I’m different than others.
I feel like I’m on the moon when I’m sleeping.
I know that dark is my enemy.
I care about life.
I choose my friends honestly.
I know my confidence is no match for others.
I’ll always be myself!
By Isha
Writers in the Schools (WITS) Celebrates Kids–in their own Words
Category Archives: self-portrait
Writing Contest for Kids: Where I’m From
What Kids Can Do (WKCD) announces a new writing contest, “Where I am From” open to kids across the country. Read their contest guidelines below and submit your entry before October 31, 2010.
Who can enter
Young people in grades 6 to 12, anywhere in the United States.
Entries
Your entry may take the form of either a poem or an essay (no longer than 400 words).
Before you write, we suggest that you read the poem “Where I’m From,” by George Ella Lyon (see below). What about this poem gives you the strongest feelings? Is there anything you can relate to in it? How do you think the author feels about where she is from?
Next, write your own “Where I’m From” poem. Rather than copying the order and form of Lyon’s poem, follow your own intuition in writing about the smells, sights, sounds, voices, people, and place you are from. Or, if poetry is not your thing, bring your life to light in an essay.
Finally, read your poem or essay aloud, to yourself or to others. What do you like best about it? What do you want to change about it? Revise your writing until it sounds true to your very own heart and voice.
To submit your entry
Email your work (as an attachment) to: info@whatkidscando.org. Please include your name, age, the school you attend, and the city/town and state where you live.
Deadline
October 31, 2010 (yes, Halloween)
Prize Winners
We’ll announce the winning entries on our website on November 15, 2010. Winners will receive $100 Amazon gift certificates and be published on the WKCD website – it’s a great place to take a bow!
Subscribe or bookmark A Poem a Day to find out about great writing contests for kids.
Mi Caja del Bien y del Mal – My Box of Good and Evil
Por favor dime dónde está la risa.
Dime dónde está la alegría.
Dime dónde está la dulzura.
Dime dónde está el poder.
Dime dónde está la fuerza.
Dime dónde está la protección.
Dime dónde está mi familia.
Dime dónde está la abundancia.
Dime dónde está la felicidad.
Dime dónde está la gente.
Dime dónde está la grandeza.
~
My Box of Good and Evil Box (Translation)
Please tell me where is the laughter.
Tell me where is happiness.
Tell me where is sweetness.
Tell me where is power.
Tell me where is strength.
Tell me where is protection.
Tell me where is my family.
Tell me where is abundance.
Tell me where are the people.
Tell me where is greatness.
By Alondra, 2nd grade
Photo by Visualist Images via Flickr
My Name is Memphis
I was born in Gamma’s house and every time I spend the
night there she wakes up and cooks me sausage and grits.
I have a nephew named Jaden who I play ball with. My
favorite things to do are eat, watch TV, and play video games
all day. My favorite video game is Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle Smash Up and Spiderman 1. My favorite subject is
math because it’s easy. Last summer
I went to Camp Periwinkle,
Houston Space Center, and
Schlitterbahn. At Schlitterbahn there was a
pirate ship that drops water on you and makes you forget
everything, but it didn’t make me forget because I am
hydro-dynamically designed. It was awesome!
By Memphis,
Age 8
Photo by Brandt Williams via Flickr
Explore
My hand is so complicated,
and my mind is a mystery.
Come with me to see every part of the thing
that I call a hand.
Explore every dip, dive, and loop.
The lines will tell you about me,
and, if you can see, I am extraordinary.
Take my faith line, for example.
If you know about lines,
you might know I am loco,
and the best job suited for me is mad chemistry.
Next in line is my lifeline
which tells you about my sudden lifestyle change
among many others.
Strong, like an ox, which I would say
my mentality is.
My heart line:
can I erase it?
Maybe, but why?
It tells you so much, like
are you heavy-hearted, light-hearted, or a black hole,
floating in your own sorrow,
like a train at the end of a rail
or the final beat of a heart?
I am moving on.
By DeAndrea, 12
Place Me Among Flamboyants
Place me among flamboyants.
This self-portrait by Tiphanie, a high school student in Houston, is part of the WITS Meeting House Project which can be viewed on flickr.
Where Are We Now: Stacy Parker Aab
Former WITS writer Stacy Parker Aab has published a new book entitled, Government Girl. Stacy has had quite a career thus far with various government titles and stints across the globe. She also has worked with Writers in the Schools programs both in Houston and Detroit. The five years she spent in the White House as an aide are the basis for this fascinating insight into what it is like to be a young idealistic woman in the White House.
Stacy chronicled her time working for the Clinton administration with honesty and wit. Quite refreshingly, she doesn’t shy away from or downplay the more controversial events during those years at the White House. She talks openly about how she learned from what went on around her and how she achieved success for herself in what has traditionally been a “boy’s club.”
Although she is currently busy traveling and promoting her book, Stacy now calls New York City home. She also blogs for the Huffington Post and has worked on a project called McSweeney’s Voices from the Storm: The People of New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina and Its Aftermath. Stacy has been a major part of this effort document the stories and oral histories of the many people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
What Is My Heart Made Of?
My heart is
a candle blown out with a lovely sound.
My heart is made
of African-Americans
hugging for freedom. My
heart is made
of chocolate
eaten for
love. My heart
is made of
seeing the sun
set. My heart
is made of
cookies baking in the
oven waiting
to be done.
My heart is
is made of a person hugging
a person who needs
helps. My heart is
made of cookies
that are ready. My
heart is
a seed waiting
to grow into a
rose. My heart is
made of eating
chocolates with my
family. My heart is
a candle
blown out with all my
bad times and good times.
by Alejandro, 3rd grade
[photo by KayVeeINC via flickr]
Premiere of “The Jemma Songs”
On Tuesday October 27, 2009, Houston will see the premiere of what has become known as “The Jemma Songs.” The performance will include seven poems written by WITS student, Jemma Leech, and beautifully set to music by Houston composer, Mary Carol Warwick. The performance will take place at 7.30pm on Tuesday evening at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 5200 Fannin St. Houston, TX 77004. Click here to view a map. Admission is free.
The poems performed will be The Angel Series: My Name is Jemma, From Nobody to Somebody, The Time of the Angels,and One Wish or Three as well as The Ike Cycle: Waiting for Ike, Listening to Ike and After Ike. Some of these poems were written at the WITS Summer Creative Writing Workshops.
The pieces have been set for oboe, viola, piano and soprano, and will be performed by The Greenbriar Consortium, which includes members of the Houston Symphony Orchestra. In addition to musicians from the Houston Symphony, performers include Anita Kruse, Julia Fox, Sonja Brusauskas, Keith Weber, Paul Boyd, and Miriam Leek-Meira.
The Greenbriar Consortium recently gave an interview about Jemma’s work and the upcoming concert on The Front Row, Houston’s daily arts magazine show on 88.7 FM KUHF. Click here to listen to the interview.
Two Poems by Anna
I do not know
friendly bees
It seems to me
all the red fruit I find
may be
dazzling
and tremendous as the sun
by Anna, age 6
(collage of Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself)
———————-
My favorite color is turquoise.
I like my kitty cat, and her
name is Sandy.
Penny, Pepper, Rocky, and Muffin are
my dogs.
I like to jump high on the trampoline,
and I hate subtraction.
Squishy stuff is cool.
by Anna, age 6
Where I Was Born
The sky is cloudy and bright.
I am happy because I am from
here, Houston, TX, where
I can eat Chinese food,
play hide-and-seek, and
visit with my friends.
I am from here, Houston,TX,
where I’m in 4th grade and
where I don’t mind it when
it’s hot because I can play
under the sun all day.
I’m from here, Houston, TX,
a big city with lots of
apartments and houses.
I want to stay in Houston
forever because this is
where I was born.
by Oluwatobi, age 11
[photo by Ricardo Carreon--click on it for more information]
Who Are You?
I am the person who
unravels life.
I open up my memory
to search for truth.
If you look deeply in
the wrinkles
you will see
sunlight.
I’m not a
camera that blocks
the arches of the
dark.
I sit and watch as you
doze on the verge of
falling.
I can’t let you
fall, so I rescue
you for something
so priceless–
life.
Now I stand before the
light
open-hearted and
lovable
a throb of fevered care
a crowning of a child
a piece of light.
by Kadijah, 7th grade
Mystery
I am the air of the whole world.
I make the bells ring with their soft music.
When the birds lay eggs,
They feel me as the air and they hatch.
I am the raindrops that make the roses cry
Because they won’t dry.
I am wonderful.
I am the raindrop like a crystal.
I am the queen of tigers.
The tigers obey me.
They stare at me surprised.
I dance in the middle of the tigers
There, in a circle.
I am the sunlight.
I make the flowers grow in their colors.
I, as the sunlight, I get a piece of leaf,
And I eat it.
I am the rainbow.
The colors are emotional.
I have the power to give color to the world.
By Merari, 8th grade
[photo by janoid via flickr]
Darkness to Light
It’s dark inside, I hate everything.
My darkness is taking over me.
I stay in the dark, afraid of the light.
My darkness is painful, always hurting me.
I feel depressed and all night long
I cry on my pillow a thousand times.
Abuse from my past is all coming out.
Then I feel a little sunlight on my face
It feels like hope is finally here.
It is a brighter day.
After time it’s no longer dark, it is light.
My darkness is taking over me.
I stay in the dark, afraid of the light.
My darkness is painful, always hurting me.
I feel depressed and all night long
I cry on my pillow a thousand times.
Abuse from my past is all coming out.
Then I feel a little sunlight on my face
It feels like hope is finally here.
It is a brighter day.
After time it’s no longer dark, it is light.
By Denesha, 11th grade
My Name
Claire – too plain a name to describe,
too simple to remember.
Just when someone tells me
that my name is French for clear,
my thoughts drift to
a blank sheet of
white crisp paper;
still smells like the wood,
but tastes like first grade.
My mom wanted to name me Emily,
a suitable name; it was my grandmother’s,
whom I never met.
So when I think on it, I realize
It’s like a maze of open doors
each leading to a different path
of possibility – but too many to open,
not enough to fill up or close.
The unsureness would leave me in a corner
of a dark closet. Maybe
It’s one of those awful doors.
My name is purple, its brown curls
hitting itself in the face.
It’s defiant, yet not powerful
As it tries to stamp out the light
The darkness of the closet I’m in
screams, constantly calling out
my name.
By Claire, 7th Grade
[photo by allen_entertainment via flickr]
This poem is featured as part of the 2009 A Poem A Day campaign, a National Poetry Month celebration by WITS that features a different poem by a WITS student every day during April. Click on the logo to the left to learn more.
