three for one

On this last day of National Poetry Month for 2016, I would like to share three poems that I wrote with the junior high and high school classes that I teach. We were studying the poem, "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats this week, and worked on imitating his repetition/rhyme scheme to create new poems. On the last day of poetry month for school, I asked the students to give me four random words to set my end rhyme, and then we all worked on writing our poems at the same time. I did give them a bit of a head start by giving instruction and sharing some thoughts before I began, but it was definitely a good competition. 

I'd like to share all three of my competition pieces with you. I hope you have found as much joy in poetry this month as I have. Trying new things, reading new and old poems, it has all been a growing experience. Thank you for being part of my experience as well. It has been wonderful! Enjoy! 

Sunshine and Mountains

A citrus sunshine day with lime,

Tangy with a splash of happy day.

We smile and shine adding lime

To the mix of lemons for a lemonade day. 

We could sit and cry all day in a chair,

A lovely purple crying chair, but the mountain

Keeps calling us to stand up from the chair,

To no longer sit still, to forever climb the purple shadow mountain.

To Eat and Drink

Knowledge—truth, something we chew,

When it all is shown—comes into light.

The world doesn't seem so bad—no longer can chew

Our hearts to bits—now there's only light. 

Walking together on green grass so moist, 

Softly, quietly, perfectly filling this cup

To overflowing, a life no longer dried up—moist—

Saturated— yet still perforated—a completely full cup. 

Lunch Date 

Held within a dream like peaches and cream, 

You and me, connecting over pizza

In a temporary moment, smooth as whipped cream

On hot chocolate, with lingering thoughts of pizza.

Riding side by side, I almost see a bicycle

Transporting you here and there as if on a cloud

That floats by, coming back on a bicycle

To transport my pizza peaches and cream dreams to the cloud.