Mrs. Racklyeft teaches at a small school in Detroit. These poems were written by her students, who, despite their age and situation, have created these stunning, vivid portraits. (Mrs. Racklyeft's comments are in parentheses below).
A city of peace
with golden sidewalks and poles
and diamond light bulbs.
-Daniel, age 10 (whose neighborhood is not like this poem at all)
Leaves are falling down.
When you walk on them they crunch.
Then they blow away.
-Jamison, age 7
The playground is filled
With so many kids playing
Jumping together.
-Belicia, age 10 (the truth is our playground is a parking lot next to an abandoned building, with a small strip of adjacent green space.)
The bunny stalks me
in the deep forest today,
follows me home.
-Gillian, age 10
The golden flower
falls from the stem into the grass
and I pick it up.
-Gillian
A red balloon flew.
It shines like a cardinal,
a stripe on my flag
-Simone, age 8
Mrs. Rackelyft's students do a wonderful job of crafting mature, thoughtful haiku. Working within a poetry form is always a challenge, all the more so for children to create poems that are whole and beautiful while staying true to the syllabic form, as these students have done. They each choose perfect words, and since there are so few words in haiku, each word really has to carry its weight. Words and phrases like "diamond light bulbs," "bunny stalks me," and "stripe on my flag" instantly communicate to the reader a vibrantly clear image, the goal of any good poet. Though we get a sense of childlike joy from these poems, they are not good because they are written by children, they are simply well-written poems.
ReplyDeleteWe are grateful that Mrs. Rackelyft shared Daniel, Jamison, Belicia, Gillian and Simone's haiku with us, and we hope you all will be touched by them as well.
These are wonderful! I'm always so amazed by the creative capacity of children. So much talent and beauty for people so new to the world.
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