Monday, March 8, 2010

A Poet Who Didn't Know It

I am currently forcing my students to write poetry to submit to our school's literary magazine. (I am the advisor, so I have a vested interest.)

So for several days now, we have had lessons in class about good poetry, types of poetry, literary techniques, etc. Their poems are due tomorrow, and I'm sure they will be entertaining. (Perhaps some blog posts will need to follow?)

Anyway, I felt like a bit of a hypocrite forcing them to write poems when I myself never write poetry (it intimidates me)...so I sat down and wrote a few poems last week to use as models for my students. I was surprised how fun it was for me to tinker with words! I think I would like to start writing more poetry.

Here is my "confession poem" about the first time I fell victim to peer pressure (a cute boy in kindergarten):


Heart thumping
hands shaking
eyes darting
from her imposing, intimidating desk to
his daring, darling eyes,
I grabbed the bottle of sticky Elmer's glue, and
with a few white stripes
on the back of my laminated placemat, I
secured his love--and her wrath--
in a moment of twitterpated stupidity.

Minutes passing
glue drying
teacher crossing
from her cushioned, comfy desk chair
to our miniature, messy table by the door,
She tidied up and straightened up our clutter, but
after a few quick tugs
on the edge of my shiny placemat, she
realized it was stuck--as was I--
due to a moment of deviant criminality.

Heart thumping
hands shaking
eyes darting
from her omniscient, ominous gaze to
a dainty, dusty speck on the floor
I awaited the wrath of the kindergarten God, and
with a few brisk strokes
on the blackboard at the front of the room, she
emblazoned my name--and my cheeks--
in a moment of heartless authority.


5 comments:

  1. tee hee Rachel!
    peer pressure. . . in kindergarten. . . what a great foundation for a poem!
    loved it!

    what a GREAT poem. . . you should write poetry ALL the time. . . that was fantastic :)

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  2. Love it! It's especially amusing to those of us who know that you then headed home and sobbed in the corner because you didn't get a "happy stamp" that day and didn't want mom to know. :)

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  3. Classic! And i just laughed out loud at Sary's comment. See Sis, poetry is fun! :)

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  4. I don't think you probably noticed, but your TITLE even rhymed! Wow!
    Ha ha ha ha ha!

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