Poems about Family: Roethke's My Papa's Waltz

I thought a good second lesson for young new poets would be to have them write about members of their family. I read the poem and we discussed how the poet describes his father, the things they do together (horsing around, wrestling, rough-housing), the kind of job the father my have. We talked about other qualities of people...grandma's favorite thing to cook, mom's favorite shirt, things brother likes to do.


Laila L
k

My dad sits
in his favorite rocking chair
He likes to talk
on the phone
He likes to go to work
And be happy


Victoria E
K

My baby doll Muffin
Likes to sleep in her stroller
I take her to the park
and Navy Pier
I let her sit
on my lap in the car


Brad H
K

My grandma likes
to drink coffee and pop
She takes me to school
And my friends house

Zahria S
K

My cat likes
to play with yarn
She likes coming into my room
to watch T.V.
She likes watching
squirrels on the windowsill

Sentwali N
1st

My sister runs
and falls alot
She runs
against things
My sister has
golden earrings
We play sometimes
My sister likes
music

Gregory R
1st

My dad got stung
by a bee
and it hurt so bad
you don't want
to hear the rest.

Nadia A
1st

My mother
has a store.
She works hard
and I work hard, too
Just like my mom.

Wishes

For the kindergardeners, the first lesson with me is really their first introduction to poetry that is not nursery rhymes. I use Kenneth Koch's Wish lesson to give the children an idea of how far poetry will let them go. Often new to school, too, the spend their new days learning concrete things and I wanted them to understand poetry is about whatever they can imagine.



For the writing, I ask that they start each line with "I wish" so they understand poetry has a different form to stories.


Jericho A
K

I wish for two wishes
I wish for a pet rabbit
I wish I could go to the park

Zahria S
K

I wish I was
Elephant
Butterfly
Ant

Taylor C
K

I wish I was
Flying on
A butterfly

Taylor S
1st

I wish I was a queen
I wish I could do
Whatever I want
I wish Myles
Was king
I wish I had a star
I wish I had
2100 candies
Do you?

Sentwali N
1st

I wish I had a motorcycle
I wish I had a bingo tiger
I wish I had a lot of balls
I wish I had a lot of games
I wish I had gymshoes

Taylor C
1st

I wish that I had
A pretty pony
I wish it was
A girl
It would be good!
Her name is
Jewelanna Patrice Princess
I wish I was a princess