About Hands on Stanzas

Hands on Stanzas, the educational outreach program of the Poetry Center of Chicago places professional, teaching Poets in residence at Chicago Public Schools across the city. Poets teach the reading, discussion, and writing of poetry to 3 classes over the course of 20 classroom visits, typically from October through April. Students improve their reading, writing, and public speaking skills, and participating teachers report improved motivation and academic confidence. You can contact Cassie Sparkman, Director of the Hands on Stanzas program, by phone: 312.629.1665 or by email: csparkman(at)poetrycenter.org for more information.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Look and Listen

Last week 6th graders recorded poems written after a discussion of Lucille Clifton's poem "this morning." Take a listen!

Allen's poem

"Me, Myself, and I" by Elysi

Darliah's poem

Leslie's poem

"Who Are You" by Brittany


Also, here's one highlight from the 3rd grade's amazing concrete poetry creations, by Cassandra:



You can't read the text in the photo (I'm sorry I couldn't make the picture bigger!), but it circles the face and goes like this:
My face is beautiful. My face is the sun smiling at me. My face is like a little flower. I love my face. - Cassandra


Keep checking back here for more poems to read, hear, and see!


~Miss Parry

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Here's a glimpse of what we've been up to for the past couple of weeks at Alcott:


Last week, the 8th graders read Pat Mora's "Mango Juice," and used this poem and a discussion of food and memories to inspire their own poems. Here are two selections for you to enjoy:


Eating watermelon
on a picnic bench
is having fun with
a sense of security
as each one of your
cousins are 10 times
bigger than you and
ready to spit seeds at anyone
who screws up this day.

- Alex B.


Biting a Peach

When you take your first
bite of the peach you
feel the warm fuzzy
hairs on your chin
and the orange color of juice swimming
down your mouth.
Taking you back to the
old summer days, when
the air smelled warm
and the sky had all
its stars placed in
shiny white dots.
Where you would run down to the creek and
splash in the cool summer
water.

- Amber


6th and 8th graders have also been discussing different emotions, and writing poems inspired by Denise Levertov's "Talking to Grief." Here are a few selections:


Death,
it runs after you with its night stick and cuffs and beamers, runnin' after you, 100 of the same won't stop won't be denied, you can run, you can cry, you can be brave, but it has no sympathy, ultimately you'll have to face it.

- Elijah (8th)


envy is the cat that sturts
past my house every day.
with your tail up high and
straight and glowing fur.
as you sing to the moon
with your oh-so wonderful
voice. Every bobcat follows
you just to see your graceful presence.

- Dominique (8th)


Love is like a blue rose whose petals are live and happy. A valley of green unseen by blades and afraid.

- Amante (6th)


Last week, the third graders created some amazing concrete poems. Look for images of those in my next post! Until then, read some selections of the wonderful haiku they wrote the previous week...


A blue sky
playig ball with the sun
winning by 5 points.

- Sammy


Fall leaves fall,
crunch, crackle
pop under feet.

- Natalia


the skis spraying snow at the trees
the snow bounces while the
skiers go by

- Cameron


Wind, wind,
blowing through the air.
The loudest hush everywhere.

- Sabrina

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Enjoy this collection of poems from last week at Alcott:

6th grade Odes
In the 6th grade, we read Pablo Neruda's "Ode to My Socks," and discussed the ode form and all the outrageously great metaphor and simile in that particular poem. Then students wrote their own odes!


Ode to Butterflies

The beautiful
butterflies flying
in the sky as if they
are having peaceful thoughts
They soar through
the wind as if
they are cooling off
from the hot sun.
flying as fast
as a cheetah running
for his first
meal in two days
as beautiful as a
report card with
straight A's.

- Stephanie T.


Corn, corn, corn
I love to eat you corn with the butter and with the cheese hot as a sun um it good. And with some hot sauce on it corn it hot as the sidewalk. All neat on my hands.

- Rene R.

Ode to figure skating

Ode to figure skating
like a cup of Ice
shiny white boots
dripping into a locker room
leap after leap
like a frog jumping for freedom
sharp blades at the end
as a knife cutting meat
practicing all day without any
sleep

skating on the ice rink
with the sound of your
blade going swish, swish, swish.

Winning a trophy like
you've won a bet.

- Brittany


8th grade
The 8th graders read a selection of classic and contemporary haiku, and wrote their own haiku. I love these.


He takes his first breath
His first breath everlasting
Many more to come

- Sophia C.


The fish is swimming
round and round
The same thing happens

- Rabees R.


The snow falls
Harder and harder
The old man shovels
With no one to help.

- Qonain B.


A beautiful Day
everyone having fun
a breeze blowing

Time pass
the hour and minute hand go
fast and slow

On the desk
the girl write
day and night

- Cherrell B.


3rd grade
In 3rd grade, students took poems they had already written and reconstructed them, exploring the different ways they can be by breaking their lines up in different ways.


The ghost who gave up

Once there was a
ghost
alone
in New York.
It was
alone
with
people.
He scared a person but the person didn't
cry,
scream and laugh. He went back to
heaven
and he never
returned
again.

- Damian

Never!
Stop?
ever
it
will
FAST!
FAST!
FAST!
growing
are
trees

- Claire

No one's out the wind gently
blows outside
all the shops are
closed. Even the barn
no animals are outdoor.
Everyone
is indoor. Later on
one little girl came
outside she felt rainbow.
She went
to
the park to
play she
was a happy happy
girl!

- Haylie

Friday, January 18, 2008

At Long Last: sounds of Alcott students' poetry!

Okay, before the break I promised to post recordings we'd made of poems written in Alcott's 3rd grade and 8th grade classrooms. Well, after some technical difficulties I am finally proud to present these poems for your listening enjoyment. They are well worth the wait!

Most of the poems recorded in our 8th grade class were inspired by a reading and listening of Todd Alcott's "Television," with the exception of Julia's poem - she recorded a beautiful poem that she had written during one of our first poetry classes.

The 3rd graders were inspired by a reading of Emily Dickinson's "Bee! I'm Expecting You!"

To listen: click on a link and you'll be sent to a new page where you'll click the "download" button. I think you'll need some sort of media player to listen, such as Real Player. Let me know if any of you have trouble!

8th grade:

Janisa's "Clock"

Daniel's "Brussel Sprouts"

Chanel's "Pop"

Julia's "My Eyes"

3rd grade:

Claire's "Paper"

Mohammed's Spring to Winter poem

Ben's Milky Way poem

Zoe's "Gone Through the Ocean"

Haylie's "Dear Sun"

Friday, January 11, 2008

Our Pictures

8th graders read an excerpt from Li-Young Lee's "A Table in the Wilderness" yesterday, and then wrote their own pictures...

have and gone

There I witnessed a heart
it became two figures
man and woman dance
to their own beat
with the only one melody
their hearts will beat to that is my image of
friends
when the man spun
the woman, he became a tree
she that is spinning became a tornado
the tornado came destroying the ground
destroyed the tree roots
the tree was gone for good
she was a heart breaker that is my image of
a friend saying goodbye

- Jasmine T.


I Draw

I draw a clear sunny day
and a tree with seeds
This is my picture of family

Changing the clear sky to black rolling clouds
flashing lightnings, booms of thunder, cold hard rain
This is my picture of problems

Switching the tree into black sweet earth
leaving one seed
This is my picture of independence

I draw the seed growing into a girl
into a woman
This is my picture of me
This is my picture of life

- Tylisha S.


Life

The young caterpillar hatches from its egg, as we humans are born from the womb. It's first movements are exciting but extremely cautious. This young caterpillar grows contained in a protective cocoon, putting him separate from the world. as the cocoon is broken the so called caterpillar has grown to a beautiful butterfly. Our lives are like this young caterpillar. We would soon be successful in life.

- Ezekiel O.


the flowers are in color,
that represents peace because the sun is shining.
the flowers wither and the color is drained,
death is what has happened.
the flowers will grow again
therefore, the cycle will start
and grab you with hard vines and
intertwine your birth.

- Julia K.


sadness. kicking the snow with your head held down.

- Alexis

Shhhhh....

3rd graders at Alcott this week read D.H. Lawrence's "The White Horse." We talked about silence, and wrote our own poems to make you feel quiet.

Antarctica

a cold blanket of white.
everlasting wind.
my hair moving to the right.
footprints heading east.

-Avery

The Silent Night

The boy tried to sleep but with the house so loud he could not dream then at 9:30 p.m. the whole house was silent his parents came in kissed him goodnight turned out the light and all to be heard was the sound of the old owl sitting on his tree! And
Soon...
the...
boy...
was...
in...
a...
deep...
slumber...

-Delaney


The green grass swaying in the Wind. Getting bent by the people who don't care. getting old getting drenched by the rain and life. we should give thanks to it.

-Nicolaus

The Snow Day

crash goes
the feet
in the Snow!
Wait! quietness!
For all the snow
to fall all
different colors
making no
Noise! For
Everything
to Crash again
and again!
For the
Snow day
to last and last!
For me again!

- Adia

Monday, December 10, 2007

Hello everyone, and sorry I've been hoarding poems and have not updated the blog recently!The poems here were inspired by our reading and discussion of "The Hands," by Gina Valdes in 6th and 8th grade, and "Voyelles," by Arthur Rimbaud, in 3rd and 6th grade.

Also, be sure to check out the blog next week - in 8th grade we will be creating and posting audio recordings of our work from last week!

8th grade

The Hands

These hands like to write raps
These hands hold the mic on my
mouth spit good rhymes
my nose smells money
my ears hear music
my feet feel the stage floor

- Shaquille

My ears
the way I communicate
the way I know how other people are feeling
the way other people know how I feel
they are like the telephone
to one human to another
connecting feelings
connecting us
my ears learn
to try to change the next day
they hear how people act
bad, nice, mean
a thousand other beats running through the
wires people call air
connecting us; all of us
the way we feel, act, do, and not do to eachother
everything we know, everything we learn comes
from the connection we have.
The way we listen to each other
the way human beings communicate with one another
my ears hear the happiness of the world
the laughter coming to my ears as how the waves
come to the shore
eventually we will hear everything, just
like eventually the waves will crash on
to the shore
Then all will return

-Charlotte

Colors: Red, blue, yellow, green, purple and orange
These colors I cannot experience fully.
My eyes, these eyes, have been dipped in black ink,
In an irritating sense of blackness that reminds
me how different I conceive life,
How punishing life is, even in the hands of someone
else. One action, one small movement, could change
the entirety of your world, a supposed miracle.

- Alex H.

Words, they forever fill my mouth
It is me, my teeth, my lips, my voice
Say what my mind cannot, taste what my
other senses can only dream.

My mouth is boring, only in sleep or thought
inside the words pop out like a monkey out of
a tree. Loving, or caring are words always
there, but even mean, hurtful things always
seem to ind a way. I speak, I shout, I
whisper softly, I can barely even sing. But
my mouth can do all these things, and what
joy does it bring.

- Tylisha


6th grade

My hands love to make jokes.
My hands touch things how I dream it.
My hands love to do the right things.
My hands were born to write.
My hands were able to talk to me when I was so bored.
My hands were like meatballs.
I love my hands my hands are like twins.
My hands love me my hands are so chatty.

- Esteban

These hands use their thumbs to hit colorful buttons,
to rotate joysticks. These ears hear sounds of engines
rev-ving, guns firing, bombs exploding, they hear people
grunting to pull themselve up a ledge. These eyes see
scores, numbers, health bars, stamina bars, characters dying.
My mouth talks in victory, loss, effort.

- Mark



A like green
Like the smell of Febreeze.

E like yellow
Like the feelings in the morning.

I like white
Like the feelings of a penguin.

U like red
Like the smell of meat being cooked.

O like blue
Like the smell of the ocean water.

- Paul

C, purple like the color of a starfish wandering in the sea
L, Blue like the color on a pepsi can
E, yellow like the lightning of thunder when it's raining
A, red the color of a farm with loud animals
R, white like the color of the snow coming down in winter.

- Leslie

3rd grade


Colors of the Alphabet

A, red. The color of blood that comes from my finger.
B, blue. The stirring of the waves.
C, white. As cold as ice.
D, violet. As close together as fire and ice.
E, green. Like the color of life, responsibility, freedom, and justice.
F, grey. The color of sadness.
G, clear. The way of the mind.
H, periwinkle. The love of colors.
Z, a color we do not know of.

- Sabrina

A is red like the swishing blood coming down from the human body.
E is for green like the grass blowing around by the wind.
I is for black like the dark forests in the calm trees.
U is for blue like the oceans with whooshing waves.
O is for purple like the scary ghosts in haunted houses.
Y is for brown like the dark sunset with the white moon.

-Sammy

B as in blue dolphins jumping into the light blue morning sky.
L like a cold purple breeze that blows past you in winter.
A like the red blood flowing out as you get a cut.
C like the orange cat jumping down from his cozy quiet spot high in the trees.
K like the cold chill you get when you're scared.
Q like the warm cozy quiet that keeps you warm when the cold crisp snow falls before you.
N like the newborn polar bear awakening up from a long snooze.

- Delaney