By Christian McEwen One summer, I taught a poetry workshop at the Edinburgh Book Festival, working with a mixed group of seven-to-thirteen-year-olds. The classes were held in an open tent with two long trestle tables and a scatter of folding chairs, and our theme was “Questions Without Answers.” I told the children about my brother…
House in the Snow by Nathaniel U. (6th grade) The house is warm and inviting the fireplace alit and wafting the bittersweet smell of smoke into my nose the snow a white blanket draped over the mountains and houses is cold yet makes you feel warm inside the ski rack is frosted over with flakes…
by David Andrew Stoler The girl from Queens is quiet and shy—one of the smallest students in her seventh-grade class, she is also hearing impaired and wears special headphones connected directly to a microphone that each of her teachers must wear… that is, when she gets up the nerve to remind them. Now, while her…
Diamond Girl by Kalani (3rd grade) I am a diamond girl. I love it when I shine. Inside of me, there are crystals. I dream of being a star. I fear being shattered. At night, I glow in the moonlight. Will you glow with me? I Am Summer Love by Richna (3rd grade) I…
by David Andrew Stoler At night, when nobody else was awake, the two teenagers would send secret messages to each other: short bursts of text that they would wrap like little gifts in layer after layer of meaning. Gossip, intrigue, flirtation, the blossoming of young love…if their parents found out what was really going on—if…
The Snow, a blues poem by Otto O. (6th grade) Oh, the snow, the snow, the snow. The white, the warmth, the snow. I feel so good. I think you know. But then comes the rain! Oh no, not the rain! It wipes all the good snow away. And I’m upset, thanks a lot rain!…
by Peter Markus When I teach young people to write poetry, I begin by telling them stories. Not stories about writing poetry—what’s the story there, right?—but stories about twelve-legged purple octopi who like to ride unicycles and birds who have one wing but still are able to fly and the time when I was a…
December Days Anushka (3rd grade) Christmas lights shining like stars On a cold winter night. Snow covering trees, Like thick white blankets. Stockings hung from the fireplace, Waiting to be filled by treats. Children going To wait for old Saint Nick. They open their presents on Christmas day With joyful faces. The snow is melting…
by David Rosenthal HER GHOST It walks with her to school, floating on a pool of rainbow oil along the gutter floor. It darkens chain-link lace, foreshadowing the face of someone sleeping by a boarded door. It slides past broken panes, and crawls across four lanes of careless traffic on the boulevard, then jumps…
The Music of My Life by Josephine W. (4th grade) Sometimes I hear the pitter patter of rain the sad days of rain end with a sigh In the spring I hear the sweet giggling of children the happy day of sunshine ends with a sleepy snore In the summer, I hear the rustle of children…