Potomac Elementary School
Middle School Student Poetry
2005 - 2006
6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Poetry written under the guidance of
Potomac Elementary School Poet in Residence Alex Tinari

The Dead
by Cody Helms

Turn off the lights. Get four candles.
Get a crystal and make a circle of
the beauteous stones there are.
Put them in a circle.
Put the crystal in
the middle and think of nothing
except a person who is important to you,
who is dead.
Listen.
Hope that he is not coming
from a dark place.

Old Age
by Teri Tritz

Old age is like a caterpillar
going into a cocoon. The cocoon grows
through snow, wind, rain, and sunlight.
The texture of the cocoon is rigid.
The rhythm of the rigidness is like
a tree’s bark. Then the beautiful color
of the wings that fly high in the sky.

Full Plate, Empty Plate
by Ryan Granger

Full plate, empty plate
it’s like being happy
to sad. Or full to empty.
It goes from a spicy bite
to a scrape against a plate.
It makes me feel good
with a warm morsel
going down
into the stomach
and warming every part
of my body.
The gurgling ends,
and I can’t wait
to satisfy it.
A full plate is happy,
but if a plate is lacking,
it’s not happening.
But if the plateful is not
making me happy, it
makes me happy when
it’s lacking.

Traveling Ritual
by Erin Michelle Michalak

Take a plane to the other side of the world.
Take a boat across the sea.
Take in the warmth of the Sahara.
Ride a camel to the Great Wall of China.
Sculpt a snowman in Antarctica.
Swim furiously in the Gulf of Mexico.
Fight for food with the lions.
Judge a book by its cover.
Listen to the crickets chirp.
Fight for freedom if you wish.
Find your old path back to the earth.
Be careful what you wish for.

A Sad Story
by Monica Jane Dierken

One day I was just sitting there in my bowl of magma
when I felt the shaking. I had heard there was going to be some evacuation
when people would have to be moved from their homes.
I was scared. I’ve always wondered what it would be like
to burst out the top of my home. Our next door neighbor,
my best friend, Billy – he went about a week ago.
I saw him and his family leave our world, go into another.
It was like watching a caterpillar leave its cocoon
and turn into a butterfly, but not so joyful. Like the butterfly
dies when he comes out. So after that I asked myself,
“When will I leave? When will I go see Billy?”
When I go into another world.

Old Age
by Jessie Kimmel

Old age is a tiny newborn kitten.
It’s like a small, fragile, breakable object.
When the kitten is a little bigger and can see,
it’s like magic – the curiosity that the kitten has
in what it sees. It’s almost a crystal ball, with you in it,
being watched. When the kitten can crawl without
wobbling it looks like it has paddles on its feet,
reminding me of “Row Row Row Your Boot.”
When the kitten is old enough to go to another
home, it’s like a memory, slowly fading away,
and if you see that kitten when it’s full grown
and old, it’s like life was a dream overnight,
but why? No one knows. Maybe it’s just a blessing
or a gift from God made especially for you,
like a birthday cake, or memories.

When I Was a Child
by Brandon C. Ransom

When I was a child
the days went by so fast
I would try to savor
every minute
by fishing or playing a board game
or just waiting. Waiting
for a long, long time.

Old Age
by Katie Jardine

Old age is my Dad’s face getting red
like the lava in summer on the mountain.
Old age is my Mom swimming day and night
and coming out wrinkled.

Fall
by Megan Daniels

The dry flat land slowly turns
as grey as an old man’s beard.

People who were once enjoying the heat
are bundled up going to work.

Animals’ fur turns from a bright glow
to the soft grey of the snow.

The once warm lake gently turns
to ice. The sun takes his vacation
as the clouds take their jobs.

Rituals of Cameras

by Jordan Lutz

Turn on the camera. |
Then zoom in to the object.
Look through the hole.
Push the button and hold.
It will flash. Silently.
Don’t move.
Look back at the picture.
Save or delete.
Save the good pictures.
Be aware of more objects.

I Think it’s Cool
Lane Lomont

I think it’s cool
how they turn wood
into paper. It starts off
as a tree. Then it gets
cut down. Then they cut
off the branches, load
the log on a truck, and take
it to the paper making place.
It gets made into paper.
Than it gets sold, and I
write on it.

Snow Ritual
by Jake Arnold & Sam Hall

Dream of a snowy day.
Give away the fall day,
for a day of snow.
Give away five hundred dollars of clay,
for a day in the snow.
Give away Chinese food,
for a day of play.
Get a snowmobile,
for a day of play.
Dance for snow.

Sun Ritual
by Kaitlynn Wood & Crystal Widburg

Get lazy.
Jump off, jump in.
Do a belly flop.
Say, “Ouch ouch ouch ouch!”
Throw hot dogs at each other.
Run around in circles screaming your head off.
Laugh in the sun, “Hahaha!”
Watch the pigs fly.
Sing as if you are in an opera.
Say, “Hot hot hot.”

Fall
by Mitchell Hall

Fall is started at Halloween,
like a good time starting. The leaves
are orange like orange juice, red
as the falling sunset, yellow like a bee
and its honey. All of a sudden,
you close your eyes and open them.
It is all white. White. No more orange,
no more red, no more yellow…
Times past, memories are made.
Before you know it, the snow is gone.
Before you know it, birds are back.
The trees green as if to say,
“School is over. Go have some fun.”

Sun Ritual
by Kaitlynn Wood & Crystal Widburg

Get lazy.
Jump off, jump in.
Do a belly flop.
Say, “Ouch ouch ouch ouch!”
Throw hot dogs at each other.
Run around in circles screaming your head off.
Laugh in the sun, “Hahaha!”
Watch the pigs fly.
Sing as if you are in an opera.
Say, “Hot hot hot.”

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Bonner, Montana 59823
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Fax: 406-244-5840