Refugee Poems

Inspired by the heartbreaking events which daily unfold on our newscreens, pupils at my weekly lunchtime poetry group have been writing refugee poems. I shared with them three poems, by Michael Rosen, Martha Sprackland and 9-year-old Lamiya Safarova. After a brief discussion, I asked pupils to write poems from the perspective of a refugee. Some used their imaginations, whilst others based their pieces on real experiences. I'm excited to share the results:

The Refugee Girl by Vanshika

I saw a girl who twinkled

She had a smile on her face

But from the inside she was glum

And full of sorrow

I tried to ask her but she would never say

Why she feels this way

The next day

I saw her sitting on the bench crying

Alone

When I asked her what’s the matter

She said

I am a refugee girl

And I hate being this person

 

Refugee Poem by Sakai

I sit on the bench which is broken in half

I stare at the empty bottle wanting for more water

I think about my family

Helping them to come for me

But no one knows I’m here

Because I am a refugee

 

Refugee Poem by Mahveen

I can see across the land, everyone upset

Determined but strong.

I can smell the smoke from the ashes

That came from down the road

I can hear my people screaming in fear,

Love and joy

I can taste the bitterness coming from this town,

Oh how I can’t wait to find home

I can feel myself being pulled

Into something different, something new.

 

Refugee Poem by Saniya

Life is an endless chase

Running from place to place

Our families scattered and torn

Oh Lord, why was this evil ever born?

I’m tired of this game of cat and mouse

I want a place to call my house

Fantastic Poems From My Lunch Club

I am very pleased to be back working at Plashet School, having worked there last year as a Spoken Word Educator. I ran my first lunch club of the term yesterday, and was delighted that almost all of the following I had gathered last year decided to return. In a testament to the skills they have acquired, I didn't need to give them many writing prompts or to set up elaborate activities; after a brief discussion about what they got up to during their holidays, I let them loose on the writing. Some girls decided to write about an activity they undertook during the holidays, and others just, well, wrote about whatever they wanted. Here are two fantastic examples:

Rollercoaster by Leila

Ready to step on

Staff patrolling

Checking if it’s safe

You can hear the people

AHHH!

As soon as they get off

People come eagerly rushing

To get on

You can hear the man saying

Are you ready?

YESSS! They scream

It’s too late to get off

WOOO! They scream

As it goes down

Faster than a motor bike

AHHH!

Then it’s all over

 

All About Me by Dina

I am like a mango birthday cake

Exploding with flavour

One fact is anger and happiness are my best friends

But now tasting the cake I feel bitter and characterless

The cook book about me is opening

It’s begging

It’s time, get ready

Embracing my life for new, fresh ingredients

Here they are:

100 grams of fun exploding with anxiousness

2g of sadness: a pinch of salt

200gs of British attitude and language

Poetry, drama and history gives my cake a boost

Sugar and milk

And one thing I love is ice cream

This is my life

What is yours?

Firework Light Poems - Art/Poetry Workshop Idea for National Poetry Day 2016

National Poetry Day is on October 8th, and the theme is Light. As ever with NPD, this is a very broad theme, and encompasses a huge variety of possibilities. Here is a very simple idea, which can be adapted for children of all ages and abilities. What follows is the broad outline; feel free to add, subtract and alter according to who you are working with.

Step One

Play a game with the pupils. Name a colour, and give them a set amount of time to list as many things as they can that have that colour. So for example, you might say 'green', and pupils might write 'frog; grass; tree; snot, etc. If you are into gamification, you might make this activity into a competition.

Step Two

Use some of the ideas generated in the previous activity to model some similes for the class, e.g.: 'as green as a....', 'as red as a.....'. Use this as an opportunity to discuss which are the best ideas, and how to make the similes more interesting/exciting.

Step Three

give out lots of sheets of coloured paper - as many different colours as possible placed on each table. Children can write colour-based similes on the sheets of paper, according to which colour paper they have been given.

Step Four

Share my poem 'Fireworks', below. In groups, children cut out the similes, and stick them onto a black backdrop, so as to form the shape of a firework in the night sky. They can then practice performing the pieces, and you have some lovely collaborative shape poems to display.

Fireworks

A dash of red

A splash of blue

A splodge of green

and a twinkle of gold.

A streak of white

A stripe of pink

A smear of yellow

and a sparkle of silver.

Somewhere, a happy child

is flicking paint

across the sky.

Exciting news - MA dissertation complete, and poetry books forthcoming!

Hello people, and welcome to the first blog post of the new school term. I have been somewhat lax in updating this blog, the main reason being simple laziness. However, there are two rather more salubrious reasons for my lack of blogging: (a) I have been working on two children's poetry collections, for which I have rather excitingly been offered a contract by Bloomsbury (of Harry Potter fame), and (b) I have been completing my MA dissertation.

Since 2014 I have been combining my day job (visiting schools) with studying on the new Writer/Teacher MA at Goldsmiths. I have been doing modules across the English and Education departments, and have turned my attention, amongst other things, to short story writing, an academic study of the state of contemporary American children's poetry, and a qualitative analysis of the impact of poets' roles in schools. My dissertation was supervised by Stephen Knight, and is a collection of poems intended for an adult audience, along with a critical commentary. I am pleased to say I handed it in today. Unlike my children's poetry, I've no idea whether much (or any) of it comes up to a publishable standard. Here is a poem from the collection. Enjoy!

David

I never knew him. He died

of lung cancer before I was born.

He was an alcoholic too.

He passed all the exams

at medical school, but not

in the correct order, so he never

qualified as a doctor.

His wife never knew this.

He used to get up early

every morning, put on a suit,

say goodbye, and wander the streets

before going home at night.

Meanwhile his wife would sit inside,

unstitching the labels

on his Marks and Spencer jumpers

and sewing Harrods ones

in their place. She’d listen

for his key in the big oak door,

and when he returned,

without a word, they’d put

on a record and dance a dance,

the same one every night.