Suffering From Writer's Block?

Eighth grader Anthony sincerely felt that he had nothing to write.  Yet the teacher assigned the class to write an extended complex sentence with multiple dependent clauses, trying to shape the sentence3 into a poem.  This poem is the result, reminding us that just playing with words sometimes helps us escape our worst case of writer's block:

Notebook Entry, 2/27/13

Although I began this poem well,
Because I have no idea what to write,
As I've been thinking about many issues,
When I should be writing about a peaceful time,
If I can think of any peaceful issues,
Since I have been very hyper lately,
Whenever I hear about a crazy topic,
Where I had been imagining new ideas,
Until I can get my mind straight,
I can't think of a good poem.

Anthony S., eighth grade

What Is a Pentatina?

Today's post features a bit of irony.  The pentatina is not a "real" form of  poetry.  The sestina, featuring six stanzas of six lines apiece and one three line stanza, has been around since the 12th century, but in Poetry magazine in October 2012, Campbell McGrath published a humorous twist on the form: Pentatina for Five Vowels.  Each stanza features a rhyme based on a different vowel. Eighth grade students read and studied the patterns within this poem, then teamed up to imitate the form, and the three boys published below did so with a much more serious tone.  Look for another Pentatina coming soon!

 

Pentatina

 

 

Life is a debt with death you must pay,

Death is the light that leads you astray,

Light is the force to push darkness away,

Out of the darkness and into the gray,

And gray is the place life finds its way,

 

Life will die almost instantly,

When death squelches light that used to be,

When the light is gone, darkness runs free,

The dark of the gray that will always be,

And into the gray life hopes to flee,

 

The life of the world will eventually die,

Death, a distraction from the light of the sky,

Light flows to dark and lets out a cry,

The greatest dark in gray is a lie,

And gray and life in an eternal tie,

 

From life to death a person will flow,

Death leads to light that no one shall know,

In the absence of light darkness does grow,

With darkness to gray there is no glow,

Gray is to life, as dove is to crow,

 

Life and death are stuck in the glue,

From death alone the light will imbue,

When light turns to dark it loses its hue,

From darkness to gray no one has a clue,

And gray to the life you never knew.

 

 

by Noah D. , Jonathan X., and Gregory H. -- Grade 8

Figurative Darkness

Ninth grade students at Holicong have recently been exploring figurative "darkness" in some concise but thought-provoking poems.  What could better capture the doldrums that haunt us at winter's end? Hang in there everyone!  Spring is just ahead!

In the Dark

Trapped, on a winding road that never ends
Lonely, no consultations with friends
Confused as to what leads next
Like reading lines but not understanding the text

Lost in your own state of mind
Reliving mistakes far back in time
Ideas scramble in your brain
Trapped, feeling anything but sane

Brook B., Grade 9




In the Dark

The sun fades away,
Takes over does the night.
No more stars that shine brightly,
Not a beam of light.

Lost and alone,
With the forest's eerie cry and tune.
Yet there is still hope,
We still have the moon.

Casey Z., Grade 9

Snow in the Forecast!

Will we get to experience the essence of this poem tomorrow? 

Snowflakes

 

I feel the air as I walk.

Soon, I feel it’s everywhere.

I can’t help thinking

that I am sinking.

Everywhere that I see

snowflakes are falling from the sky.

They drop down onto me

as I look up to see

that what I am seeing

are all these snowflakes are not the same.

I try to find someone to tell

but I soon realize

that I am

 alone.

 

by

Sierra R., Grade 9

A Balancing Act

Sometimes life is a balancing act.  Kristina's poem reminds us of this. 

I Am

I am a realist and a dreamer

I wonder if I am going down the right path
I hear the clock ticking faster
I see that nothing lasts forever
I desire to never make mistakes

 

I am a realist and a dreamer
I pretend that I live in a fairytale
I feel the pressure to be perfect
I reach for the stars
I worry that I won’t achieve my goal
I cringe at the thought of growing old

 

I am a realist and a dreamer
I know where I belong
I believe that everything happens for a reason
I dream to make memories come alive
I try to image that life always goes on
I hope to make pictures appear with a flash
I am a realist and a dreamer


by Kristina H., Grade 9

Book Spine Poems

Did you know that writing a poem can be as simple as the artful arrangement of book spines from your home library?  Even better, these poems are "Instagrammable!"  Look at how these eighth grade students arranged their collection to craft a poem.




by Liam C. Grade 8




by Noah D. Grade 8















by Austin M. Grade 8



by Linnea S. Grade 8

I Am

Pattern and repetition often result in a poem that gathers momentum as you read it.  We know that is just one of the many facets you will love about the poem below about the struggles of a writer to achieve perfection -- or at least power!

I Am

I am literate and imaginative
I wonder what will inspire me next
I hear my pen gliding across paper
I see a constant flow of letters
I desire to step outside the box

I am literate and imaginative
I pretend to relive the moment
I feel the weight shift under my pen
I touch the fibers of the paper
I dislike being uninspired
I am upset by bland adjectives

I am literate and imaginative
I know there are a million ways to word it
I believe I will inspire the emotions of others
I dream of the image I distill with my words
I try to string all my thoughts in to order
I hope my words capture the attention of others.

I am literate and imaginative

Maddy G.
Grade 9

artwork by Davia D.