March 29, 2020: Day 14 - Playing with Poetry

Around this time of the year, my students and I spend a brief amount of time writing poetry.  It's the one time in the year that they really get any exposure to prose and it's one of my favorites.  The thing about poetry is that it demands to be felt and teenagers FEEL.  They aren't always aware of all of their emotions, but they are so good at adequately pouring feelings out onto the page. 

This year, I shamelessly stole an idea from a former high school ELA teacher had them write poems following a form of a fairly famous spoken word poet.  The poem is called "My Honest Poem" and it's written and spoken by Rudy Francisco.  Look him up, he's got some terrific stuff out there! 

Their poems turned out amazing.  I loved all of them.  They made me laugh, they made me tear up, they made me wonder.

They had so many beautifully-written, relatable lines in their poems, that I decided to pull a line from each person's poem and created a "class poem."  They turned out really cool.  Here is one of the poems done in this style.  I'm so sad I never got to share these with my students. 

Teenage Honesty Poem (first edition)

I know it sounds crazy, but I feel like everyone is judging me constantly.

I’m scared of change.

I have … an anger problem when I get mad , but... I don't like to argue 

Sometimes I wonder what the dogs say about me. 

Sometimes …  I scare myself by thinking of the worst

I have an odd fascination with … wanting to jump out of a plane

I don’t know how to stop being awkward.

But I don’t allow myself to be afraid…  on the outside.

I’ve never been to jail, but my thoughts are trapped behind bars inside my brain 

Sometimes I wonder what my pillow would say about me.

I wonder what I would do if I was put in a life or death situation 

I’m afraid if you see the real me you won’t like it

I’m stuck on this tiny iceberg, one wrong slip and it’s the end of what we call our friendship.

I’m still learning how not to argue with people

But I don’t allow myself to fail

I’ve never been truly heartbroken, but I know what it’s like to break myself to fit standards 

I have … pure will

I’m still learning how …be a better person

I’m a sucker for hope.

Wow. Just reading it again brings a smile to my face. Teenagers: full of contradictions, fear, vulnerability. There is so much power in their words - and they don't even know it.