PoetryAlive! Poem of the Month 2007-2008

P.O.T.M. for the 2007-2008 Schoolyear

Welcome to the student poems of the month! We have up to five "Poems of the Month," one each for the K-2, 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12 grades plus sometimes one for those who are college level or graduates. Did you miss out on some of last year's poems? You can visit the archives to catch what you missed.

Get your poems for next month in now! Only original poems received in the month previous will be eligible for Poem of the Month for the current month. We are getting so many wonderful submissions it is hard to choose! If you submitted last month and weren't selected you are welcome to try again this month. You can send poems to us by clicking here.

August 2007

No poems were selected for this month.

September 2007

When it rains outside:

When it rains outside it's cold and
Wet,
But that doesn't bother Mickey,
My pet
She'll run out side with no care,
and we can't find her
Anywhere
We call to her Mickey, Mickey where
Can she be.
Under the house? Up in a tree?
Mickey, my cat was out all night.
She surely gave us a terrible fright.

© 2007 Zolie
2nd Grade
PS 266 - Bellerose, NY

There was a 2-way tie for the 3-5 poem category.

The Night Sky

I crawl into bed
and look out my window.
I see the night sky.
It's like the soft blanket
that tucks me at bedtime.
I gaze into the sky and...
fall asleep.

© 2007 Gabrielle
4th Grade
Batesville Intermediate School - Batesville, IN

SPY

He's an agent,a beagle,
an adult so he's legal,
watcher,snoop,
patrol sleuth,
and he has an eye like an eagle.

© 2007 Kendall
4th Grade
New Market Elementary - New Market, AL

Life

A girl walks down the street in California with her house key twirling on her finger suddenly swings off and lands on the ground.

As she reaches down and touches the key a gun shoots off in Philadelphia as soon as the bullet hits a man in the chest.

As he falls to the ground you can hear a crying baby in Boston in a hotel room wanting her bottle.

Cars brake in Illinois, tears falling, and bombs go off in IRAQ.

LIFE.

© 2007 Dawn
Age 13
Freedom Elementary - St. Roberts, MO

No poems were selected for the 9-12 category.

October 2007

[untitled]

The cricket was chirping at a star
Wishing he could jump very far.
He jumped so high he bumped his eye
In the sky.

© 2007 Dawson
Age 6
Capshaw Elementary - Cookeville, TN

There was a 3-way tie for the 3-5 poem category.

Sparkling eyes

Sparkling eyes flow as the ocean wave
Sparkling eyes are so beautiful
Sparkling eyes shine like the sun
Sparkling eyes are like the shiny gold
Sparkling eyes are the color pink
Sparkling eyes are like a colorful butterfly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

© 2007 Earl
4th Grade
School #4 - Belleville, NJ

The Evil Thing!!!

The evil thing is a gruesome beast
Unliving flesh it loves to feast
Its two headed thing you don't wish to greet
One head sucks your blood
One head chews your meat
It carries its babies on an egg on its back
The babies are hungry when it hatches for a snack
So the evil thing kept some poor victims alive
For the babies to eat when their birthdays arrive
But don't worry, don't cry
Please don't have a fit
The evil thing is not real unless you think about it
REMEMBER: DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!

© 2007 Nicole
4th Grade
School #4 - Belleville, NJ

[untitled]

it is fall fall in to my arms

[untitled]

I am from boiled peanuts soft with a flare. From crunchy kettlechips, and three musketeer bars(the only candy I can eat with my braces.)

I am from old Cosby Show, Full House and Fresh Prince reruns on from 9 to 12.

I am from smelly fumes from painting, and the soft smell of making home made pizza with my dad, and eating all the cookie dough with my mom before it reached the oven.

I am from writing my name on school supplies on the cold hard chair of the hospital waiting room waiting to see if my papa would win the battle with cancer.

I am from leaving school early in my flowery pink dress to go to my grandpa's visitaton because I am too wimpy to go to the funeral.

I am from Star Wars and Spiderman and other heroic comic book figures.

I am from dressing up in beautiful dresses and bows for something as simple and stupid as a spelling bee.

I am from the sweet smell of honeysuckle lotion put in a lady bug decorated container that was rubbed on me from head to toe after every bath.

I am from the memories and family who made me who I am today with a half mind and a full heart.

© 2007 Amanda
8th Grade
Scott Johnson Middle School - McKinney, TX

The Nature of My Friend

As she sits in the grass, lying in wait
Shining in the sun
Beauty deceiving
Calling you closer to the inevitable
Hiding the deeds she has done
As you get closer
As the mouth opens wider
The Truth is revealed
Deception lies in the place
Lying open now with the venom of truth dripping down its fangs
It's now ready to strike
To wound and disable
You are hers now
Never yourself again between the fangs of the beast

November 2007

There was a 2-way tie for the K-2 poem category.

[untitled]

THE TREES AND FLOWERS HAVE NOWHERE TO RUN

WE CAN'T LIVE IN POLLUTION SO THINGS MUST BE DONE

TO FIX ALL THESE PROBLEMS WE MUST STOP THE WASTE

SO JUST THINK OF THE FUTURE AND PUT TRASH IN ITS PLACE

[untitled]

My socks are red.My shirt is green.I have nothing in between.

There was a 2-way tie for the 3-5 poem category.

[untitled]

When I stepped out of my cozy house I saw the perfectly leveled white snow so I didn't wany to step on it. I saw the bare boughs of a tree swaying gently in the lightly blowing current. I saw my little puppy dog frantically chasing snowflakes coming down from the gloomy gray sky. How Cute. :) I heard the mammoth snow plows rumbling down the thoroughfare like angry bulls as they collected all the snow. I heard people laughing and playing joyfully in in the beautiful whiteness. I heard my dog barking at the snowflakes like they were aliens meandering down from outerspace and alighting on the chilly earth. I heard people delightfully singing Christmas carols door to door in my neighborhood. I wondered if they were going to sing for my music loving family? :) I felt the bitterly stinging cold as I threw snowballs as hard as I could at my friends. I felt the rigid, frosty icicles as I tried to break them out from our family car. I felt my feet tingling as they thawed out when I put them by the crackling, warm fire. I felt the steaming warmth from the hot chocolate my loving Mom made for me. :) Winter days are my favorite things. :)

[excerpt from untitled poem]

If I had to choose you or the sun I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun.

There was a 2-way tie for the 6-8 poem category.

Tanka: Children

Children already
In the open school courtyard
Playing and laughing
In the undisturbed flowers
That signal new beginning

Captain Monroe

Try as he might,
Captain Monroe could not fight the stormy seas that night.
The waves crashing,
Against his boat they were thrashing.
The wind blowing hard,
Very, very hard.

Captain Monroe was a bailing,
The water that came on board while a sailing.
But, try as he might,
Captain Monroe could not fight the stormy seas that night.

It was a full moon that night,
It was an eerie night alright.
Monroe stroked his beard
And said, “Oh dear.”
Captain Monroe steered frantically,
But, try as he might,
Captain Monroe could not fight the stormy seas that night.

Monroe figured this would be his last night.
The captain was right,
A large piece of driftwood
Poked into Monroe's boat's wood.

Water quickly poured through.
Monroe yelled, “No!” through and through.
But, try as he might,
Captain Monroe could not fight the stormy seas that night.

Down, down, down sank the boat that night.
Monroe didn't make a sound again that night.
Now everyone knows the story of Captain Monroe
And how he sank, yes, yes, good old Monroe,
And how try as he might,
Captain Monroe could not fight the stormy seas that night.

I am Me

I am a shining star dancing in the darkness.
I am a child who knows the true meaning of happiness.

I am a cloud gliding lazily through the sky.
I am an answer, guiding the people who ask "why"?

I am a butterfly spreading my wings for the first time.
I am a poet waiting for a rhyme.

I am the push that gives people strength and hope.
I am someone who has lost something and is learning how to cope.

I am an empty diary searching for a story.
I am an explorer looking for new found glory.

I am a flower opening like a treasure.
I am a bright rainbow after stormy weather.

I am a painting and everyone sees something else in me.
I am a girl who knows who she is and exactly who she wants to be.

December 2007

Shadow

Shadow through
The winter sun.
Stays close to me.
It watches where I go.
My shadow is the shadow,
Of a giant on the snow.

No poems were selected for the 3-5 category.

Used-To-Be Me

The smiles erupt
On the girl's little face
Eyes spilling delight
There's no sad in the place
Cheeks rosy and full
She lets out a squeal
Covers her mouth
As if that weren't real

And I sit and I watch her
As she laughs in pure glee
And my head swims in remembrance
Of how I used to be
So happy and perfect
Like that rosy cheeked girl
That sits right across the room
Living in her own care-free world

I don't talk
I just see
With peering eyes
I realize
I've been looking
At the 5-year-old me

Refugee

In a lonely forgotten alleyway
The shadows of darkness lie.
On the cold cobblestone floor,
The putrid stench of bloodshed.
There lies young girl with silent tears and muffled sobs,
Pleading for mercy as the pain surrounds her.
The color fading from her rosy cheeks is working on her eyes.

Plunge after Plunge,
Tear after Tear,
She is thrown to the Ground,
As cold as their hearts.
They leave her, hurt and alone.
She meant nothing to them,
Just another easy score.

She lets go of her heart,
And it plummets to the floor beside her.
Pain flashes in a young girl’s eyes
As she shamefully realizes what she has become.
Her innocence lost,
Hopes and dreams gone, worthless,
Her spirit fades away.

An unwanted soul implants itself
Beneath her broken heart,
Filling her gut with pain and nausea.
Remembering that dreadful night
And the sleepless nights then on,
She cries herself to the first sleep she has had since.

When people notice more than just the swell of tears,
They shine no mercy upon her troubled soul,
Even her loved ones abandon her,
No sympathy given for her disgrace.

Once again she is left alone to bear
The burden of an accidental life,
Destroying her own.
Despite what they all say,
She knows what has to be done.
Avoiding accusing glares
And cold pitiless eyes,
She runs.

She comes across a place of darkness, emptiness,
And the cold chill of loneliness.
She stands before an alleyway,
The place where she wasted away,
Turned to dust.
She silently pulls a metal coat hanger from her sleeve,
The one that held her outside tall and proud,
As her insides churned in fear.
It is her only escape from a life of wretchedness.

She gazes upon her fearful reflection in the dingy metal
That gives off just a glimmer of light,
Just enough hope for a new beginning.

With silent tears and muffled sobs,
She forces herself to plunge and plunge,
Again and again.
It’s all over, another vulnerable soul whisked away.

In the silence of her tormented relief
She whispers, to the world and to herself,
“I am not a criminal.”

January 2007

rain drops.rain drops plip plop.

They dance like dancing pants!
When they drop it sounds like plip plop drop plip plop drop!

There was a 2-way tie for the 3-5 poem category.

[untitled]

Penguins sliding penguins riding on the slippery ice. Penguins dancing penguins prancing on the frozen snow. Penguins fishing penguins shifting in the freezing water. Penguins eating penguins reading in the twilight sky. Penguins sleeping all around all through the night.

Just a Yummy,Yummy World

It's just a yummy,yummy world on Earth because everything is made of chocalate!"Mmmmm" as I am licking my arm,a chocolate tundra is raining melted chocolate into a storm.I have to hurry up and go into my brown,peanut coated house.As I'm walking down the sidewalk,I see a chocolate mouse.It's finally nighttime,and I see the chocolate moon,it will be time to go to bed,soon!I change to my white chocolate night clothes,and scrub the peanut bumps off of my chocolaty nose.And while I hear the door close,I say I'm just a lucky girl in just a yummy,yummy world.

Droplets

Deep blue crystal pearls
Gracefully, steadily, gradually,
Down down the hill

Waterfalls cascade and descend
Rushing, flowing, gushing
Tiny droplets torrent down

Waves washing to the shore
Tumbling, rolling, rumbling
Beads of liquid swaying everywhere

Reflections swirling in the ponds
Spraying, squirting, spurting
In a haze of showered mist

Streams of wetness dashing around
Oceans bucketing, pouring, falling
Currents hammering to the ground

Raging through rivers
Trickling down eyes
Drenching emotions within you

Drops of anger
Bits of love
Tears of passion from deep inside

Little portions of beauty
Covering the world
Droplets.

Soot and Dust and Patches

Forgotten in a dark corner,
Covered up in soot, threadbare clothes and patches,
A ragged doll hides in a shadow,
Silent as she watches.

Abandoned by a dream,
Ashes stain her once-rosy cheeks,
Ashes of what used to be,
Once upon a time.

If you were to one day stumble
Upon this pitiful sight,
You'd see the dust and patches,
Reminders of the past.

With no one left but spiders
Weaving webs of lies,
The lonesome ragged doll looks up,
Searching for what used to be,
Once upon a time.

She stares out the murky window,
Where the sun struggles to break in,
Patches of blue and white and purple,
Mock her with a yellow grin.

When the skies begin to bleed,
Crimson sunset of sorrow,
The ragged doll goes to sleep,
Eternal slumber — till morrow.

She sits in her corner, erect,
Holding to her pride.
Yet a straggler would see
Her soul as nothing more
Than the abyss of neglect.

No one would ever mind
What was buried in her history.
No one would ever see those eyes
Containing so much mystery.

So if you were to one day stumble
Upon this pitiful sight,
Mind that you won't see but soot and ashes,
Dust and webs and patches,
And a scar over her heart.

February 2008

I am my own self

I am my own self
there is no one like me
because i like horses and
you like birds
we are far from the same
because i am my own self

There was a 2-way tie for the 3-5 poem category.

the eraser poem.

the eraser poem
the eraser poe
the eraser po
the eraser p
the eraser
the erase
the eras
the era
the er
the e
the
th
t

[untitled]

The wind whispers a moonless night
approaches

     something has taken away
     the moon I am lost in a moonless
     night with whispering trees
     OOps I knock into one
     scratching the windows
     it is the best night
     HALLOWEEN!

                      BOOOO!
                      ha!HA! I scared YOU!
                      this has been The darkness

Jacob’s Eyes

His radiant eyes glistening up at my eyes,
Wondrous and still as stone.
A pale, pale blue, like a cloudless sky.
His thoughts are still unknown.

Questions and thoughts fill up his brain,
Things he wants to ask,
But confusing questions they remain
As everyone carries on a task.

But baby Jacob doesn’t care.
He leaves and then begins to play,
His eyes gentle and so very fair.
His questions unanswered, at least for today.

So many things he wants to know:
How to talk, how to walk, how to fly?
So many feelings he cannot show,
Except through his light blue eyes.

His radiant eyes glistening up at my eyes,
Wondrous and still as stone.
A pale, pale blue, like a cloudless sky.
One day his thoughts will be known?

[untitled]

He did not die in pain
On the streets of New York
Because I sharpened again
My rusty plastic Spork

She did not fight at all
On that freezing summer night
For I got her with my
Buttered down, butter knife

Neither of these killed
Or harmed in anyway
When I went out on
My killing spree that day

You can’t call it killing
And you can’t call it a spree
Being a killer, I’m not the best
So let’s just call it
A total bruise fest

So I’m coming to your house one night
To tie you up with twizzlers
And torture your eyes
With little firework sizzlers

I'll rip your teddy bear apart
And feel real bad
And sew it back together
Because I don’t have the heart

I can’t do this
I’m not the man
So I’ll go back
To driving the ice cream van

March 2008

April 2008

May 2008

June 2008

July 2008

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