Dream narratives

This week, Belding students read Tom Pickard's poem Valentine, and discussed its dream-like sequence of events and quick-cutting shifts in image and viewpoint. Students were then given three words apiece, and asked to write a poem that somehow connected them into a single work. The students found some wonderfully inventive ways of connecting seemingly disparate objects into a single and unified whole. A few student works are posted below.

From Mr. Merrill’s class:

By Arnel

A blue shell wrapped

in an orange quilt it

fell from a tree the

forest had clean grass

and had less trees and

light came through.

***

The Nice Snack

By Sadie C.

I am drinking tea and eating a fruit salad. Writing

a letter and listening to the radio. The pen sprayed

ink on me. Now I have to take a shower. I feel fresh and I

am going back to writing my letter. I found out why the

pen sprayed me. It was an old pen. I bought a new pen

and went back to writing

to my friend Lily and drinking

my green tea. The radio

was now playing jazz.

***

Dreams About a Forest

By Michael D.

I made a joke

about a mirror

inside a forest.

The forest has a mirror

in it because someone

put it in there.

The joke is about a forest

mirror. There

are also two

spiral trees.

***

from Mr. Aivazian’s class

Valentine

By Chris W.

When I go to the library, I feel a

violin and I touch it. When it was

Valentine’s Day, the cupid shoots

the arrow for the people

who love it.

***

My Family

By Daniela

I eat melon with my family and melon is

green and orange and so sweet and delicious.

One day my mom and dad gave

so many jokes and next we play always with

my dad.

***

By Zachary

I saw a pool it

was green and I saw

a crown in my house

that is inside the

pool.

***

from Ms. Navrocki’s class

Spark Ocean

By Ahlam

The ocean is like spark more than

curtains. The curtains fly above the

spark ocean. The ocean is deep and

you go down you can see flying sparks.

I am in the ocean it flies me back

out spark curtains now flying. The

curtains tie me like a rope. I try

to run but then I don’t escape. Scrap scrap scrap

the ocean sings with terrible joy.

***

by Shanon

Once about a car

there was a rock star

and it was a button

with glasses and ears.

He fell down from the tree

and busted his head, he

cried until

his rock star

mom sent him

to bed. She wore

bifocal glasses

and a bee in a belt pocket.

***

Bell ringing, spiral, and napkin

One day I heard a bell ringing. I went

to see. It was a spiral. When I opened

the spiral, I saw a colorful napkin on it.

I saw words. The napkin said “sleep sleep sleep

with me.” I heard something ring. Not a phone a

bell. I went upstairs to my sister’s room. My sister

had a bell. She gave me a spiral. Then she

told me to open it. I saw the words napkin,

bell, and spiral. My sister asked if it was her napkin and

spiral. I laugh.

Inside Narratives

This week at Belding, students read Charles Simic's Stone, and used it as a starting point for their own poems exploring an imaginary narrative--a narrative of a space they'd never before encountered. The students were prompted to write a poem that, as with Stone, takes place inside a common object, and posits what a human experience might be inside the object. Some wonderful examples are below:

from Mr. Merrill's class:

***

The Dollar Bill

by Grace K.

Go inside a dollar bill.
It is a war in here.
Guns firing left and right.
People fighting for their
lives. At the end one
President stands. That
President is on the front
of the dollar bill.
Go inside a dollar bill.

***

Sea Shell

by Jordan B.

Go into a sea shell.
That would be my way.
Let somebody else become a robin
or a pool of water.
I'm glad to be a seashell
lying on the sand in the windy beach.
From the outside, the shell is a mystery.
You could hear the ocean blowing.
When you go inside a shell, it gets smaller and smaller.
It is a very smooth room that curves when you step back.
Kids putting the shell near their ear,
children collecting pink, orange and white seashells
fishers pick up fish with me beside them as the shell.
Being inside a shell is so wow.

***

Into Me

by Caleb S.

When I go in my body I see blood, organs and
veins. Miles and miles of blood cells. The blood
cells are bouncy, gooey, and slushy. And
I see my brain. So weird just so disgusting.

***

from Mr. Aivaizan's class

***

by Warren B.

I was in a tree. The squirrels live
there. They eat nuts. I went in there so they can
share them with me. But all the nuts were gone, so
we went outside to get some more. The nuts were so
high up on the nut tree. So we jumped to pick them.
Then we bring the nuts back inside and eat all
night.

***

by Daniela

I was little, everything was big. For example,
the notebooks are so big. If I put my jacket on, I
can enter into the jacket it is so big. I can
not enter my house because I am so little so
I am not tall to enter and cannot go anywhere
for example to my bed and see the tv show
to sleeping.

***

Going Inside a Ball

by Jocelyn R.

Inside a ball
is green and yellow
I see black
I am alone
I hear a bird
My mom is there too.

from Ms. Navrocki's class:

***

In a Balloon

by Jose M.

In a balloon, if you were in a balloon
someone could let you go and you
could land on Texas, New York, Los Angeles,
Canada, or my country, Mexico.

***

Inside a Clock

by Rianne P.

I go inside a clock
that's what I say
as I go to sleep
the clock will
wake me up with
its ticking. As the
dark, scary clock
hands move, I'll
hide in a number.
The number one will
be the first, because
it is the best.
As the people
move the clock
they give my
house an earth
quake. When they
shake me, my
numbers will move.
When a baby
will drool on
me it's like
a very rainy day.

As people look at
my clock, they see
me moving the hands.
When people change
my clock batteries
the clock will give
me time to sleep.
When the clock
is on they will
crush my time to sleep. When
I go to my
vacation clock
it's even better.
Just because
it is gold, warm
and even cozier.
It's hard to get
to an alarm
clock, because
of the time.

***

The Fruits

by Gloria V.

An apple:
I got in an
apple and I have
no idea how
and when but
I really want
to see what
that noise it.

A grape:
Wow! That is
so cool I
see seeds
dancing with
their partners.

An orange:
Now I am
in a different
room and I
see an engine
with all the
fruits going
in the back.

A peach:
Now I am
in a completely
different room
with pink
things with
eyes, feet,
mouths, noses,
fingers, and
all the other stuff.

A strawberry:
I am in a
strawberry now
because a strawberry
is my favorite
fruit but now
I am with
my friends and
family
and I love
all fruit on
my paper.