Parent Leaving

TGIF! In celebration of National Poetry Month, here’s a poem by Ashton, a fourth grader in Ms. Rich’s class at Pioneer Crossing Elementary. Ashton writes a powerful and brilliant poem that tackles the difficult subject of losing a parent.

It will
be hard for
your parent to
leave. It will
take you a
long time to
see them.
You won’t see
them every
day. So that
is why I
think they
should stay
with their
families and so
that is why
it is not
fair that
they should
leave their
families and
they will not
do something
to let
them leave
all the
time.

 Ashton, fourth grade, Pioneer Crossing Elementary School

Wonder

Another day in National Poetry Month means another poem! The poem “Wonder,” by Jordyn, a fourth grader at Pioneer Crossing Elementary, was another finalist for Badgerdog’s Spring Poem Contest.  Jordyn personifies earth in her poem, wondering if it minds children playing on its surface or if it speaks to the birds chirping.  Her beautiful poem reminds us to think about our effects on earth, whether they be big or small, and to keep its unique wonder alive.

As me and my friends run
and play around, I wonder,
does the earth mind that we’re
running on his green hair or playing
hopscotch on his concrete scalp?
As I hear the children
on the playground screaming,
the birds chirping, and the cool spring
breeze, I wonder, is this how the earth
and birds talk to each other? And is the
children screaming interrupting them?
Oh I wonder, I wonder.

Jordyn, fourth grade, Pioneer Crossing Elementary School

What Is the Color Gold? For National Poetry Month

To continue our celebration of National Poetry Month, here’s a poem from Amy, a fourth grader in Ms. Rich’s class at Pioneer Crossing Elementary.

What Is the Color Gold?

Gold is the color of a bright bird.
If you hear its beautiful chirp,
you will go to the hill and watch the sunset.
You will soon get sleepy
and doze off.
When you wake up the next morning,
you’re in your home.
You won’t see anything from your strange
journey, but you will find a gold key
in your coat pocket.
Three years later,
once you are seventeen,
you find that it is the key to
your love. When you’re older,
you know to move on,
and you get that special person
the most important thing to her—a ring.
Amy, fourth grade, Pioneer Crossing Elementary School

Good Luck in This Year of the Dragon

People born in the year of the dragon are thought to be brave, innovative, and driven. In Chinese mythology, the dragon is legendary: it is powerful, majestic, and revered.  And so we begin this new lunar year with the finalists of our New Years’ poem contest, who show us how we can approach the coming months: with the power of forgiveness, with our majestic senses, and a reverence, as always, for hope.

New Year’s Forgiveness

It’s a cool windy midnight
as my dad pops open the
sparkling apple juice. I
think: should I let all
of my arguments go
and forgive?

Should I just ignore
them forever? Or maybe I’ll
just apologize for the
arguments I started.
As I drink I decide right
when school starts things are
going to change

Jordyn, Ms. Rich’s fourth grade class, Pioneer Crossing Elementary School (Manor)

What Time Is It

I am a clock. I am a very big clock.
I am in the town.
I hear people yelling, bell ringing,
gold bell,
red, blue, purple fireworks.
I feel big.

I hope I can change time.

Carlos, Professor Esbrand’s fourth grade class, Oak Springs Elementary School (Austin)

Make Room for Hope

We’re officially halfway finished with this first month of the new year. Some of us made promises to ourselves a short two weeks ago. Some of us may have already broken them. And that’s OK because here’s the thing: every single day can be a new beginning. That’s the feeling we get when we read the remarkable poems that won Badgerdog’s New Years’ Poem Contest. Fourth graders Eugene, from Pioneer Crossing Elementary, and Rebecca, from Oak Springs Elementary, know what it feels like to want a new start. They know how important hope is—how a new start can’t happen without it. And their poems are a great reminder that even if we fall behind, even if we didn’t get out of the gate fast enough in 2012, there’s always time to put a little bit of sadness away to make room for some happy.