DATA Library
  • Welcome
    • Remote Book Checkout
    • Ask Sock Monkey
    • Storytime Videos
  • Laugh of the Day
  • General Library Information
  • Read! Read! Read!
  • Library Activities
    • Poetry Love
  • Projects and Research Resources
  • Battle of the Books
  • Teacher Resources
  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Parent Resources

Let's grow some poems!

Back to Library Activities
Poetry is all about showing the reader what you see or understand what you're feeling. Poetry is high on imagery and short on words. Poetry has fewer rules than regular writing, and gives us a chance to play with words. In fact, there's a term called poetic license, which means that the poet has broken the standard rules of writing to make the poem rhyme or just to make it more interesting.

Get prepared for our DATA Poetry Slam in May. Here are some links to inspire you.
Bronx 6th Grader Wows NYC Poetry Scene, Touchscreen, 3 poems: 59, Paper People, and The Sunshine Kid

​
Submit a poem

 Poem of the Week - Get your poem published here!

He's With me (Previous Poem of the Week Winner)

At the bank Rick waits
sitting in a chair
while I'm in line

he's hunched down
trying to be invisible
as the Security guard approaches
he says to the the guard
"The paintings are nice"

Rick's pretty grubbed out

I'd like for him to bathe more, wash his clothes
clean his room, not drink so much
I'd like to tell him about my problems, talk politics, art, watch a game with him

I yell out to the guard,
​He's with me. He's my brother. 

​---Antonio Calderon


​Check out more student poems.

Types of Poems

Do you like to write, but you're just not sure how to get started with a poem? Try one of these types of poems. 
Picture

Found 

Focus your attention outward in a particular environment – at the mall, the movies, lunch, on the field, a restaurant; or read brief snippets of newspaper articles or listen to lines from the news or a talk show. Select a line that you find particularly interesting.  It might interest you because of what it makes you think or feel.  Perhaps it brings a particular image to mind.  Maybe it just makes you wonder.
 
Use that line to begin a poem.  The rest of the poem does not need to have anything to do with whatever else you heard or saw.  It is simply a beginning, a jumping off point for your poem.   In fact, you don’t even have to use the whole line.

Example

Fast Food Alert
Would you like to super
size that for just 39
small children and a bag of
dog food? I ponder this strange
request and wonder just
what someone would want
with 39 small children. If
the children were larger,
would just 28 do? I imagine
an army of freckled-face
girls with hair in braids
and bandanas as they scrub
the grease-laden floor and
make tall towers with kibble.
Picture

Diamante

This is a simple poem, short and sweet, with a very specific structure. It should be filled with lots of adjectives, some nouns, and very few verbs. You can select any topic you like, but you must follow the format.
 
Rules:
Seven lines – 16 words
Lines 1 & 7 – 1 word
Lines 2 & 6 – 2 words
Lines 3 & 5 – 3 words
Line 4 – 4 words
 Lines 1 & 7 must be the same word…Yes, you begin and end the poem with the same word.

Examples 
Bubbles
Foamy, frosty
Mountains of white
In my nightly bath.
Crackle and fizz
Then disappear
Bubbles
 
Shoe
Old, worn
The places you’ve
Been would surely give
You some tales
To tell
Shoe
 
Spring
Sweet peas
Daffodils and jasmine
Float through my window
With the gentle
Evening breeze
Spring
Picture

Letter or Epistle

​For this poem, you will need to use your imagination to create a letter to a historical figure or a character from a book. You may even choose a relative who has died or one you’ve never met. You could write to an inanimate object. (Either way, you need to select a person or thing that has no chance of answering your letter.)
 
In the poem, make observations about his/her/its appearance, personality, mannerisms. You may ask questions or express your feelings (happiness, sorrow, frustration, joy, etc.)
 
Must be at least 8 lines and begin “Dear _____:”
 
 Example
 Dear Santa Ana,
 You foul wind. I find the way you bluster in from the East
most unsettling. You, with your hot breath making my
hair fly about and stick
to my freshly glossed
lips, which begin to peel and
crack the instant
you’re here. Why do you torture me so? These bits of dirt you
cast into my eyes and
mouth as you scatter
leaves and dust before you,
a clarion that heralds
your coming. It’s a strange pleasure you take in
making me sneeze. But I know your secret, Mr. Santana. Or should I just say…Devil Wind?
Picture

Partner Story

 Select a partner, one you know you can work well with in class. You will be writing a short narrative, in which you each write separate parts.  Select a topic for your story, such as an event, a situation, or a person (fiction only), but discuss no other details.  Decide who will go first and who will finish.  The partner who begins will write 1 paragraph, beginning the story by introducing the topic, the characters, and setting the scene. S/he then reads only the last sentence to his/her partner who must then write the second paragraph without any other information from the first paragraph.
 
After the second paragraph is written, the second writer reads only the last sentence to his/her partner and so it goes until the last paragraph is written.  This story must have at least four paragraphs, but if either writer believes the story needs more, then write to the end.  You must have an even number of paragraphs and the writer who began the story may not be the writer who finishes it.
 
The idea behind this kind of story is to write without having a certain ending in mind, to write without thinking too much.  This will help you go with your instincts instead of your sense of logic. It’s also really fun to read these stories afterwards. 
Picture

Alliterative

Any topic, any length, but you must select as many words as you can that begin with the same letter as your main topic. 
 
Example
Junk
​
Junk just jumps out
of every jacket, jumper, jeans, jerkin and jodhpur I own. No joke, this junk is a job and a jinx. I harbor no jingoistic attitudes toward junk, really. I’m not jaded, but any jester could see, no jive, that if I don’t jettison this junk before June or July, I’ll have no place to jam another
jug, roll of jute, or even a jigger of java here on this
jar-sized junk I call home.
Picture

Dictionary Poem

Flip through the dictionary in search of interesting words you don’t know.  Select 3 words, and write down their meanings. Pick your favorite word, and create a poem using that word (or 3 poems using all the words). Each word must be used correctly, illustrating that you know its meaning. If it is a verb, use it as a verb. If it is a noun, use it as a noun. It should be the subject of your poem.
 
kapok: n. A silky fiber obtained from the fruit of the silk-cotton tree, and used for insulation and as padding in pillows, mattresses, and life preservers
  
 Example
The Demise of Teddy 
Last week I spied
A small bit of spongy
White on the bed
Next to Teddy, oh
Had I known it
Was no ordinary piece
Of fuzz, but the very
Stuff of his innards, I would
​Have whisked him

Away to the sewing
Room for a stitch
And tuck. No such luck
For my Teddy whose kapok
Now spills across the
Bed as his empty fur
Lies lifelessly, his mouth
​still

Smiling sweetly.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos used under Creative Commons from TheNickster, Dai Lygad, nicolee_camacho, thewritingreader, Bonnett, Tobyotter