ARTiculation

I hope a lot of people went to the slam poetry assembly by ARTiculation this past week because they were, to put it as simply as possible, AWESOME!!!! It was a very powerful and exciting evening. If you didn't go, or if you did and want to hear more, I'd encourage you to visit their website: articulationworld.com. They have some great videos of a few of of the pieces they did and a free download of the poem I Teach if you sign up for their mailing list.

While the group was here, Mr. Bean's dot 4 English class was lucky enough to partake in an hour and a half of poetry wonderfulness which resulted in a plethora of poems that are definitely worth sharing. If you were in that class, please email me your poem. There are no excuses and you can't hide them because I know they're out there, already written and just waiting to be read. Thanks and Happy Poeting! (Also, check out the poems in the comments)

I Dream by Rose Gill

I dream of laying in a patch of lemon thyme,
The sweet smell filling my nostrils,
Lulling me into a drowsy state.

I dream of laying under a blue sky,
Of sunlight pouring over every inch of visible skin,
Of being filled with the delicious warmth of light.

I dream of a swim in a river,
Of the river stones beneath my feet,
Round and smooth and covered in moss.

I dream of the garden,
Of the oranges and silvers and reds,
Of green vines and purple and white petals.

I dream of walking through a forest,
Over moss and grass and dirt;
Of the forest floor under my bare feet.

I dream of pushing fingers into fresh, clean dirt,
Forming a hole into which must go young roots,
Feeling the cool moist earth.

I dream of red tomatoes straight off the vine,
Of wonderfully orange carrots, fresh out of the ground,
Of peas - sugar and snap and snow, crisp and green.

I wake, opening my eyes to grey clouds,
Frozen, partially white, partially brown earth,
Cold rain spilling from the sky.

I dreamt of summer...

- Rose Gill

National Poetry Month!

Happy National Poetry Everyone! As you may or may not know, April is national poetry month and we are CELEBRATING! There's a box in the library where you can put your poems, artwork or other writing. What will happen to this box you may ask? Well, it will be put into a Gould newspaper! Anything that's posted on this blog will also go in so every writer at Gould can be published. I am very excited.

I am also excited about Thursday on which there will be THREE ways to celebrate National Poetry Month. First, April 14 is national poem in your pocket day. What this means is that everyone will be encouraged to put a poem in their pocket and over the course of the day they can trade and share that poem. Second, on Thursday the biggest library taboo will be broken and we'll have eat-your-lunch-and-write-in-the-library-day. Hopefully this will be an every Thursday event for the rest of the month. And the last way to celebrate poetry this Thursday is a van will be headed to hear Charles Simic at PSU. I've read some of his poems and I think the night will be great! Talk to Ms. Cooper if you're interested.

Of course you don't have to wait until Thursday to start the celebration. Write a poem today! Write a poem right now. Drop everything and get started.

And then post it here of course. And tell your friends too.
HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH

Let Your Heart Run by Margaret Cameron

Life’s a trail and the courts come undone,
But remember, this test has just begun.
Follow your heart and chase what you believe,
You can’t be proved wrong if you say what you see.

So, let your heart run,
And set yourself free,
Shed all the weights that,
Hold you back.
Oh and determination is all the food that your body needs,
So set your goals high,
And aspire to succeed.

Soul is a forceful light in our lives,
We can’t un-see the dreams we glimpse,
So, with wings sprouting from my back,
I will take flight.
Like a lightning strike,
It’s a sudden energy,
An ambition that takes over.

Listen to your heart,
It’s pounding like a drum,
A signal shouting that your times just begun,
Welcome to life,
We’re all about living.

When night seems to long,
And the road to steep,
The day far to dark,
Take a breath and remember,
That you can find it within yourself,
Your heart speaks, so listen,
Stronger than your words,
Blind ambition, unfiltered joy, bursting with dreams.

So let yourself fly,
And taste freedom’s sky.
Set yourself free and you’ll see,
You can become all you want to be.
But find that love within you,
The dreams and beauty you forgot you had.
Let your heart run,
And you’ll see,
That the real journey of life has just begun.
Your heart will lead you to what you become.

Totally like whatever, you know? by Taylor Mali

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Untitled

Catching a dream like you catch a ball,
grasping your fingers around its frightening force
Catching a heart like you catch a cold,
kiss goodbye to boxes of tissues
Catching a memory like you catch a fish,
slippery scales tugging harder
Catching life like you catch a bus,
hurry, don't be late.

-Anonymous

Perfect

by Andrew Nesbitt

I sit here with the computer on
In a dark room, the screen illuminating
The only bright thing
There is nothing to do
Yet there is so much to do

How will this ever get done?
This makes me want to cry
Does this even have a point?
Because history is dead

I have words in sentences that only make since in my head
When they get to the page, what does that mean?
The teacher is not going to like this
The whole page looks like a Boggle board

I was never made for languages of forgean lands
The charters on the page
Looks like some crash test car
Not representing a word, but a pile of scrap metal
And you expect me to know all of them?

Equations and formulas
Where do they all go?
What do they all do?
Is my mind playing tricks on me?
I went into that test with my mind as blank as the naked page
Straight from the factory in Rumford

Finally I get a break to look up at the stars in the sky, into your eyes
Where so beautiful on that cold, clear night last season
And you in that midnight dress, I was stoned in love
I came out this way and I guess we were all meant to be here
Perfect