Weekly Poetry Challenge Round-up

In which we share poems from our readers and ourselves

National Poetry Month has come to an end, and the Weekly Poetry Challenge is over. It was a lot of fun. We explored four different types of poems: List poems, persona poems, limericks, and blackout poems. If you participated, we hope you had a good time exploring poetry with us, and maybe writing some of your own or encouraging your children to try them. If you missed it, there’s always time to go back and try one of the challenges!

For now, enjoy these poems that were written during the challenge:

List poems

Things to Love About Spring
by Rebecca J. Gomez

Sprouts that spring up from the ground, 
pushing through dry leaves

Days that begin to stretch into evening

Goldfinches darting by in a flash of yellow feathers

Raindrops on the windowpane

Knowing that summer is inching ever closer

Spring, by

Marci Whitehurst

Longer light
Green grass
Storms roar,
Then they pass.
Snow melts
Rain drip-drops
Sun shines
On planted crops.
New babies 
Birds are back
Warmer days
Colder snacks.

My Writing Tools, by

Merissa Nicole

There’s the typewriter, 
A gift from my mother, 
Though in my room it–
Seems to add clutter.
There’s the calligraphy pen, 
A gift from my sister, 
It makes me feel like old royalty–
When pen and paper were in unity.

There’s the laptop, 
A gift from my brother, 
It’s efficient and quick,
With its given job,
Except not as nostalgic.
There’s the journals, 
All gifts from my Heavenly Father, 
I always remember well, 
How the Eternal one,
picked them for me. Their 
very touch and smell, Makes–
My writing soul free. 

There’s these writing tools, 
That eliminate my fears–
Of what my pages bring, 
Now I write on purpose, 
For my King,
With no excuses, 
These are the tools His–
Daughter gladly uses. 

Persona Poem

1955                                                                  
I am Coretta Scott King 
He is Martin Luther King Jr.
We are Venus and Saturn
A convergence of planets
A cosmic union of fate. 

I’m a songbird and a preacher’s wife
Dexter Baptist Church
He preaches like Moses

Fierce winds of progress
Sweep across Montgomery. 
But he is gone.
And I am forever changed. 

by Marci Whitehurst
Adapted the book Coretta’s Journey by Alice Faye Duncan

Limerick

There once was boy, Billy Potter,
Whose ice cream cone teetered and tottered.
He moved much too quick
When he gave it a lick!
He needed an ice cream cone spotter.

By Rebecca J. Gomez

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Blackout Poems

Here’s one by Trine Grillo, who created it as an example for her poetry students:

Here’s one from me (Rebecca):

Listen, by

Jody L. Collins

:

The text for this poem is below.

Listen

The sleepers are very beautiful.
Hand in hand
hand in hand.
The father holds his son
with measureless love,
friend is inarmed by friend,
the wronged is made right,
sick persons
move as smoothly as ever. 
Stiflings and passages open.
They pass the invigoration of the night
and awake.
I too pass from the night, and love you.

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

Bonus poems, from students!

These poems don’t fit with the specific weekly challenges, but we are still excited to share these poetry month treasures with you!

Nature is Alive

Imagine you’re sitting on the grass,
And look up into the sky to gaze.
And then look in front of you,
And see some cows graze.

And next a great big tree,
You think made of willows.
And you see bright big clouds,
They look like pillows.

Then you take a deep breath,
As if to calm down.
And lay upon the soft grass,
And smell the damp ground.

Ernestine G., 5th grade

FOG
Fog is the thing
That drifts through the trees
Silently in the night.
Fog is the thing
That crosses the seas
Traveling towards day’s light.

L. M. 7th Grade

                      Fog
                Dense, wet
Walking, drenching, creeping
  Creepy, drowsy, sleepy, sly
                    Mist.

C.P. 7th Grade

GREEN
Green is buds of growing plants
Dew glistening, magnifying.
Green is envy
Swirling around souls, misting over minds.
Green is emerald stones
Sharp, jagged, but flowing with wealth.
Green is grass
Whistling in the wind, blowing in the breeze.
Green is exciting energy,
Buzzing, ready to go.
Green is the smell of spearmint gum
The best flavor.
Green is the deep depths of the ocean
Seaweed waving in the water.
Stuck in between yellow and blue
Fading, unnoticed.

A.L. 7th Grade

YELLOW
Yellow is the color of old parchment paper
contained in ancient knowledge.
Yellow is the color of candlelight
that ancient scholars used
when the nights grew late.
Yellow is the color of morning
after a late night spent.
Yellow is the color of wax
that busy bees make.

Yellow is the color of an intricately carved candle.
Yellow is the color that radiates from a person’s face
after buying a book.
Yellow is the color of pages lit by candlelight
as the reader excitedly reads his book.

C.N. 7th Grade

Oh Earth,
How I adore you.
Your luscious leaves, your scrumptious fruit
Make me want to
Run, dance, and even hoot!
I love it when you 
Heat me up and cool me down
With just a touch.
Your deep blue ocean
Your bright pointy mountain tips
Make me happy from my fingers
To my hips.                                    

Z.J. 7th Grade

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Thank to everyone who followed along with the Weekly Poetry Challenge, and especially to those who chose to share their poems with us. We hope you keep reading and writing poetry throughout the year!