Poetry Corner

Poetry is a powerful and artistic way to express our deepest emotions, dreams, and innermost feelings. One reason poets like this form is the freedom it offers to choose the structure. Lines can be short or long. Words can be bolded or capitalized- anything your heart can desire. In this collection, you’ll find student-written poetry, teachers’ favorites, and timeless works by famous poets, each with lasting emotions throughout the stanzas.

The following words, arranged in their precise patterns, come from me. I hope their messages inspire you to be kind, to reflect on the depth of life, and to appreciate the intricacy of wildlife.

Poetry Corner: Poems by Gianna Alongi

What You Choose

How you get around, how you get to school,

getting home or going to the store,

how do you choose to go places you can’t get to by yourself?

A parent, taxi, friend?

Why do you walk or drive or ride to school, and do you choose to get around that way?

Focusing on work, being silly, being just plain annoying, why do you choose to go around the world like that?

Do you want to be like that or do you have to?

Reacting to your choices, telling you to listen, and having you share your ideas, how do teachers react to you and is that how you want them to?

You can’t follow your dreams if you don’t try, don’t care, don’t have any dreams,

You can’t quit on your dreams if you are persistent, open to ideas, and are a believer.

You don’t know if you are a believer or not? That’s not true,

you will always know, deep down, where you stand in this world.

No matter how hard you try to ignore it, you will always know

No matter what your reason is, you will always know

No matter where your live, what you look like, or how you work,

you will always know,

Always being yourself.

This poem focuses on the fact that only you can change your life and how you want to live it. It talks about how dreams play a much bigger role in our lives than we think.

The Tiger

Fierce

Majestic

Mysterious

Victorious

Tigers.

There is no other animal

allowed to be called

the king of the jungle.

There is no animal

more beautiful

more brave

more amazing

than a tiger,

the tiger.

Growling

Surviving

Growing

Hunting,

A L L in tigers,

all in the king of the jungle.

This poem highlights the significance of wildlife and showcases its remarkable capabilities.

Marker

“That marker!” you complain,

staring

down at your newly blue hands

but you don’t yet know

the adventures the blue hands will give you.

When you get back into your classroom,

out of that nasty art class,

kids start to

giggle

laugh

chuckle

at those bright blue hands of yours,

“Why me?”

you mutter angrily.

At lunch, you fear to bring your hands out of the

pockets they’ve been hidden in all day,

“That marker” you complain,

you don’t want your lunch to be stained

blue. Blue.

The ugly color of robin eggs that

fall

from the roof of your house.

Just then, from out of the

blue,

Sally walks over to you, a grin growing on her face,

so you sink down into your chair,

afraid of what she might say.

But, instead of being a mean, old classmate,

she commented,

“I love the color blue. Your hands look so cool, like an alien.”

I squint up, not believing my ears,

so I hold up my hands,

but then

I see tears

of laughter

on the faces of bullies.

So I start to laugh with them,

at first not believing the sounds we make together.

So I hold my hands out,

swing my hands wide,

as we all laugh as a crowd,

quiet at first, but then loud, loud, louder!

Three days later, when I look down at my hands,

I see the pale color I

always

see,

no longer blue, I think to myself,

but, still, I got up and walked to class with my

brand new friends anyway.

This poem symbolizes the power and value of friendship and how connecting with others is the key to cultivating strong relationships.

Poetry Corner: Spotlight on Edgar Allan Poe

Considered one of the most famous poets of all time, Edgar Allan Poe has set the stage for many writers to come with his mysterious and profound approach. Although almost everyone knows about his writing, few people know about his murky life.

Edgar Allan Poe(1809-1849) was a critic and poet in the 19th century, with a life filled of depression, job and financial instabilities, alcoholism, and young orphanism. His biological mother died of tuberculosis when he was two, and his father died a year later after he left Edgar with John and Frances Valentine Allan, his wealthy foster parents who provided him with a good education even though they didn’t legally adopt him. Like Eliza Poe, Edgar’s foster mother died of tuberculosis on February 28th, 1829, when Poe was 20 years old, and five years later, John Allan died March 27th, 1834, when Poe was 25 years old. He joined the army at age 18, and nine years later, Edgar married Virginia Clemm-Poe, his 13-year-old cousin. Poe started writing in 1827 with plenty of inspiration from the tragedies he had already faced. One of his famous poems, titled Annabel Lee, is thought to have been inspired by the loss of his wife in 1847.

Although his life was overall mysterious, his death may have been the most puzzling part of it all. He died on October 7th, 1849, from “congestion of the brain”, but to this day, nobody truly knows what happened to him. He was found delirious in the streets of Baltimore in someone else’s clothes.

Poetry Corner: Wredling Teachers’ Favorites

Many Wredling teachers are passionate about poetry too! Let’s take a look at some of their favorites.

Mrs. Lipecki says, “My favorite poem of all time is The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Halloween is my favorite time of year, and this poem embodies all things suspenseful and spooky!”

Mrs. Rath, the 7-3 Language Arts teacher, says she loves Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise because of its simplicity and empowering message. “In a small number of stanzas, she is able to convey power, acceptance, and confidence.”

Mrs. Breon, the 6-4 Language Arts teacher and team leader, feels that The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost is her personal favorite because “it makes you think about your life choices and how if you change one thing, there are things that would never happen or different things that would happen-all because of choices you did or did not make.” She also loves Shel Sliverstein’s funny poems!

Ms. Metcalfe, the Infinity Language Arts and Social Studies teacher, claims that “Ozymandias is one of the best poems ever written because of Shelley’s use of imagery to tell the story of a once-powerful king who believed his reign would last forever, but in reality, the only remains left of his mighty kingdom are ruins. It analyzes the idea of hubris (excessive pride) and how time itself is the most powerful worldly force.”

Do you want to read more? Nora Dietz, Evan Walton, and Sofia Raske, other Wredling students who have graciously shared their poetry, have written original pieces featuring the complexity of time and how one big phenomenon can change the world. Be sure to check out their pieces in the Student Spotlight!