prints of Salvador Dali paintings. Turns out that the children -- from second grade to fifth, truly enjoyed writing in response to art. They studied the paintings long and hard, and talk amonst themselves about what they saw. Imagine what's it like to be walking inside that painting, I said. Ask it questions, talk back to it. I reminded them of the poems we've written to music. Like the songs, what does this painting remind you of? Most of all, make the poem anything you like, is what I told them. I'll be posting the Dali poems later. From the sculptures:

Secrets

It is a savior of trust
It locks all of your secrets
up and does not tell
cause it can't talk

Ashlynn, 2nd

The sculptures are made by hand
They stand for the 6 pillars
One looks like glass
One looks like a zoo keeper
They look like the four gods

Zachary H. 2nd

God of Rome
Shiny canoe
Glass king
Blue buddha
Tiny cop
Wood.

Tyler, 4th

There is a head with a beard in a shiney boat on wood
with a glass body and a man with a book and
a blue buddha in front of it

White philospher in a silver boat
Blue buddha, fat dude eating a donut, and
a little chrystal traveler.

Trevor, 5th

The avocadoes failed, but they look
alright. The color looks like brown rubber.
I think number six looks like a turd.
The water looks yucky.

Zachary, 2nd

Once there was a half man
on a horse. The man did not have
any legs and arms and then he
said gitiup gitiup horse so
the horse went fast.

Alleria, 2nd

There is a brown horse white
legs white hoof by its self. It is
white and its tail and hair is white
and it has brown eyes.

It is a unicorn no wings yellow
pink green hair and it was all
white and shiny and it was smiling

There was a stapler it was all
gree and inside it was silver.

Da'miah, 4th

Once it was a half man on
a horse. The man only had
a head, hair, a face and a
neck.

Isis, 4th

Secrets of Nature

2009-01-27T09:44:00.000-08:00

Wonder how the sun comes up? Wonder how the sky becomes dark? Actually, there are some very tiny people responsible for those jobs.

I'm the Moon

I can tug the moon up with
my strong arms

I can make the stars that
you see in the night

I can make it warmer for
you

I can make it dark so
you can see the moon

Destany, 4

Tiny Person! and the Rainbow

I make rainbows come sometimes and when I go
away it goes away and when I come back it
laughs about what it just did and it is
too big for me and I'm too small for her
and sometimes the rainbow eat too much
and I'm so tiny I can't eat

Daneisha, 4

My job is to make
the sun come up and make it
go down. Here's how I do it.
I get a million of little people
and they push the sun up and
they roll it down. It is really
hard. We don't get a lot of sleep
but we get some sleep.

Mack, 4

The Little Man

There once was a little man
named Maleek and he could make it
rain and snow all the time. People
would ask him to make it rain because
it would be 100 degrees outside and he would
do it for their pleasure and kindness
forever and ever because he couldn't
die because he drank this potion that
made him small and have no death

Maleek, 5

More collaboration

2009-01-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

This one's from Deraje and Jameka. To spice things up, the poems were written from ten down to one.

I write abaout love, I write about trust and pain.
I write about people
and places and many
more stories. I write about childhood
and family and friends.
The way me and my friends
always stay mend.
I write about heartbreak,
failure and bad times.
Sometimes we write fast, or very
slow too. I write about feelings
and hard times. I write to
show my feelings inside, I write
about food and children. I write
to show what's happening.
I write about motherless children.
I write to tell stories.
I write about events,
little bad boys sunshine bright
dirty kids
directions everywhere
we
go.

Collaboration, writing in pairs

2009-01-13T09:50:00.000-08:00

The theme: the road to or from school -- or any road that you frequent.

The game: First writer writes one word, second writer writes one. Then, two and two. Three and three until both writers have written ten words a piece. The fun thing about this poem is that it is that the road becomes a combination of two different roads from two different writers.

Loud, yelling, people dancing, getting wild
like they're home alone. Little dogs barking
like they're having a party, daycares all
around, kids acting like a clown.
Running and hearing the beat of their
feet, gangs of kids on the
corner, hearing bicycle chains,
car engines rumbling loud.

Kenisa, Bryanna

Curve trees, Scales open, birds, bees
fast truck smoking, basketball blocks drinking
I don't want to signs, lines, fines
pines,
When is it going to mailbox grass
cars past,
Dirt caked on the house, color of
bricks stiks ticks pits sidewalks
and chalk
Kangaroo gas, Bojangles chicken, turn left at
Washington with guns fun sun cool breeze, fleece.
Brick streets, bulldozer, I can't remember
who lived there in a city that
is busy and people running
dizzy. It's time to go, mailbox
grass, sidewalks past,
Lines. Pines.

Jameka, Ms Kim

What we write about

2009-01-12T10:03:00.001-08:00

I want to write about cabbage. I love to
eat cabbage. They are so good that I want
to eat them every day. I love how
they grow. Maybe I can plant
one one day.

Teretha, 4th

I write about things I like, I write
about I'm a star in the sky, I
write about my friends. I write
about I'm the world that is green, white
and blue. I write about weather.
I write about that I'm the eye
of the eagle. I write about that
I soar through the sky. I write
about wishes.

Hailey M., 4

I write about horses that run in
the wild. I write about family. I
write about trees and the branches.
I write about broken hearts. I write
about fire. I right about songs I
hear. I write about TV shows I
see. I write about wishes I would
like to come true. I would like to
write about my new kittens.
I write about me. I write about
Ms Kim. I would like to write about my
horse. I write about ripping my
baby doll's head off. I write about
my favorite food. I write about
flowers. I write about going to the lake. I
write about poems I write. I write
aout flowers I write about my friends.
I write about how old I am. I write about colors
I write about trafffic cones. I
write about popcorn.

Amber, 2nd

Writing

I write about my dog. I write about my
family. I write about that watchamacallit

in the tree. I write about my grandma and
grandpa. I write about my cousins. I write
about my friends. I write about myself.
I write about my feelings. I write about the
kind of food I like and I hate. I write about my
house. I write about what people my
being doing right now. I write about plants, I write
about my favorite music and my not so favorite
music. I write about where I live. I write about how to get there. I write
about what I like. I write about my life.
I write about my favorite colors. I write about
wha kinds of birds I see. I write abotu the
beach. I write about turtles. I write
about sea turtles. I write about the
ocean. I write about sharks. I write
about jelly fish.

Jasmine, 4th

I Write About?

I write about my dog
I write about me in candy land
I write about what I do
I write about me having $100,000
I write about where I've been
I write about how I feel like
I write about things that happen to me in my life
I write about Ohio, how it is cold
I write about where I am when
I'm writing a poem
I rite about what I'm afraid of
I write where I'm from
I write about what I hear

Zachary, 2nd

I write about songs Ms. Kim puts on the
radio. I want to write about the whatchmacallit in
the tree outside of the OUR Center.
I write about a place I want to go to. I want
to write about flowers I like and I want.
I like to write about a hiding spot. I write
about a wish and I write about fluffy and
musky. I write about what people might be doing
right now. I want to write about a book. I want to write
about Ms. Kim

Aliviona, 4th

You're Invited

2008-12-19T03:02:00.001-08:00

Shakespeare is alive and well in Hastings. Second and third graders actually enjoyed performing, "Come unto these Yellow Sands," a short song from The Tempest. Then, they wrote their own invitation poems, inviting the reader to follow them along to a secret place, or the revelation of a secret power or bit of knowledge -- that only they know about. I asked them to incorporate the colors and sounds and alliteration that Shakespeare used in his song. This made for some wonderful invention. I love second grader Ashlynn's use of alliteration "lives lady bugs," and "bites the bones to bits."

Come with me and I will tell you frogs live in
the forest. When that frog was a baby
and when she growed up her mother left
her to go to Canada. Now that's a long way.
What do you think?

Tamia, 2nd

You're Invited

Come to my secret place,
Where we could lay down in the
dark green grass and watch the white
fluffy clouds go by in the light
blue sky. We will be surrounded by the sounds
of nature. Animals nearby,
Making loud cries.

Precious, 5th

I invite you with me to the lake
where an old man lives, lady bugs
shiver and quiver. He bites the bones
to bits. Girls find gravity
the hobo is next to a
haunted house the hobo
has a group of hobos
who fixed a small house.
The branches fall down
and the leaves die.

Ashlyn, 2nd

A Tale of the Extraordinary Ocean

Come with me to a universe filled
with adventure. Do you always think mermaids
are real or not? Well I know a
tale that doesn't have a whale. It all
begins when pirates sailed the seas. A group
of pirates thought they saw mermaids
but they saw manatees. The tale was passed
on.

Christopher, 4th

Come with me cause I
know how your brain
works. Their cabinets
their papers cause how
do you think the mini-yous
remember things? They
push everything aong
your body never mess
with your mind.

Ashlyn, 2nd

A Place Called Candy Island

Come with me to a place called Candy Island
I hear the lollypops bang together. Pow Pow Pow!
I heard birds say bark bark bark.
I see a huge volcano that shoots out fudge VeVeVe
The giant says Fe Fi Fo Fum let's
get Sardines!

Zachary H, 2nd

Cometh with me through the ticking
portal to the tower of time. Where red time
diamonds make the tower. Where you can find
all you want in any color. Red, blue, green yellow,
purple, pink, black or white. Leave with a red time
diamond to cometh back any time.

Tyler, 5th

The Beautiful Ocean Sea
Come with me to the beach to the
bottom ocean sea. You would see the
beautiful ocean clear water
You would see the colorful fish drinking
the clear water saying gulp gulp
gulp and you would hear the splash of
the clear water plsh plsh plsh the light
gray beautiful dolphins would do and you would see the blue
whales splashing their huge tails in the water
sploosh the whale would make a big
noise and you would see the gray shark
would swallow all the fish. Yummy
the shark would say.

Da' Miah, 5th

Come with me to my underground
place. And my name is Baby Hulk
and me only knows that I am Baby
My dad doesn't know. My mother doesn't
but when little kids like me or bullies
and if I get 200 on my watch I will
turn into Baby Hulk and go crazy.

Timothy, 2nd

Hiding Spot

Come with me to a place where there is a place to hide and not
be found. It is small and nothing there.

Aliviona, 4th

The Room

Come with me to the class where all of my friends are and
where we read books. Come with us to the lunchroom where
all the food is. Come to the music room where all the drums
are. Come on don't be shy. Just a little father come with
me to the movies where they eat popcorn.

Teretha, 4th

Where My Secret Lives

Come with me I'll tell you my
secret. It lives on earth and it
has gave birth to a child and it
wouldn't go wild it will be mild
in a bottle.

Matthew, 5th

My Little Secret

I have a secret power
to allow me to control time
I can rewind, fast-forward, freeze
and end time.

Enrique, 6th

My Secret Power

Come with me. I will show you a new world
and new universe. I will show you a new
power of mine that is real special to me and my
father who is super strong because
he is wonder man. And my mom is
WOnder Woman. Come with me I am
gonna show you my brother and he is
fast as lightening. Now do you
want to hear my secret power? it is the
super punch. I can smash a whole
building.

Maleek, 5th

A place called home

2008-12-17T04:30:00.000-08:00

The teens read the lyrics to Mos Def's Habitat which begins with the phrase," We all got to have a place that we come from, a place we call home." They wrote about what makes their home, their family unique.

I Come out Street the Hood

We all got to have a place where we
come from a place called home. My
home start off with drama issues.
My home is like hitting the road
chasing from our problems, they
real road. Having babies at a young
age. Eating the best part
of all our problems and we laugh, have
fun like a real family that's where
I come from.

Kenisa, 6th

When I think of home, I
Remember walking down the street,
Chasing the ice-cream truck
Trying to get a cold treat.
Sitting on the porch
feeling like I'm being baked
or a sizzling pan cooking
a pancake.
Quickly eating candy
pulling out my teeth
Nothing like eating pork or beef.
People yelling, people drinking
Talking so much they aren't even thinking.
Eating blow-pops, smacking on
gum, eatin fast food. I think I
need a Tums.
Everyone shooting, others die
thinking they fly, while getting
high.
Me, my friends and my cousins
getting aggravated because
those flies keep buzzing
Others living life like Keyshia Coles.
While other girls
Shaking their flat rumps
trying to be like
Beyonce Knowles

Deraje, 7th

Collaboration

2008-12-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

A collaborative poem is always a fun way to start class or end it. Here's one about remembering. Our subject was the sky.

I remember the sky was falling
I remember I was looking at the light blue sky
I remember a person falling out the sky and landed by me
I remember when the sky was pink
I remember the blue sky
I remember a brown dark sky
I remember seeing Rudolph in the sky
I remember seeing a dirt bike in the sky
I remember when I was in heaven
I remember a red, pink dark sky
I remember getting a pillow out of the sky
I remember the beautiful dark blue sky

Fourth and Fifth Grade

Where does our writing take us?

2008-12-16T04:39:00.000-08:00

Now that my second and third graders have been writing poems for four months, I asked them where exactly do they go when they sit down to write a poem?

When I'm Writing a Poem

Where I am when I'm
writing a poem I'm slaying
a Wii. When I was in
Ohio. Me if I was a
caveman. Me if I was
Santa. If I was a S.W.A.T.
team or a police driving a
car. If I had a million dollars
and a butler.

Zachary H, 2nd

In school, we write nonsense
In poetry we let our emotions
go when I'm in poetry
I feel happy when I'm writing
a poem, I feel I'm actually
in it. When I write
I feel I'm changing the
world. When I go to feel
it, I shiver so does my brain.
It's fun you should try
it.

Ashlynn, 2nd

More Willie Perdomo

2008-12-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

We modeled some more of Willie Perdomo's work this week -- the poem, "Papos are Poetica." So, what kind of poem or song are you stuck inside?

Stuck in a Poem

I'm stuck in a poem that sounds
like windows shattering, the
voices you hear suddenly stops.
This poem looks like a girl who has just been
cut on a piece of glass. To
the last drops of the
shattered glass. The girls
lonely cries start to fall.
It's like the sounds of the birds
starting to chirp. The girl's
eyes begin to turn red
as she buries her head
in the bed. She closes
her eyes and she listens
to the wind as it spreads.
It sounds lke the sounds
of the windows shattering
across her head.

Taymaria, 7th

The poem I'm Stuck In

I'm stuck to poetry like chewing gum
on the bottom of a shoe,
I was pressed on to poetry with
glue

Poetry is clear like tape,
Poetry is the best taste.
Poetry floats in the air,
If you feel poetry might be in your hair,
Poetry has suds like soap
Poetry is like the sizzle in Coke
Poetry shoots like a gun
When you play with poetry
you will have fun

Jameka, 6th

Stuck Poem

I'm stuck in a poem like dirt that is in the ocean
I'm stuck in a poem that sounds like cars crashing and
people not being nice but mean
I'm stuck in this old nasty poem thaat don't have a shower
or little water
I'm stuck in this old town that makes you poems every
Tuesday and thank the Lord that we don't write every day
I'm stuck drumming in this hold poem not a new poem
I'm home in the street of this poem where I'm stuck
for life.

Zach, 6th

Wish Song Poem

The song that I am stuck in is Rockin. It feels like I'm
in a box not round. I feel like playing the drum
all day.

This song sounds like you will bang your head all day long. I
would be very hungry when I get out. I hope I can get
out of this old song and get into a new song.

My song will not stop singing the same song over
and over again. When your brain hurts don't come to
me and say My Head Hurts because I didn't do it.

My drums will not stop drumming on the drums. When
I try to get the drumsticks I will keep drumming
until they stop which will be never. I will die drumming
before you die singing.

Zach, 6th

Looking at Hastings

2008-11-26T05:40:00.000-08:00

Continuing to explore ways of seeing, from the poets at the REC Teen Center and the second/third graders and fourth/fifth grade classes at the OUR Center.

Things and Looks in Hastings

Tall black and lanky,
look like Mr. Frankie,
Baller shot caller,
Don't need to get no taller.
Short flat and lax.
Rusty crusty and black,
Long wavy weave,
Nice shirts with cut-off sleeves,
White T's
Baggy jeans,
Brand new J's.
Boosie fade,
Show yo fame,
Long chain.
Snotty nose,
Dirty toes,
Filled diapers.
Too hyper.
No shoes,
Dropped out of school.

Jameka, 6th

5 Ways to Look at the Hastings Library

I see a big building full of books
I see a castle dipped in coquina rocks
I see a quiet place where I can focus on my book, The Touching Spirit Bear
I see kind staff talking nicely and encouraging others to read books

Rakiya

Five Ways to Look at Someone at Gamble Rogers

I see a big building
Children getting out of cars,
Science teachers talking about Mars.
Janitors cleaning the classrooms.
Ms Sandy using a broom
and the vacume go vroom vroom.
the fresh smell of the aiar
Kids fighting cause they don't care,
Ain't got no education.
We all can't be like Mrs Gordon
and go to graduation.
We ain't split like segregation,
We together like glue
and we don't follow the rules.
To survive you got to find the
Missing clues.

Mariah

5 Ways of Looking at a Basketball

Floating in the sky to the goal
Nothing but net swish
Bouncing in the air
It make me happy
3 pointer

Lamar

Ways to Look at a Mother

I can see her blue light eyes
I can see she's wearing glasses and reading a magazine
I can see she's going to church on Sunday.
I can see she's wearing a fancy hat.
I can see she's singing in church.
I can see she's clapping her hands.
I can see she's praying in church.
I can see she's crying in church.
I can see she is making an announcement.
She says black men and white men should get together. Don't fight.

Da'Miah, 4th

Eleven Ways to Look at Ms Crystal

Ms Crystal is so cool.
Ms Crystal has cute shoes.
Ms Crystal hahs awesome clothes.
Ms Crystal has awesome hair.
Ms Crystal is an angel.
Ms Crystal is skinny.
Ms Crystal is always happy.
Ms Crystal is a fun girl to be around.
Ms Crystal is a smart person.
Ms Crystal sees like a cheetah.
Ms Crystal is perfect.

Kara, 4th

Five Ways to look at Hastings

It's like a building in the sky
It's like a tree in my backyard
Where my house is
Birds creep in my backyard
It's like a school

Bryana, 3rd

5 Ways to look at Hastings

Big and beautiful
Has big roads
Has a Dollar General
It has a barber shop
It has a gas station

Zachary, 3rd

5 ways to look at Hastings

I see trees and leaves
I see bacon and walls.
I see four-wheelers and cars
I see chicken barbeque
I smell leaves and crocodille

Eric, 2nd

Ways to See

2008-11-21T10:27:00.000-08:00

Record-breaking attendance this week in Hastings. Twenty-three students in our fourth and fifth grade class on Tuesday. We're so excited to welcome all the new poets. Look for more amazing poems in the future.

Yesterday we talked about Wallace Stevens' poem, "13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." First, we wrote a poem together called "15 Ways to Look at the Window in our Classroom." The ideas just wouldn't stop coming. The kids were on fire, and soon we had filled up the board with ways to look at this giant rectangular window that looks out onto the courtyard and a golden sycamore trees.

I think this lesson was pivotal in helping the kids with abstract thinking just as last year's lesson from Boudou Fontana, a character in John Dufresne's novel, "Deep in the Shade of Paradise," helped the children give life to colors and numbers.

I told the children they could write their looking poem about anything -- an object, a place, a person. They wrote about Ohio, pencils, a county fair ride, friends, animals. I love their individual twists on the poems -- how second grader Ashlynn wrote "Ways to Make a Valley," and fourth grader Hailey wrote, "3 Ways to use a Pencil." They enjoyed the topic so much that afterwards they came up with more ideas, and requested we write another round of these looking poems again.

Ways to Make a Valley

Nice and breezy

Cool and pretty

Lumpy and curvy

Green and purple

Peace and quiet

All about Reading

Big Drawing

Clear and cut

I love the way it looks

And that's the beauty of it

Ashlynn, 2nd

Looking at Someone

I see brown beautiful eyes

I see his black and white skin

I see his smooth black hair

I see him talking to his friends

I see him rapping about school

I see him getting into trouble on the playground

Da' Miah, 4th

Ways to Look at Ohio

I see Ohio big and white. Huge

I see a huge valley surrounding.

I see huge piles of white snow.

I see Ohio's big countries.

I see Ohio's best band play and they're called Green Day.

Zachary, 3rd

Three Ways to Use a Pencil

You can use it in cursive, like a cat scrating the paper.

You can use it just at home in your bedroom

You can use it to stop a dog with muddy paws.

Hailey M, 4th

5 Ways of Looking at a Fair Ride

A fair ride is fun

A fair ride is high

A fair ride is fast

A fair ride is high up in the sky

A fair ride is high up in the sky and it is high up above

our heads.

Isis, 4th

10 Ways of Looking at a Pencil

It's like a stick person.
It's my writing machine.
It's like it's telling my hand what to write.
It's like a tree from a far distance.
It's a yellow blur very close
It's like a yellow slow down sign.
It's like Big Bird on Sesame Street
It's like a tall glass of lemonade
It's like a flock of birds flying on paper.
It's like the bright sun.

Lauren, 4th

15 Ways to Look at a Window

It's like a swimming pool of water.
It's like an ice cube.
It's like an ice rink at my feet. I'm skating.
It's like a see-through clock.
It's like an aqua veil surrounding us.
It's like a mirror reflecting us.
It's like a cellphone screen.
It's like a white cloth.
It's clear as a diamond.
It's like Hailey's glasses.
It's like the binder rings.
It's like a tall glass of water.
It's like a picture on my living room at home, of trees and sky.
It's like a blue glass chair.
It's like the door knob's silvery sheen.

Collaborative, 4th and 5th

Experimenting with Form

2008-11-09T10:05:00.000-08:00

The elementary school kids loved reading the unusual look of the one-word lines in William Carlos Williams' "The Locust Tree in Bloom." The first is a poem we all wrote together in the second and third grade class called about the gold and orange and yellow leaves of the sycamore in the courtyard here at the OUR Center called "Sycamore Tree Changing."

Among
OUR
Center

Tall
peeling
brown

Falling
Orange
November

Over

Tree Stump in my back yard

Among
of
brown

Broke
Hump
Sticky

Wet
Orange
Smoke

Grow

Alivionna, 4th

Dragon

Among
the
skies

It's
red
and
black

It
will
chomp
you
with
a
snap

It
breaths
fire
an
incredible
sight
to
see

Look
at
me
I'm
flying
on
a
dragon
as
you
see.

Tyler, 4th

2008-10-30T08:18:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago at the FIU Writers Conference, I saw poet Denise Duhamel read. I was inspired to share her work with the kids, especially the poem, "Mille et un sentiments," in which she begins each of the 1,001 lines with "I feel."

1. I feel a cute whistling butterfly all over me.
2. I feel as if I'm being watched.
3. I feel all of the houses I've lived in are haunted.
4. I feel waves crashing through my head.
5. I feel I'm a flower being picked.
6. I feel that when I'm nervous my heart just keeps pumping.
7. I feel that I am a running nose.
8. I feel not wanted.
9. I feel like a guitar.
10. I feel like a watch ticking.
11. I feel like a cat's sandy tongue.
12. I feel like myself.

Ashlynn, 2nd

I feel as though something is getting me excited.
I feel as though it is Halloween.
I feel like getting on the computer.
I feel like fighting Teretha.
I feel like fighting everyone.
I feel like cheering.
I feel I want to be a cheerleader.
I feel like going to REC.
I feel like watching my baby cousins. They are cute and chubby.

Isis, 4th

I Feel

1. I feel like I'm sick.
2. I feel like I'm hot and fixing to throw up.
3. I feel like I'm hot and fixing to take a cold shower.
4. I feel like having space.
5. I feel like playing football.
6. I feel like eating ice.
7. I feel like praying to everyone even Jesus.
8. I feel like sleeping.
9. I feel like fighting when I get better.
10. I feel like going in a warm hotel pool.
11. I feel like going in a hot tub.
12. I feel like going to the rest room.
13. I feel like going to Golden Corral.
14. I feel like eating ice cream.
15. I feel Janeshia is doing funny thing like hitting Teretha with a pencil.
16. I feel like it need to snow.
17. I feel like it need to be windy outside.
18. I feel like stretching.
19. I feel like screaming.
20. I feel like going home.
21. I feel like standing.
22. I feel like doing poetry.
23. I feel like drawing.

Da' Miah, 4th

I feel like falling asleep right now.
I feel as though a tornado or hurricane is approaching.
I feel like eating tons of food.
I feel as though the weather will stay the same.
I feel like the coldness has just started and will never end.
I feel as though my cold will never end.
I feel like going home.
I feel as though nobody can hear Miss Kim.

McKenna, 5th

I feel that I was a baby when I was first born.
I feel like a duck when I scream.
I feel like a chicken in a barn.
I feel that I am blind.
I feel a frog peed on me.
I feel love in my heart.
I feel like having supper time.
I feel like getting up and screaming.
I feel like a dog ruff ruff.
I feel like being happy today.
I feel like eating those cookies out there.
I feel that I am frozen solid.
I feel like laughing a lot.
I feel like I am a man right now.
I feel like the love is coming from me.
I feel that Teretha is lucky.
I feel like a cat was smiling at me.
I feel a dog is biting me.

Janeshia, 4th

Led by our hearts

2008-10-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

We're going to be reading the work of Sandra Cisernos this week, including one of my favorites, "You Bring out the Mexican in me." Today the students read "Little Clown My Heart," by Cisneros and then wrote fabulous versions of their own.

I'm Feeling

My heart is like a mad tornado.
I am a wooshing waterfall, my heart.
Crazy kid bouncing off the wall, my heart.
Cute tiny cub
but most of all God controlling the world, my heart.
I'm snow melting,
my heart.

Ashlynn, 2nd

My Heart

I feel something down in my heart beating.
I feel something wiggling.
I hear creaking.
I hear yelling.
I hear cheaping.
I see footprints.
I see orange and yellow.
I see a beak.
I see little feet.
I hear crying.
I hear nothing.
I see something.
It's a baby chick
and it is so cute.

Teretha, 4th

Cowboy, my heart
Chicken, my heart
My heart dog my heart
Rainy day, my heart
Original Lays Potato Chips, my heart
SWAT team, my heart
Myself, my heart
My heart is outrageously crazy don't forget
crazy and don't forget
got my heart

Nathan, 3rd

Horseback riding
in sun, my heart
Coco puff
yuck, my heart
Banana tree
creepy as can
be, my heart
heavy saddle on
my back. Go stop
slow go again to
bla bla bla my heart.

Amber, 3rd

Chocolate, my heart
My heart, children run for chocolate ice cream,
My heart runs around my body
My heart begs for
chocolate snow
My heart desires for rain
with me in it,
My heart desires for a
chocolate blizzard

Zachary, 2nd

I am a depressed person and a tired person
like a sloth in a tree, my heart. Like an ant
on the ground, my heart. Like the squirrels
in a tree, my heart. Like an empty playground,
my heart. Like the leaves on the ground, my heart.
Like the lion sleeping in the tree, my heart. Like
the cheetah sneaking up on prey, my heart.

Hailey M., 3rd

My Heart

My heart, ripped like a piece of paper
My heart, is filled with oreos because
soon as I walk into the house
I am going to get some
oreos. My heart is like
my brain telling me what
to do. My heart is like
a cupcake hungry, my heart
is like the muffins
I ate this morning
My heart, fill my heart.
See my heart.

Janeshia, 4th

Mrs Perfect

Quiet and Sensitive, My heart
Hyper, My heart
Soft but hard, my heart
Gentle but loud, my heart
Big heart, my heart
My heart
My heart

That is my heart

McKenna, 5th

My Heart

Ring of fire, my heart
Cold day, my heart
Tasmanian devil, my heart
Drag racing car, my heart

Joseph, 3rd

I am

2008-10-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

My Describing

I am like
a wolf howling
for food warning
the people I am
coming for them
I am like a
rose red
as a cherry. I am
like a rainbow fish
with lots of colors
I am like a rainbow
with lots of colors
I am not like a table
dull and boring. I am not
like bag full of heavy things
going in the trunk.

Amber, 3rd

Who I am

I'm a red rose
I'm like the red hot sun.
Icing on a cake.
I'm like soup hot and I mean hot and boiling.
I am like a clock ticking.
I'm like a blue girl falling from the sky,
Like a book waiting to be read.
A bee loving honey.
A ponytail in some body's hair.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Where I'm from Who I am and What I want to be

And Who I am

Where I'm from heads koncking
boys cheating on girls cheating boys
And they are still kissing but what I want
to be is a nice person like
Ms Kim like she got Yue Yue
they are two nice people
And I hope Yue Yue
grow up and be like Ms Kim
Who I am is a heart
a diamond a star that shine
in the sky a heart that is
big and red

Janeshia, 4th

I am the

I am the cold bresa in the
wind. I am the horse that gallups in
the moon light. I am the rough sand
under your feet. I am the cold
rain in your hair. I am the fish
that swims in the ocean. am the
leaves that blow in wind. I am the trees
that bruises on my house. I am
the tear on your face.

Hailey M, 3rd

Who I am

I am a star glistening in night. I am a tree
standing in the sun. I am a mean tiger in the
jungle. I am a playground for kids to run
and play on. I am a dog barking into the night
I am a warrior fighting in war.

Nathan, 3rd

Where we're from

2008-10-07T10:46:00.000-07:00

More "Where We're From" list-style poems from second through fifth graders at the OUR Center.

Where I'm from is my grandma's place.
In my grandma's house I hate my sister.
In my grandma's house I hear dogs barking.
And my dad yelling. And Tyson
playing on the xbox 360. And mostof all
I can feel the world reversing.

Ashlynn, 2nd

Ohio

Where I'm from there is winter is snow
Where I'm from is the winter blues
Where I'm from is where birds chirp and
where motors roar
Where I'm from there is cold temperatures
Where I'm from the neighbors's kids yell back and forth
Where I'm from neighbors' dog barks.
Where I'm from the snow blows hard.
Where I'm from the wind whistles.
Where I'm from the trees fell down by the wind.

Zachary, 3rd

Crazy Things Are Real

Where I'm from my lake acts like it is alive
Where I'm from gators eat birds that land in
their mouth. Where I'm from I hear carsdrive by. Where I'm from bats land in my
hair at night and butter fingers fly out of your
mouth. Where I'm from there is a giant
biggerthan the world.

Nathan, 3rd

Where I'm from

Hey, yo where you from? I'm from the projects.
Where I'm from people are stealing out the stores
Where I'm from is some black kids and adults
Where I'm from is a dumpter with a lot of stink bugs and trash.
Where I'm from is where people go up and down on stairs
Where I'm from is kids and adults throwing down a lot of trash around.

Da'Miah, 4th

"I left a little piece of my heart in the ground..."

2008-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

The middle schoolers continued reading the work of New York City poet Willie Perdomo this week, modeling his poem, "Where I'm From."

Citrus County

Where I'm from a mixture of cries
and pleads combined in your head.
Smells of tires and beer bug
pie smothers your nose.

Bad dog signs on every yard fence
to maybe scare off criminals.
Where I'm from you turn on
the TV and at least every channel
there's another child abused
and abducted.

Your friends leave one by one
until you leave the only place
that's home.

Your mom giving you the
clothes off her back only to
look like a decent parent.

Where I'm from you didn't
know where you were ever going
to be full, finally you give up
and a meal every other night
was enough.

Where I'm from my father
was a drunk, beer and drugs
was what I got to come
home to.

People see a baby and six
others with their hair brushed
and nice shoes and clothing
only on the outside, on the
inside, their hearts were aching
because love wasn't the answer.
Poor grades because people
only cared about how their
families are or their clothing.

Where I come from, I have
a new dad and a new brother. My
real dad is in Georgia and another nephew.
All I know is how short I am and
that people like Citrus County
only care how you look. I may
be dirty. My mom may only work at
a dollar store to put clothes
on my back but where I come
from it's my life style. It's
my home.

Martyn, 6th

Where I'm From

Where I'm from dogs growl like
werewolves
Where I'm from I ain't got no
chickens running around

Where I'm from it is quieter than a
mouse. It's so quiet you can hear the grass
growing.

Where I'm from you will have
a good night's sleep because it is
very quiet.

Where I'm from you can hear
the crickets chirping in the grass.

Bryanna, 6th

I'm From

"I'm from Florida"

"Where in Florida?"

"Hastings."

"Where in Hastings?"

"Zigler."

If I said I was from Hastings and Zigler Avenue,
I left a piece of my heart in the ground
so I can remember the time that I was there
on the street, on Zigler Street. It is like a little
pile of dust.

I was the boy that would play outside
probably I had friends but I was the one that was
first not them. I had things to do before I played this:

A day on Zigler Street
it goes a little like this:

People come and go on my street but no one knows
that but me
Gusts of sand going into
your face

Winds blew real fast

Cars going real slow
and real fast on my street

I really don't
know what is
going on
on my street.

Zachary, 6th

Where I'm from football games are off the
leash,

Where I'm from on the bus early Monday
morning talking about who or how they got
beat,

Where I'm from there's football players
making a touch down
or seeing a football player getting
crushed into the ground.

Where I'm from the football players kick
the field goal.
And one day they'll be at the Super Bowl.

Jameka, 6th

Grandparents

2008-09-28T14:33:00.001-07:00

My grandparents

My grampa hung his self and
my gramma died when
my dad was 14 and my
other grampa is alive but I have never seen him
because my mom has never seen him because
she was in a foster home anyways my mom
got his phone number one day
and he was realy nasty to
her and my other gramma's nice and she has a
little trailer and I don't like talking about
them and I feel bad that I can't see
my gramma and grampa and my other granmpa.

Joseph, 3rd

Gramma Harriet Freeman

Gramma Harriet she is nice
but sometimes
she be mean to my brother. And
when she be cooking
he always bother her when she be cooking
she has to stop and hold him and he be crying
andn sometimes he bite her and my gramma whoop him.
And sometimes she send him to my aunt.
And my gramma bake cakes and cupcakes. She can
bake anything. One time she bake cup cakes
for my birthday and she said she baking me a cake
for my birthday this year. My gramma's nice. She give
me monehy when I need it and she comes
to my school for grandparents' day.
She is nice and I love her.

Teretha, 4th

My Pawpaw that Past Away

My pawpaw that past away he always called
me pain in the butt. My pawpaw always took chocolate
away from me because he liked chocolate. I always
remember my pawpaw when he took my chocolate.

Zachary, 3rd

Homma

My homma is so sweet
she shared a house with me
when I was in need.
She is a very nice lady.
Every time I go outside
and come back in,
there's always something on the
table. Spaghetti or steak.
We call her homma because my
little brother couldn't say gramma.

Ashlynn, 2nd

My gramma and my bobo

My gramma she pays for
our home. And she gives me
money when I do something for
her. And my bobo he pays for
our home too. And he goes to work
all day. And he is big really big.
And my bobo helps me mow the lawn.
And my gramma wears a crown.

Michael, 2nd

My grandmother

My granma is the best even though
she says cursewords. I still love her
and she cooks the best brownies and
I like the food that she makes it is
the most perfecto food I have ever tasted.

Jasmine, 4th

Quote of the Week

2008-09-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

"Poetry is a lovebug singing in peace."

Janeshia, 4th

Our Street Rap

2008-09-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Modeling Willie Perdomo's "123rd Street Rap," students wrote poems that take us into their neighborhoods. For an added challenge, they experimented with Perdomo's rhyming scheme.

Woodland Point

A day in Woodland Point Apartments
goes a little something like this:

Little kids running from step to step

A lady coming down steps with baby in
her hand running from her boyfriend yelling
help help

Thugs knocking down house doors trying to get
little snacks and collapsing over racks.

If you were smart and came outside
they would jump on you and pick over your backpack.

Turtles swimming in the pond
boys trying to bond.

Four-wheelers and dirtbikes riding in dirt
loud birds with their chirps

Basketballs bouncing and bouncing all night
Little boys and little girls about to street fight.

Tyron, 7th grade

Washington Street Rap

Boys selling reefer
and dope
even though they're
the same thing,

girls fighting over boys,
boys fighting over girls

and people stealing from the dollar store.

Grandmas say
shut your mouth
with your slang talking.

It's all crazy.
I'm going to stop it all.

Janeshia, 4th

Zigler Street Rap

My life on Zigler Street
and it goes a little something
like this....

It's a dog
eat dog world
people say

You see the
rusty swingset
sway

As you walk
or ride up my street

There are very little people
to meet

I come home
on a windy day

I see all the
dead objects
in the way

People new
will feel
defeat

When like me
their life
starts on
Zigler Street

Martyn, 6th

Living on my Street

This world so cruel sit outside
while time pass me by
wondering
why so many people have to
die, you see people come and
go not knowing who to trust
and who to let go. Sometime
I just sit back and call on
god asking him to protect me
against the odds. My neighborhood
is so quiet only on the weekdays
by the weekend the kids like to come
to my house to play
i really like the place I live I thank god
for my sweet crib.

Ms Singleton

On Washington Street, there's
nothing but drunkies.
They swing around like old
monkeys
They stay drunk
they like to argue when they
play trunk
There's food and
fun at my house and
people running and laughing.

Jameka, 6th

Where We're From

2008-09-23T04:03:00.000-07:00

Lots of new poems on the way from new students as well as our seasoned poets from last year, some of whom are now middle schoolers. Liz Robbins and I are working on finalizing a collection of the work they produced last year, but for now we're writing new poems based on the theme of Where We're From, and hopefully we'll be able to produce a new collection next year. (I'll post news on how to order the book as soon as we have one!). We'll start by studying the work of poet Willie Perdomo because I think that the kids will enjoy his use of language, which is packed with sophisticated metaphor, great descriptions of Spanish Harlem and an obvious love for his community.

Here are some great poems from second, third and fourth graders. We spent a few days talking about images and using Magnetic Poetry tiles and then, they were off on their own, "building" poems, as one third grader, Tyler, said.

I Had a Dog Named Clipsey

I always see mhy backyard swamp
and sometimes I see the
alligator. I always smell swamp water.
I always feel trees. I always see my
cats and dogs and one of my dogs
ran away and her name is Clipsey.
And I see these outdoor cats
They all look like one is gold cat,
white and black cat, black cat, brown cat
gray cat and black.

Zachary, 2nd

My Street

Noisy cars driving by
laughter by children
birds sing along
barking dogs everywhere
kids playing man hunt
and the sweet air breeze.

Prescious, 4th

Old house, Old people, Houses in woods
carnivals, nice people, lots of houses. Lots
of my cousins. My friends and we
get a chilly cup, lots of songs
and dance on the street

Isis, 4th

My Street I Like

Gun shots from bad people
I smell dirt, like worms and bugs
I see kids jumping on a trampoline
I'm sitting in my rocking chair
thinking about jumping.

Ashlynn, 2nd

I walk down my
street and I see
All my friends
And they just
started walking with me
And we see people
We don't even know
and we say hi so
we go and talk to them
and have
fun.

Ja'Neshia, 4th

We are off to a great poetic start!

2008-08-30T07:09:00.000-07:00

We got the news yesterday that Ja'Nekia, a poetry student at the OUR Center, and Pedro Mendendez tenth grader, placed third in the Florida Heritage Book Festival! Her award-winning poem, "My Soul" was written in Liz Robbins' spring workshop. We're so proud of you, Ja'Nekia.

We played a little trick on her by phoning her from the Center and asking, "Hey, where are you? Anywhere near the Center? Can you come over here? We have a surprise for you." Of course, she had no idea what was going on. She joked that she thought she was in trouble. Here she is reading the letter. She'll be treated to lunch at the Casa Monica on Sept. 13. She will also receive an award. You better believe Liz and I will be there to document the event.

Here is her winning poem:

My Soul

My soul is free-spirited:
yellow, friendly and full of cheer.
My soul is soft on one half
and rough on the other:
Downey fabric softener on one,
and plywood on the other.
My soul sounds like the whispering
waves of the ocean crashing
against the sandy shore.
The taste of my soul is like hot
wings dipped in cool Ranch,
spicy with a nice, cold
assistant: sometimes I get to my
boiling point, but just need
a cool breeze to cool me off.
My soul has the scent
of a bittersweet orange or a
Sour Patch kid, perhaps.
Sour on the first few encounters.
then sweet the next couple.
No one could ever take
my soul away. My soul is as strong
as the Man's arms Upstairs.
And no one could ever overpower
or uphold my soul like I do
today. I need it like the heart
needs and aorta and veins to keep
the body going. Without my soul,
I am incomplete.
Sometimes, I'm half empty.
Or am I really half full?

Wow, is it going to be a great year. We're adding k-2 to the mix this year, are releasing a collection of poems from the 2007-2008 year and will hold a big reading and book signing. We're also hoping to create T-shirts with lines from our poems. We'll also continue our teen workshops and trips to readings in St. Augustine sponsored by Flagler College's Writer-in-Residence program. Stay tuned for new poems from the younger kids next week. And, Janeisha, a brand new fourth grader, has been busy. She wrote thirty new poems this summer. We'll post some of those soon.

Goodbye for Now

2008-06-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Mr Ken, I will miss your pots.
Goodbye Miss Brooks, I will miss your voice.
Goodbye Mr Scovoner, I will miss your office.
Goodbye Miss Kim, I will miss your poem hands.
Goodbye REC, I will miss the gym.

Joshua, 4th

End of a fabulous year

2008-06-09T08:44:00.000-07:00

We've come to the end of a year of writing poetry here at Juice up the True Say. I asked the kids what they thought of poetry before we began this class. Janeshia wrote, "One hot day some lady came to REC and was talking about poetry and everyone was like, What is poetry? and she said it's to write poems and we said, "Wow."

From McKenna:

What I thought poetry was,
was nothing.

I thought poems were just Roses
are red, Violets are blue poems.

The first day I came to REC
was the first day I made a poem

I learned that poems don't have
to rhyme and that poems
don't have to be true or make believe.

Kids, You all are the best. I'm going to miss ya'll something fierce this summer!

Meet Janeshia

2008-05-31T12:33:00.001-07:00

Poetry make me want to get a boyfriend

Poetry make me want to get a frog

Poetry make me want to make a real flower

Poetry make me like my life

Poetry make me feel like a monster

What does poetry do to you?

A hundred years ago in Hastings....

2008-05-31T08:04:00.000-07:00

Dr. Liz Robbins visited this week while I was in Delaware searching for lightships and horseshoe crabs. As a recipient of a Schultz Foundation grant, Ms. Liz, Flagler College English professor, is working on a special poetry project about Hastings. (We're looking forward to that chapbook!) She's also going to help us fund a publication of Juice up the True Say poems. We are so thankful for her generosity.

Ms. Liz showed the kids photographs from the 1880s and shared a bit of her research about the town. Here are the poems the kids wrote about what it would have been like to live in Hastings so many years ago:

100 Years Ago

Back in the hundred days
I would have drove me a horse
around and tried to find Jacksonville
If I was back in the country
days, I would have tried
to invent the fancier cars
Back in the day
it was weird. People used to
cut off their toes
in the cabbage fields

Trevis, 5th

If it was back in the day,
I would be just like Rosa Parks
I would follow my own
mind and my own heart
Like Martin Luther King
I would never fail
Even if it meant being lonely
in a sail
Give it all you've got
Never lose your spot
and stay on top
Never change what you say
Just bow your head and pray
Your pain will go away

Jameka, 5th

12 SECONDS

The Wright brothers
gave us a plan
to fly from here
to Spain
They were right
again
Now we have
a way from here
to Japan
Here and there
Now why were they
just in the air
for 12 seconds

Jontae, 4th

If some people have a job
it would in the potato field
If I was a horse, I would be
going on a long journey
If I was the person
who owned the TV, I would
go crazy
People over here
People over there
Some women didn't have
any clothes
They just have to stay
in the house until
they get some
If you go to the movies,
you would shut up

Janeshia, 3rd

IMAGES I SEE

I see a horse walking
through a hard road and it having
a problem walking
The sea look as clear as
The clear blue sky
Also the horse looks just
like a black stallion

Raynard, 4th

IF I HAD TO LIVE

If I had to live a 100
years ago, I would not
like it because it is not
a lot of jobs
you had to ride a horse
and my mom
don't like horses

Bryanna, 5th

I would not like to live
back in the day
They did not have a job
no money no car no house

POOR

POOR

POOR

Joshua, 4th

Exploring Soul

2008-05-16T05:43:00.001-07:00

My soul is yellow because I
Try to stay happy all the time
My soul smells like fresh
Crabs with hot butter and a
New car smell
My soul feels like a new BMW without
A top on it, just let your hair blow.
My soul tastes like ribs
It got a barbecue taste
Nobody can take my soul away
From me because I got pride in myself
Nobody can take my soul
From me. I am not on this world
To impress anybody but God.

Bryanna, 5th

My soul is as soft as a kitten
My soul is nice and clean
My soul is shy
My soul is quiet and calm sometimes
My soul tastes like cotton candy and chocolate
My soul is the color sky blue
My soul is brave at times
My soul makes no sounds
My sould can’t be broken because it is can’t even be seen
though my soul is senstive
My soul is as smart as can be
My soul is as hard as a snail shell
My soul is like a cheetah when it runs

McKenna, 4th

I stay, You go

If somebody took my body
My spirit will
Stay all the time. It will
Stay just like my rhyme.
Time time on the clock
Is how that old rocking chair
Rocks me
I would stay if it was you. I would
Just stay away
What would be left is my soul
It is like gold
It sounds like broadway soul.
Jontae, 5th

The life of my soul

Without my soul,
I feel like a day
When I left my homework at home
And I had to look forward to
Ms Brooks sitting me down
On the bench.
My soul is like
A key to a box
Of gold,
My soul is the color
Of a hot melted flavor
Of brown hot chocolate.
Jameka, 5th

My Soul

Pink-black. The reason I said
Pink-black because one side is
Bright and happy and the other side is black sad. The pink side
Is going to make me a better person and
The other side just makes tears roll down my face.
The pink side smells like cookies coming out of
The oven and the black side smell black licorice. And no
One can take my soul away because
My soul is apart of me like taking my soul away is jus tlike
Taking half of my body, my life
My courage.

Kenisa, 5th

Snapshots

2008-05-07T04:44:00.000-07:00

Above, Janeshia, Kevis, Jameka

We have big news. Liz Robbins, poet and Flagler College English professor, has been awarded a Schultz Foundation grant. And what did she choose to do with those funds? Well she's going to be here in Hastings for the entire month of May volunteering her time teaching poetry workshops to the teenagers and elementary children at the center. She's set aside some of the funds to help Juice up the True Say publish a collection of our poems. Also, Liz will be writing her own poems about Hastings and as part of this project gave disposable cameras to the kids yesterday. We'll develop them and write about those pictures, of course. May is going to be a busy month here at the OUR Center in Hastings. Poetry everywhere.

Before the kids knew they were going to receive their own cameras, I had them write a poem with this prompt: "If I had a camera..."

My Family Photograph that Disappeared

If I had a camera I would take
pictures with my mom and dad
Because the last time I took
a picture with my mom and dad
together was when I was a baby.
I wish that we could all be
a big family again. I know that
things like that happen and you
just have to live with it.

Jameka, 5th

If I had a camera
I would take a picture
of my familyand friends and
hens eating in
pens at a
farm but Iwouldn't take
pictures of a bear
when their brown
hair rises on their back.

Matthew, 4th

I would take a picture of
my mom and family then
I would take a picture
of the biggest waterfall ever.
I wouldn't take a picture of
Michael because he gets on my
nerves at home.

Bryanna, 5th

If I had a camera I would
take pictures of animals,
people, the good breeze
outside. A baby.
A real heart.

Janeshia, 3rd

Mad or Sad

I would take
a picture of
me doing fun
things like
play games
maybe some
bad times some
sad time some
of the fame
some of the shame
when we called someone a name
this is like the same.
I will not take pictures of
me when I am mad
or sad
Just one when
I am glad.

Jontae, 4th

I would take pictures of myself

if I had a camera.

I would take pictures of my family

but these things I would not

take a picture of

A house.

Trevis, 5th

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

2008-05-02T04:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Tom Santoni, Hastings poet and musician, introduced the children to the music of the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We listened to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from the band's album for children called "Gift of the Tortoise." We imagined what it must be like to live in this other world so close to the jungle where at night the lion's roar is alive in the darkness.

Last week the students picked three places they would like to "travel" to and write poems about and Africa, Jamaica and Hawaii were at the top of the list. Anyone with native instruments, music or stories from these countries, we'd love to have you help visit us on our poetry travels. Email us at juiceupthetruesay@yahoo.com

Thanks for visiting, Mr. Tom!

Click here to listen to Ladysmith Black Mambazo while you read our poems.

This Music Makes Me

It make me think of how people stay in little huts.
And it make me think how they be getting eaten
by wild animals.
It makes me think of other people.
And it makes me want me me want me want to see
a song.
And it make me want to go African.
And it make me want to go shopping
and waste all my money.
It make me go to church.

Shakira, 5th

Lions Sleep Tonight

I think I am in
the forest with no way home.
I’m here by myself
in a lion’s dome. I say
Time to make myself
at home but not too long. I must creep light
I know the lions sleep tonight.

Jontae, 5th

I don't want to be eaten by a lion.
My family won't let that happen.
We have a fire and our fathers'
strong arms to protect us.
Mama sings to comfort us
and says, "Don't fear, my darlin,
the lion sleeps tonight."
I don't want to be eaten by a lion.
Neither do I want to eat a lion.
I'll eat rice and beans instead.
Then the lion won't want to eat me.

Tom Santoni

Africa!

What if it
was you? What would you do
in the same skin?
The same some day
Will not the people in Africa think
getting bit?
One million people die in Africa
a day next time you
complain think about people
in Africa and say
It coulda been me.

Praising the Lord

It reminds me of people
praising the Lord having
a great time
they clapping
and praising
the lord
when a loud roaring sound
comes through
when they
get a shiver
they start locking
doors and still
trying to praise
the lord but
they are still
praising the lord.

Byranna, 5th

The sounds of the lion sounds like it’s trying to
tell all the animals to go to sleep
But the song reminds me of
African people hunting
for food and people dying by lions.

Trevis, 5th

Jungo

The jungo is like smooth lotion and
a smooth tree. It smell just like me.
The Jungo songo is like a fungo fungo songo sound
like a lion.

Janeshia, 3rd

I think of people in Africa
who don’t have anything to eat and
how they have to struggle in life
and all those people who have
a good life don’t even care but if
the Africans had a chance at a
good life they would appreciate it.
Some people always complain about
how bad their life is the only
people should be complaining is the
Africans. Sometime they even have
to sleep in the rain, storms and
cold. The nights storm when rain pours
down on them it’s like something bullying them
and humiliating them.
So everyday you should be thankful for what you have.

Jameka, 5th

The Wild

I think of of poor people
that need health and food
houses that will protect them
from the wild animals. I wish
I could help them give them
food and houses so they won’t
have to hunt.

Joshua, 4th

Black Panther

When I think of
a blank panther I think
that it has sharp teeth
sharp claws and with
shiny black fur like
when they purr. The
way I see those golden eyes because
they run with all of
their pride.

Matthew, 4th

It make me feel like people
dying and people that walk around
that got disease and other families
having a good time around the fire
and other people just walking along
and poor

Ranesha, 4th

Writing Fiction

2008-04-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

A while back we met Boudou Fontana, a character from Deep in the Shade of Paradise. He helped the kids write poems giving human traits to colors and numbers. Recently Boudou's creator and our friend John Dufresne sent us the beginning of a short story called "Riddles" and the kids wrote their own ending. Here's John's portion of the story.

Sometimes I cry when I’m happy. Sometimes I smile when I’m sad. It’s a puzzle to me.

Right now, I’m scared to death, and that’s why I’m talking so calmly. I’m going to tell you how I got into this mess, but first maybe you could answer me this riddle: What holds two people together, but only touches one?

Hint: It has to do with parents mostly. New riddle, same answer: It has no top or bottom, but holds flesh and blood and bones.

Hint: My father doesn’t wear his anymore.

If you said wedding ring, then you are right.

How I got into this mess: There I was hiding in Mom’s closet with my dog Spot who isn’t used to being so still. Even when he’s sleeping, his legs jerk like he’s chasing a Frisbee or a cat. I held his tail so it wouldn’t thump against the floor. He licked my face. That’s how dogs kiss. Why can’t parents be more like dogs? That’s not a riddle; it’s a wish. Why can’t they love you no matter what, follow you wherever you go, be always happy to see you, sleep snuggled up against your legs?

Anyway, Spot and I were spying on my parents through a crack in the door. The one who was talking had nothing new to say. The one who was silent–it was like she was screaming. This was Friday, Exchange Day, when Dad comes to take me–but not Spot–to his condo for the weekend. What they didn’t know was that this time I wasn’t going.

When Dad moved away six months ago he said he needed space, which is stupid because space is all around you. Unless he meant like outer space–but then he didn’t move to Mars; he moved to Collins Avenue. He says he loves me, says it every time he says goodbye. I told him love means being around. He said, You’re too young to understand. I said, How can you leave me week after week? He stared at the ceiling. I said, It’s not a riddle, Dad. He said, Your mother and I aren’t sure we can live with each other anymore. These things happen.

I figured they’d just keep doing this every week forever unless I stopped them. My friend Morgan told me I could run away. Now, there are two ways to run away. You can run away in your head or on your feet. I tried the first way for a while–it’s like living in a dream, like sleeping when you’re awake. You pretend you’re somewhere else, like in a story book with a perfect, happy family–only you can’t pretend that Friday doesn’t come.I saw Dad look at his watch, say, Where is that kid? I shushed Spot. Dad could call me all day and I wouldn’t come out. Which meant he’d have to stay.

Dad said, Here, Spot! Come here, boy! and old Spot woofed, and leaped from my arms and blasted through the door into the bedroom, and we were busted. That’s the thing about dogs. They have short memories, not like kids. Spot forgot that Dad in the house meant I’d have to leave, and we couldn’t play for two days.

Mom kissed me on the forehead, told me to call before bed and said, Don’t forget to brush your teeth. Dad told me to wait in the car. But instead I got Spot’s leash off the hook in the kitchen. I snapped it to his collar. Spot took the leash in his mouth–he likes to think he’s walking me. It was time to try the other kind of running away. And that’s when our adventure began that ends up right here with me scared or sad, I’m not sure which. The first place we went was . .

By Jameka:

The first place we went was to where I thought was an amusement park but was just Treaty Park where crickets look like roaches and as Spot saw them he snatched the collar like he was running for his life and when he pulled I fell face first into the mulch. I may want to change his name from Spot to Scaredy Cat. I lifted my face up. Spot came and licked the mud off my face as if he was staying he was sorry.

I got up and we got on the slides and played tag for almost an hour. Spot started barking and I said, "Why are you barking?" and he looked up and barked again and I looked up and saw my dad in his Monster truck and it looked like he was looking for us so me and Spot ran behind the tree so fast we looked like we were in a roaring horse race. As he road by we tiptoed from behind the tree. Spot barked as if something was wrong so I asked him, "What's wrong?" He saw a Petco across the road, so we went there. On the door, I saw a sign and it said "pet food, pet wash and pet water and pet collars." We went in and I also saw, "Hiring," so I went up to the counter and it said "Ring the bell for service," so I rang it and when I did a tall man said "How may I help you?" and I said, "Well my dog Spot here needs food, water and a bath and I need a job to pay for it."

The man said hold on one second and he went in the back and grabbed some papers and then he asked me how old was I and I said I was twelve and he said OK all you have to do is fill out some papers and after that that as my new job. After that day I worked there until I was 25 years old. Me and Spot saw my parents later on in life and I forgave them for all they had done.

By Jontae:

She went to the bank and emptied out her savings. Then she committed bike theft. Then she went to the store and stocked up on snacks. Then she went to the old forgotten road through Flagler Estates and went to the old St. Mary's house. She walked through the front door. All of a sudden kids from all over the world just jumped out and one kid asked, "Are you a runaway?"
"Yes," she said.

"Then you can stay here."There was an older man taking care of them and she was no longer alone. Now she is not alone but one more thing, "What is your name?"

"Sandra," she said.

"OK, my young one," the man said.

Later on back in Hastings, Sandra's mom and father is going nuts. She thinks they are having a blast. Sandra thought to herself that she missed her mom and papa. But I am having fun, no school and no work. This is fun. She says to herself I am staying here and no one is changing my mind. It is final. Goodbye mom. Goodbye dad.

By Bryanna:

The first place we went was to Petco to get my dog Spot some pet food. We went to this mystery house where we thought nobody lived but when we looked around in the big house a man popped out of nowhere. I almost jumped out of my skins and Spot almost peed on his self. He said my name is Professor King and who are you?

"I'm Kayla and this is my dog Spot. I'm here because my parents are getting a divorce and me and my dog are upset so we both decided that we will run away. I only had five dollars in my pocket, Mr. Professor King and I saw this empty house so I just decided to walk on in so me and my dog Spot can take a little nap."

Professor King said sure, let me show you the way. Finally we we went up to the room that I was going to stay in. It wasn't a big bed but it was something for me and Spot to sleep in. It was a rough night because I was thinking about my mom and dad. When I woke up the next morning, I saw Spot stretch out across. I almost didn't have any room to lay in. I went downstairs to talk to Professor King. He told me that I should go back home. I said, "Okay." Me and Spot walked home. It was a long way. When we got home my mom yelled, "Where were you?" I said, at a man's house. He's named Professor King. I'm sorry, mom. Dad. I will never do that again."
They said, "You are grounded but we love you."

An eye with magical powers

2008-04-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

What if we had a third eye -- an eye that sees what our regular pair of eyes can not see -- what would it see?

Eye

If I had an eye that
you can't see
It would see a whooping coming
for me
and a crazy man doing a catwalk.

Joshua, 4th

My Eyes

My tenth eye can see a pancake
My 100th eye can see big money
My third eye can see fishes jumping
on me. And now I can see you.

Ranesha, 4th

Go to the Beach, Third Eye

Jupiter, Saturn and more
It can see me sleep
It can't see me do my homework.
I'm glad it can't see my homework
because if I get a question
wrong he going to be like
what did you do to get that question wrong?
But sometimes I think the third eye needs to go to sleep
and give me a break and later
my third eye will wake up
and need to go to the beach.

Bryanna, 5th

My Third Eye Sees Everything

My third eye can see fifty
people die in one day. My
third eye can see little kids fighting.
My third eye can see football games
in different states. My third
eye can see the moon from my room.
My third eye needs to rest. He's been awake
for 19 hours. Now it is time to sleep.

My third eye would like to see Japan
in a blink of an eye.

My third eye can see Hong Kong.
My third eye can see into the future
and knows he can sleep
and no one knows.

Enrique, 5th

The Third Eye

My third eye can see Pluto
My third eye can see New York galaxy.
My third eye can see god.
My third eye can see Thomas Jefferson when he was 18.
My third eye can see John F. Kennedy when he was 12.
My third eye can see classic famous poems.

Zachery, 5th

Writing Outdoors

2008-04-02T06:44:00.000-07:00

More found poems from the playground:

Write, write, write

Crunchy grass dirty grounds
shiny cars new and clean plain
dirt nothing to do just
write write write but you feel
the air blow you off the swings
you feel very light off the ground

Bryanna, 5th

In the Wilderness

Running webs nowhere to go
hand cuffs on poles
steering wheels on bars
and empty cars,
chipped goals empty poles, running
in place grass on your face.
grass on your chest looking a mess
Where are you? You're in the wilderness.

Jameka, 5th

I see the sun this is no fun I wish
I could run run from here. I hate this
so much I just saw a tear I am here.
Ms Kim is here the grass is green I am feeling
steam, no I feel so mean.

Jontae, 5th

Long blue swings

Long blue swings
the bird flaps its wings
while the lonely swing goes back
and forth, with the grass
underneath,
I shuffle my feet.
The grass so plain, I'm in vain
as the wind blows away.

McKenna, 5th

The trees are moving in waves,
The swings are moving
back to back.

The trees are as green
as a piece of broccoli.

The dark screen of the TV is black.

The fishes are the color of a rainbow.

Mrs Lady of Liberty holds a book of Justice in her
right hand.

The shelf of books are full.

The TV has a lot of wires and cords.

Raynard, 5th

I see

I see the nice breeze
and I see the shapes in
the clouds. I see the
flower. I fee the sun
on my skin. I see trees
I see children running
around. I see a water fountain.
A empty car no one here.

Janeshia, 3rd.

More Found Poems

2008-03-21T07:42:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful spring day in Hastings yesterday. We had a visitor, writer Laura Lee Smith, and the two of us took the kids outside for more scavenger poems. Ranesha filled her notebook with lists of words she discovered on bumper stickers, signs and air conditioner units. She returned and performed this for us.

Found Poems and the FCAT Blues

2008-03-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

It's dreaded FCAT week, and the students were weary from test-taking. Despite that, I think they wrote some great poems. I sent them on a scavenger hunt for words in the classroom -- any phrase or word they liked the sound of. Then, they were to assemble a poem with these pieces. Some students also found ideas from the many posters of our African-American leaders and wrote poems based on them, such as Jameka's "They Made a Change."

Search Poem

When I was
at the beach
I saw a tree
and named it
Steve

Kenisa, 5th

Paddington takes the air. The air takes Paddington.
African Americans who made a difference.
Who made a difference? African Americans.
You may trod me in the very dirt
You may write me down in history
with your bitter twisted
lies but still like dust I'll rise.

McKenna, 4th

Bats fish for Knowledge

Bats at the beach
fish for knowledge
because without
education you are not
going anywhere
in this world with
liberty and justice for all.

Bryanna, 5th

"They made a change"

Every day I think about back in the day
when so many people like Harriet Tubman,
Martin Luther King Jr and others risked their
lives for us and so they could
make this a better world.
I wish all those people could live to see that they made
a good change in this world
but I know if they lived to see their changes they
would be very very proud of themselves
because I'm very proud and thankful for them.
They made changes like having everyone getting together
and not just one color
they made it where no matter what color
you are, they changed how certain color of
people go to certain places.
These are the people that I
know if I had something that went wrong I could depend
on them to make it right. These people
are not just any kind of hero. They are special heros.
These heros could never be forgotten. Remember
they made a change not you or anyone else.

Jameka, 5th

Writing about Writing

2008-03-13T04:58:00.001-07:00

A collaborative poem from the group:

Writing poetry makes me feel like a famous person playing a banjo with country music mix together with rap and hip-hop,
Writing poetry makes me feel happy that things come
through my mind,
Writing poetry makes me feel very happy inside my brain,
Writing poetry is like putting all the things that you like, or things that happened to you on one piece of paper,
Writing poems make me feel like I'm in heaven but whiter and funner
When I write poetry I feel like I'm writing mix words and trying to explore stuff
Writing poetry is like playing drums and a guitar
What do you think poetry mean?

When I write

When I write I think about love
and how girls get their heart broke
each and every day
So I like writing about love.
Love makes me feel better,
So that's why I love love.
Love make you feel great
if you don't get your heart
broken you feel like you
lost your heart you feel life
you don't have a heart.

Janeshia, 3rd

My Best Poem

My flood poem. I thought about how floods look
how floods sound and what kind of damage
could occur in a flood. My grandmother poem
I wrote about was one of my top 5 poems. When I
was writing it I thought about how she cook her chicken
and rice and how she cook those delicious greens and
hogmogs. And her corn bread. Every Christmas I used to
come over to her house and eat her red velvet cake and
chocolate cake.

Trevis, 5th

My favorite poem

My favorite poem is my poem
about TEAL. Teal is a person
who doesn't do her work and she
has long brown hair in pigtails. She
has fits all the time and she only has a teal shirt,
teal pants, teal shoes, teal socks, too that she wears
everyday. That is TEAL my favorite poem.

McKenna, 4th

Meet Trevis

2008-02-29T08:50:00.001-08:00

What is poetry?
"A different way to pronounce your words."

Of all the poems you have written, which is your favorite?
"The Flood, because I liked watching it happen."

Flood

I am a slippery drop of water and I am flowing through the clouds
Now, I'm flowing through the sky
Plip. Now I hit the ground. Rolling down the sidewalk
Plip drop Plip drop
Now a whole bunch of rain drops fall like ice.
The water, getting higher higher higher and higher.
Now, you can see water crossing fences.
If you were here, you would be dead.
Now, the next day the sun evaporated
Now, I'm back in the clouds.

2008-02-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

The roots look
like veins. They
are stuck together like a
family they stick together.
It looks like a tree
that is very
old it might
be holding up
a very old person

Bryanna, 5th

The picture looks like a bunch of
snakes coming out a hole and one
big snake under all the others

It looks like a lady with a lot
of arms and a hole in her
stomach

McKenna, 4th

If we weren't here.........

2008-02-23T06:31:00.001-08:00

Class took a philosophical turn this week when Ms. Talecia told us about a time she almost died in a car accident. We discussed what life might be like -- if something had happened to us earlier in our lives -- to keep us from Hastings today and our poetry class.

Where would we be, if we weren't here?

Life upside down

If I wasn't here I think my mom would have
had a better life. She would have a better house
on a better dream. When my sisters and brothers
was born more and more money came out her
pocket. When I was born her life turn up
side down

Jontae, 4th

Why am I me?

If I was
not me
I would
live in a tree
My mom
or Dad
would not have me.
So if
I was not
me I would
not see
so you can't
beat me.
So if I was
not me I
would live
in a tree.

Janeshia, 3rd

If I wasn't here today
my mom will only have one
child my mom life will be
different because when I was
born my mom life change in
So many ways. Now my mom
Life is so different with me the
spoiled child me Bryanna.

Bryanna, 5th

If I weren't here, I'd be
in Paris.
If I weren't me, I'd be
different, I'd be a person with long black
hair and freckles and long nails.
If I were in Paris, I'd look at
all the famous sites and eat the
famous foods and sleep
in the softest beds.

McKenna, 4th

Pictures of Numbers

2008-02-07T06:03:00.000-08:00

The students met Boudou Fountana, a character in my friend John Dufresne's novel, Deep in the Shade of Paradise. We read the scene from the novel where Royce Birdsong, a man who can't remember things anymore, and Boudou, a boy who sees everything, talk.

Says Royce: "Some days I can see clearly -- the details, the colors, all in focus. Some days the world is gray and blurred, and if something doesn't move, I can't see it. Sometimes I'm in the light, sometimes in teh shadow."

"Me, too. My senses are all scrambled."

"How so?" I see colors of sounds, shapes of smells, pictures of numbers."

"Like number one is a flagpole; five is down and around and a hat on top?"

"One is a man who lives alone, wears overalls and a straw Stetson. Eighty-two is a white feather quill. One thougsand two hundred and fifty-six is the man in the overalls and his four brothers are having friends over to a party. There's a big pig roasting on a spit in the yard, a raggedy black dog under the porch."

"How do you do that?"

"You can do the same. You can close your eyes and see, right? Or look at a book and see marks and lines, dots, squiggle, but hear a voice. Put your hands on the wall you can feel them talking downstairs. If you see someone eat a lemon, you taste its sourness, you pucker up. You taste with your eyes."

The number 27 is annoying and

it is red and it can talk and

I am about to be 27 years old

My sister is 27 years old. The number

27 is getting old.

Ranesha, 4th

#27

# 2 and #7

always beat and fight

so 28 the mommy

and 29 the daddy

always say stop it

you two the 28 mommy

say you two you better

go up the stairs

and 27, 28 and 29 lived

happily ever after.

Bryanna, 5th

250 always

be talking on

the cellphone talking

to her friend 632

and 25. One day

250's mom said

you is going to

get a ear infection

with that Verizon cellphone

so put it down

and go up to your

dirty room and

clean it up today.

Bryanna, 5th

6:15:51

6 is small and her favorite

number is 6

She only has 6 jackets, 6 shirts,

6 socks, 6 shoes and 6 pants.

Then comes 15.

15 is nine years older than 6.

15 is so nice and sweet and

so very smart I wish she

were here.

Last but not least comes 51

51 is 15 backwards.

51 is mean and not sweet and

is so not smart.

Being brother and sister in

all I don't know how 15 is

smarter than 51.

McKenna, 4th

27 sounds like it lives

in the projects and it sounds

like it ride on 24 with the doors

open money falling on the floor

Trevis, 5th

Red just sits there like a statue

2008-02-05T05:12:00.000-08:00

We listened to Ken Nordine's spoken-word jazz album, "Colors." Nordine personifies 33 different colors. Olive sits and sits and sits and thinks, doesn't realize how appreciated she is -- she's about to be nominated for color of the year). "What's the use?" says Puce. Lavender is a very old lady.

Mystery Red

Red shoes
Pig
Socks
College
Schools
Hair
Jeans
Teeth
More and more red
Red just sits there like a statue
Red is a very dark person he have
Cobwebs in his old house he don’t
Have a head
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red
Red has no neck
Red red red red red red
Red just sit there with no neck or head
He sit in an invisible chair nobody
Ever saw him before we call him
The mystery red

By Bryanna

I hate Burgandy Yellow
I hate
Burgandy yellow
It is not my favorite
Color
But it
Has a funny
Way of
Talking he
Talks so
Funny he make me
Laugh I don’t
Like Burgundy
Yellow but
I love Burgandy
Specially on cars
And trucks so
I hate burgandy yellow
But I love me
some burgundy

By Bryanna, 5th

Purple and Pink

Purple and Pink will make me sink down I will
Go drink
Me so I am guts
So help me fuse I tease like blood
And guts mixed together
And don’t forget bone
That make me strong
My lungs let me breathe in and out
Make me sing
Sing and shout
So purple and Pink
Make me sing
Sing with me
Have you ever sang?

By Janeshia, 3rd

Teal

As she walks in the door
We all stare at her
She’s tall and has long brown
Hair in a pig tail
But she’s not as she appears
She screams and shouts and
Kicks and punches
She doesn’t do her work
And has to make a frown
When she’s down
Teal
Teal
Sometimes I feel your pain
We may not be friends but
We get a long great
Teal
Teal
Teal and more and more
Of Teal

By Mckenna, 4th

Silver

It is like liver nasty stuff
That make you shiver
Goodbye do not quiver

By Jontae, 5th

Green is cool
But blues is hot
Yellow is mellow
But
Red
Is
Dead

By Kevis, 5th

Gray

Gray was a bad old man one
day he broke out of the old gray home
He snatched a old gray bat and beat
the cops down that try to get him then
one day he ran all the way to mexico
and they found him in the
old gray restaurant
He spend time in Rainbow color prison
and one day he broke out of there

Blue Blue is the color of my
dream and blue make me
seem blue he is so beautiful

Ranesha, 4th

Just where are we from?

2008-02-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, we read Kentucky writer George Ella Lyon's poem, "Where I'm From" and talked about how when we announce we are from Hastings or St. Augustine or East Palatka it is far more complicated than it sounds. We decided that where we are from is made up of a myriad of people and places and memories.

Where I'm From

I am from the street
working to get something to eat
I am from cookouts
where we cook meat
See me I am not no glass of tea
We me my boys we nice at some point so
Don't use us like no toys back
you know me
see it is not one side of me

Jontae, 5th

I'm from bikes town
I'm from trees
I'm from plants
I'm from grass
I'm from god
I'm from homes
I'm from cats
I'm from food
I'm from stop it
I'm from game 25 Life
I fell on my head that's where I'm from

P.S. Do not laugh

Kevis, 5th

Famous Strawberry Cake

2008-01-30T09:01:00.000-08:00

Our young Hastings poets love writing about food. This week, we sampled my mom's delicious strawberry cake, a cake that several adults I know have gone nuts over, including a friend in Mexico who's been asking me about this recipe for a long time. (Sara, see recipe below. Finally!) One of the things that makes this cake taste unique is in the way the icing is prepared. But, here's what the kids thought about it:

Pink is my second favorite color
but this cake show is good
It will make you want to slap your mama
This cake will make me lose my mind
This cake is so good I will eat the whole thing
Also I think this is strawberry

Bryanna "Cake" Beauford, 5th

Cake Cake Cake

A six layer cake will make me go crazy very crazy
It would make me hop out of my skin
So this cake tastes like smooth luscious Strawberry
even though I don’t like strawberry
But it was great very great

Janeshia, 3rd

The Taste

I think this cake has a very special taste
that I haven't taste before
Even though it's pink
it makes me think
of red velvet cake
And it has lots of sugar in it
It taste like a big juicy strawberry
on a desert day
where it's just you by yourself
all alone

Jameka, 5th

In case you'd like to make your own:

Recipe for Famous Strawberry Cake

1 box white cake mix
1 box jello(small) strawberry
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup wesson oil
1/2 cup half frozen sliced strawberries
Add cake mix, jello,eggs, and liquids,berries
Mix for four minutes with mixer
Pour in two cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350

Icing
1/2 stick of butter soft
1 box confectioners' sugar
Add about 3 tbs of the liquid for berries might have to add a little more or less depending on how thick you prefer the icing.

Stop fighting, Start writing

2008-01-28T05:35:00.000-08:00

For the next two months, we'll be working on anti-violence poems to submit to the Betty Griffin House annual poetry contest. The best poems will be published in their calendar to benefit the women's shelter. Here's Jontae's poem:

Stop fighting, Start writing

Stop fighting over people stepping on your shoes choose
To be the better man or woman
It’s your mind think for yourself
Look on the shelf for a book and look
It’s you not me

2008-01-23T04:45:00.000-08:00

The Girl Who Saw People Struggling

Hey, this is me when I was 5
I was looking at the world and seeing
people they struggling out there.
Now I see people having fun
But the only thing they

struggling about is their bills.

Ranesha, 4th

2008-01-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

I see an old man's life.
He is sitting on a
bench by himself.
He is my dream,
all day and everyday.

So he is sitting,
then he saw this man
playing golf so he
said, Can I play?
Then he said yes
so then they followed
the ball
then finally the ball went in.
Then the man said, Finally
I got something to do with my life.
I can play golf instead of doing nothing.

By Janeshia, 3rd

Old man

I am an old man

I wish I had a cane

I wish I had a plan

I wish I had a train to ride on to Spain

I wish I had my dog to protect the old home

But when I wish I feel alone

Trevis, 5th

I'm an old greasy man

on the corner doing the thing

everyday like a recorded tape

Jameka, 5th

Photograph: Rostos de / Faces of Portugal by Rui Farinha

Writing about Photographs

2008-01-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

I want to go to that place to see how the water is going
And taste the water
And feel the water
If it is cold or hot
And swim in the cracks
See if sharks is swimming in there
And fishes in there
Swimming all around

by Ranesha, 4th

Cinnamon Listerine

There is a place where
I've never been before
I want to go there but
My parents won't let me
They say I might get hurt there
And I don't want to get hurt. I might
make the water wake
up if I ever tasted it. It
will be growing. It might be
a salt water ocean
that got frozen up with
my listerine mouth that
taste like mint so I better
not go there with cinnamon
listerine or if might melt

By Bryanna, 5th

Photograph by Don Bullens, winner of the Flickr Photo Contest.

Remembering

2007-12-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

A Collaborative poem from the group

I remember that I lived in New Jersey
I remember when my nail came off
I remember when I first met you
you reminded me of my unicorn
I remember when I first saw you
you reminded me of my buttered popcorn
I remember the day I broke my tiny little leg
I remember when I wiped out
on my skateboard and tore it up;
I remember when I thought my
favorite skater had died, but it was
a coma he was in. I remember when
I almost hit my head on a pole
when I was riding my bike
I remember when me and my friend was
on the dirt bike and he fell off
and knocked his neck loose
I remember happiness and joy
I remember when I got in the tub with a diaper on

By Marlon, Bryanna Joshua, Jameka, Johntae, Shakira, Amy

What You and I Did

Remember when you hit me upside the head?
I felt like hitting you back,
But I did not. I calmed down.

Remember when I did my first back flip?
I felt like doing it again.

Remember when I ran my first touchdown?
I felt like getting one more time.

--Johntae

Bryanna reads

2007-12-14T10:01:00.001-08:00

Writing with Ms Liz

2007-12-14T03:53:00.001-08:00

Janesha, Liz Robbins and Bryanna

Ranesha reads her poem, "Scorpion."

Hope, As the World is a Scorpion Fish

2007-12-12T05:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday, we're looking forward to a visit from Liz Robbins, assistant professor of English and creative writing at Flagler College. Liz's poems have appeared in Calyx, The Chattahoochee Review, Feminist Studies, Natural Bridge, Pebble Lake Review, RATTLE, RHINO, and The William and Mary Review. Her debut collection, Hope, As the World Is a Scorpion Fish, is forthcoming from The Backwaters Press in Fall, 2007.

In anticipation of her afternoon with us, we discussed the intriguing title of her new collection and I asked the students to write a poem about what the title made them think about, or what they believe the collection of poems might be about. Our approach to this assignment was similiar to the way we wrote poems while listening to Coltrane and Duke Ellington, Madredeus and the Tom Tom Club. I wrote "Hope, As the World is a Scorpion Fish" on the board. The students wrote it in their journals and we repeated it over and over, letting the words and its impression soak in. Here are the poems:

By Trevis:

A scorpion is
something that you
Don't want to be around
especially when it jumps out of
water and slams you on the ground
it feels like a scorpion

It means like it feels easy like
a fish swimming in the sea when you're
doing good in life but when you get in
trouble and go to jail it stings like a
scorpion

By Janesha:

Scorpion Fish

A fish that
sting in the
bling. Bring
ching ching
fly and sting
is the water
where is your
mother?

Have some fun Don't you
dare get a gun
Stay away
You want to get
Shot?
So stay
hot.

By Shakira:

She thinks that everything
in the word is a scorpion
fish. It's like she's hoping that
the world is a scorpion fish,
A scorpion fish may look
like a horse fish. Maybe
the titles are different titles
like sad, happy scorpion fish.

Who is Simon anyway?

2007-12-12T05:37:00.001-08:00

Last week, Kevis and I were waiting on the other kids to join us, and he suggested we play a round of Simon Says. That got us to thinking. Who is Simon? A kid? A man? Maybe a teacher? One thing we did decide on was that Simon sure was one heck of a bossy soul. So, here are poems the kids wrote yesterday.

By Shakira:

Simon Says
Simon says clap your hands
touch your ears Simon says touch
your armpits. Simon says eat
your cats. Simon says learn your
ABC's. Eat your wax. Simon says
go to sheep. Now go to sleep
Simon says save up money
Now spend your honey.
And Simon says Merry Christmas to all and
to all a goodnight.

By Charish:

Simon says disappear
Simon says do magic
Simon says be a prep
Simon says be a punk
Simon says be a girl
Simon says be a goth
Simon says be a seed
Simon says be a sprout
Simon says be a flower
Simon says be a bloomed rose
Simon says touch your head
Simon says touch your brain
Simon says touch your bones
Simon says touch your organs
Simon says touch your feet
Simon says touch your toes
Simon says goodbye

I used to be......But now

2007-12-05T07:44:00.000-08:00

By Kelsie:

I used to be a door open
Now I'm a door closed.
I used to be a necklace
Now I'm a broken necklace
I used to be broke
Now I'm rich.
I used to be a bus stop
Now I'm a bus
I used to be new
Now I'm old
I used to be small
Now I'm tall
I used to be on
Now I'm off
I used to be an ear
Now I'm an ear with ear rings
I used to be a TV
Now, I'm a television
I used to be a quarter,
Now I'm a dime.

By Charish:

I used to be wood
now I'm a mansion
I used to be metal
Now I'm a pole
I used to be a plain brush
Now I'm a red one
I used to be a hand
Now I'm a bone
I used to be a scalp
Now I am hair
I used to be trash
Now I'm waste
I used to be a human
Now I'm a skeleton
I used to be cloth
Now I am a dress
I used to be a seed
Now I am a beautiful rose
I used to be spots
Now I am camo
I used to be glass
Now I am a window
I used to be cushion
Now I am a couch
I used to be a nerd
Now I am not

By Shakira:

I used to be a squash, now I'm a corn dog
I used to be a crate, now I'm Sponge Bob
I used to pick on children, now I pick my nose
I used to be a book, now I'm a newspaper
I used to be tall, now I'm a midget
I used to be a shirt, now I'm a burp
I used to look like Ranesha, now I look like me

Reading Aloud

2007-11-23T06:29:00.000-08:00

Far left, in the classroom, Ranesha practices her poem,"Three." Janesha reads, "Slide and Mine."

Below, Joshua and Jontae work on their rap-in-progress.

Jontae at work

The kids want to show off their hard work and hold a reading at the O.U.R. Center. Look for Family Night dates!

Writing to Music

2007-11-16T05:49:00.000-08:00

Listening to Coltrane's "Blue Train"

By Jontae:

baby back boo

Boo boo the song makes me feel blue
now I just told you. Two two of me
like a cool blue sea like Jack
a good old snack the song fills
me up like hot chocolate in a cup
drink me drink me don't this song make
you fill like drinking some green tea?

By Bryanna:

Fancy Restaurant

I feel like I'm walking through
a fancy restaurant and the
jazz players are tap and
rocking side to side
I'm enjoying while I'm tapping my
feet to the
beat and music.
I think the restaurant
is glowing and sparkling
and all the customers
are rocking side to side
while the waiters are
tapping their feet to the
music. I think
it is a very great day too.

By Shakira:

Dance swing
play instruments, drinking, eating
maybe the end of a wedding

maybe a grandpa getting down
maybe people kissing
people putting on makeup
getting drunk. smoking outside
dancing their way outside

By Jameka:

Dancing with the Flow

I can see people dancing with
the flow of music flying in
circles very gently and soft
everyone is hoping that the music
never stops.

By Charish:

I imagine a band playing
music singing and dancing
people dancing to a happy
ending from a bad story

By Kelsie:

It sounds like it is raining
And someone is staring
In the window wishing they
Can go play outside

Listening to Madredeus, a musical group from Portugal

By Jameka:

Feeling the Rhythm

I can see people closing their
eyes and listening to the rhythm
sway away in air when
they open their eyes it's still
there

By Charish:

Listen and Imagine:

I'm listening to music and
it sounds like it is raining
and a ballerina is
dancing gently in the rain
while people pass by she's
still dancing peaceful and
gently in the rain

Poets Can Fly

2007-11-11T13:06:00.000-08:00

One windy afternoon, we watched a helium birthday balloon make its way over the pine trees of Hastings. It climbed into the clouds and then its silver and green shine disappeared. Where is that balloon now, and on its flight, what did it see?

Watch Jontae and Trevis defy gravity in the video below.

What is it like to soar and flip in the air?

By Trevis:

Clouds and Air

I wonder what it feels like to be in the air I wish I can go on
a ride in the air, I wish I could touch the clouds. When
I was little, I always wanted to take a piece of
a cloud put it in a jar. When I was little I thought
I could hit the cloud with a rock and I thought
I could lay on a cloud until I saw an airplane
go through the clouds.

By Jontae:

He is Amazing

I wish I could fly in the sky in the air
Like I just don't care and I wish i didn't
tear a piece of skin and now in the sky
with my friend. When I am in the air
I am not so scared but I jump and
I just flip in the air I can be what
I want to be if I work hard at it
I will be where I want to be

Boy, Hurry Up

Like tiny thousand whispers fall run boy have
your fun now fly fly man leave me alone
and now stay home

By Ranesa:

The Song of the Five Balloons

Five balloons fly on the air
Fly fly fly in the sky
Go balloon go
Go fly in the sky
with your friends
you left me behind

By Shakira:

If I could fly, I would see
airplanes, birds, trees, houses.
I would feel so good
and the wind blowing through our hair
I would act like I'm flying in a movie
I would fly all over to
New York and see my friends
and have fun.

By Cherish:

If I could fly I would be scared
I would feel that I am going to drop
but if I was a bird
I would not care
I would glide in the air with my wings
I wish I could fly

By Joshua:

If I could jump high I would
be a NBA player I will dunk
all over them. I'll be on the Miami
Heat. They always win their game.
Cause they got Dwayne Wade

By Bryanna:

If I could fly I will see
the whole world and everyplace
store cat dogs and more
The cold wind blowing through
my hair it feels so good
that I would break my neck
by that I mean the wind will be so fast
and I will be so high that
I will be high that
I will look like giraffes

By Janesha:

Slide and Mine

Juice in see the egg only
Sleep so so come on and
Cheat I watch TV less than
me in the sea so you can't see
me fly in the sky so
cheat and give so slide
and slide with a hair
like mine

Wishes

2007-10-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Pictured above, Janesha

Collaborative Poems

In the first poem, each student wrote a wish, the first being as crazy as they wanted. The second effort had rules made up by the students themselves. The line had to begin with "I wish," and also include food and a type of clothing. The titles were yet another collaborative effort.

I Wish I Was Rich in a Japanese Restaurant

I wish I was rich and a rapper
I wish when I grow up I will be a photographer
I wish when I grow up I will work at a Japanese restaurant
I wish I was spoiled
I wish I was a millionaire with a four-story mansion
I wish a tree was made of honey
I wish we could use a cell phone so we can text people
I wish I was rich and a basketball player
I wish I had the millionaire cat that is famous and not scared of anything
I wish I was fifteen and out of Hastings and gone to a different phase of dead
I wish for a dirt bike
I wish I had a beautiful kimono from Japan

My Baby Phat Apple Bottoms Roca Wear Munky Wish

I wish I was a piece of gum so people can eat me
I wish my shirt was a butter bean
I wish I was mac and greens and Apple Bottoms
I wish that I could have a big juicy hamburger
I wish that I could live on chicken nuggets and have a yucatta from Japan
I wish my broccoli turned into my socks
I wish that chicken looked like a shirt
I wish I had some meat loaf or some Baby Phat
I wish my sandwich had on a Roca Wear outfit
I wish I had shoes made out of mash taters
I wish I was eating fried chicken while wearing my Drunkn Munkys
I wish my house was covered with mac and cheese

By Janesha:

Teamwork

I wish I was pink and a dog and a panther
Blue shoe flies in the sky like a dolphin
And I so so wish I was on the cheer leading team
I wish I was great at all of it

Wishes

I will run pretty fast for her
so we can have a Halloween nice great time

me and Ms Kim was life and lime be a scout

and nice and fine so shine like V and tine

By Ranesha:

I wish I had a four wheeler
and a dirt bike.
And I wish I had Ms Brooks
so she can do my homework
and cook and clean.

By Kelsie:

I wish I had a chicken

and my chicken was all different colors

like all the colors of the world

I wish I lived by myself

and I oculd do anything

I want in my four-story house

More Magnetic Poetry

2007-10-28T05:59:00.000-07:00

By Rachael

Stinky Feet

Those lazy feet are mean and red
Those lazy feet eat sausage and peach
Those lazy feet have shine
Shine like tiny bitter honey
Those lazy feet dream of car power
Those lazy feet belong to my brother

Our Dreams

2007-10-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

By Jontae:

Burger King

I had a dream that I was another side's king
It was not scary, but then I heard a phone ring.
I said be quiet and a girl started to sing.
Then a boy came and said what did you bring? Go away.
Then I woke up at Burger King.

By Rachael:

My Dream

I dream of the sky brighter than blue
I dream of trees darker than dark, greener than green
I dream of sixth graders looking and big kids taller than tall
I dream I dream

I dream of Dylan the monster
and Cherish singing and seconds of the singing,
Dylan the monster dying.

By Raynard:

Don't Sleep by the Edge

Don't sleep by the edge.
Ghost and goblins will come for you.
I wouldn't want to be you
If I was sleeping by the edge
If I was you I would sleep with my mom and dad.
And remember,
Stay away from the edge.

By Kelsie:

My Dream

One night I dreamed of me
getting out of this bus
and I got dropped off at this lady's house,
but it was this Japanese house
and the house was a four-story house
So the lady said come in, so I did.
I said, Can I look around?
And she said, why yes.
In this one room,
She made books for stairs
So I tried to walk up the stairs
made out of books
but I couldn't
So I went back down the book stairs.
As I was walking for the door knob,
She appeared in front of me
and it was like a ghost.
So she said you can go,
but next time ask.

Things We Fear

2007-10-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

By Jontae:

I am not afraid because
I am born and raised on the playground
where I spend most of my days
At night I feed my dogs
sometime at 1 a.m.
now that's why I'm not scared.

By Shakira:

I am Afraid of Spooky Halloween

I am going to tell what
my teacher told me.
When my teacher was little
there was a nice man
and he built his self
up like a scare crow
and he had a sign
that say Get how much
you want. If you stick your hand
in the bowl he would scare you
and my teacher wet
her pants.

By Jameka:

I'm not afraid because nothing
Can hurt you unless you
are scared of it
and then it will get you
but if you're not
you don't have to worry.

By Joshua:

I am afraid of snakes
because they have sharp tongues
That's what scares me.

By Kevis:

I am afraid of killers killing me
But I will run away before they can catch me

The Boy Behind Juice Up the True Say

2007-10-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Joshua reads his poem, "Seaweed Trees."

Magnetic Poetry is a great way to introduce kids to the process of writing poems. During our first day together, the giant pile of words on the table soon became long snaking sentences . We broke them into shorter, more manageable stanzas. Soon, they had their own poems to add to their journals. When we saw the poetry the kids were writing -- with and without MP -- we knew a blog would be an excellent way for them to see their work in print.

There are always a few sentences or parts of poems going on the magnetic board board and everyone is invited to join in these works-in-progress. One afternoon, Joshua put the finishing touches to one of these on-going poems with the phrase: "Juice up the true say."

"Juice up the true say?" we asked.

"You know, cough up the truth," Joshua said.

Well, that summed it up. After all, isn't truth-telling the goal of all good writing? Cough up that truth.

Scrabble

2007-10-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Clockwise from left: Kevis, Shakira, Jameka, Jontae and Amy

Everyone got in on the Scrabble Action.

Here, Ms. Singleton works with Amy and Shakira.

I Remember

2007-10-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

Using the writing prompt: "I Remember."

Two poems by Jameka:

I remember when I lost my first tooth,
my uncle asked me: Where is the proof?
Lying is no use.
If you're telling the truth
You might get a dollar or two.

I remember this girl I didn't like
and one day we got in a fight.
My uncle said you know you wasn't right.

2007-10-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

After reading "Lineage" by Margaret Walker, the students wrote poems about their grandparents.

By Jontae:

I Miss Her

My grandmother was a nice old lady
Every Sunday she would cook and she could cook
Some good candy jams and sweet corn
a little bit of sweet potato pie
Boy, that was two months before my birthday that she passed.
I was 8 years old. I still remember her.
No one can replace her in my mind.
Now this is a story I told you. Now that's it.

By Bryanna:

My Grandmother

My grandmother is sweet and kind
she always cook when I go to her house
she always have a hot pot of food on the table
she have chicken, greens, mac and cheese, rice with lime a beans,
and me some hot sauce with a soda on the side
that's the best eatting ever
My grandmother is sweet and kind

My Granddaddy

My granddaddy is nicer than a sack of peanuts
he always remember your birthday
he will always check on you when you are sick
and he will always give you some gum
that will get you a cavity
that my mother have to pay for
but he is the best granddaddy I ever saw.

By Amy:

My grandma is so nice and sweet
that she baked some cookies.
Boy them cookies are so good.

By Shakira:

I call my grandma Ole May.
The thing she told me
is to always go to church
and never do bad things in your life
or you will shoot your days.
Then she gave me a hug.

Poems Created with Magnetic Poetry

2007-09-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

Getting started with Magnetic Poetry

By Jameka:

Please stop the true vision of love.
Would delicate honey never have chocolate
in the pound?
You must tell the next man to stop and think
and do the right thing.
whisper to the sky and have a blow above the moon.

One chocolate honey light
Pink bitter dream
like moments of sadness over her cry

By Trevis:

Spring Day
Wet cool enormous pole
with pink white fingers like ships.
I stare out, a light crushed
on spring day

Good Things and Bad Things

Spray shine in cool winter music
bitter juice
a death flood beneath time
sweet soar
pink milk

Smooth Things

Your smooth chocolate, frantically lather
Blue skin shadow.
Her moment shot by full play
and weak cool peach water.

By Ranesha, Amy, Janeisha and Shakira:

Delirious music girl
like our summer garden symphony
like death shadow
the rain
chocolate sun
bitter cry

Gorgeous purple diamonds
worship the spring time shadow
Eternity sleep near the moment

I am

2007-09-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Pictured above: Trevis, Ranesha and Raynard

Today, the kids scribbled on paper, then passed the messy drawing to the student seated next to them. Like looking for figures in clouds, the students were asked to find objects in the tangle of lines. They saw rain drops, volcanoes, waves, the number 3, rocks.

By Trevis:

Flood

I am a slippery drop of water
and I am flowing through the clouds
Now, I'm flowing through the sky
Plip. Now I hit the ground.

Rolling down the sidewalk
Plip drop Plip drop
Now a whole bunch of rain drops fall like ice.
The water, getting higher higher higher and higher.
Now, you can see water crossing fences.
If you were here, you would be dead.
Now, the next day the sun evaporated
Now, I'm back in the clouds.

By Raynard:

Rock

I am a rock
A rock so dark
Dark as the sky
I can't move.

By Joshua:

I am a wave and when you see me

you will float back to sea.

I am clear as a diamond.

I am a sea

as green as a seaweed tree

floating in the ocean sea.

By Ranesha:

I am the number three

I am the number after two

I am on the number line

I got a cousin that three

She look like a he.