Summer

Do you have time to get away with friends or family? 

These can be fun moments that create lasting memories-- like the ones Charles Water describes in "Fishing Trip" in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

Service

Did you know that teens volunteer 2.4 billion hours annually and that is worth. $34.3 billion to the US economy?

It may start out as an assignment or a service project, but the intangible benefits are even bigger.

Here's Janet Wong's poem, "Community Service," for The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

Eviscerate

Need a new SAT word to learn? 
How about EVISCERATE. 
Read this poem for the vocabulary AND the puns!

Michael Salinger wrote this poem, "Eviscerate," for The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

Loss

This poem, "He Was So Little" by David L. Harrison (from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School) gives us words for the difficult feelings we experience when a much-loved pet is gone. 

Love

Just in time for Valentine's Day, here is a poem from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School. It's about love, but with a warning tucked inside. 

"Advice to Rapunzel" by Eileen Spinelli. Food for thought...

Fear

Time to restart, and rethink. What are we afraid of? Let's fight those fears!

Here's a downloadable poem postcard featuring Sara Holbrook's poem, "Fear Factor," from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

And here are the Take 5 activities that go with this poem.

"The Cafe" by Guadalupe Garcia McCall

The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School continues to reach new readers. At the YALSA Symposium (Young Adult Library Services Association), poet Guadalupe Garcia McCall read one of her poems from the book and we managed to capture it on film here. It's "The Café" featured in the Eighth Grade section, Week 13: Families, page 205. 

Brace yourself. 
It's bittersweet and thought-provoking (and somewhat autobiographical).

Poetry Posters & Postcards

One of the things I love about poetry is how it conjures up images in our minds. What do you picture when you read a favorite poem? Talking about our (multiple) interpretations for a single poem is an interesting window into our own experiences and emotions. This is something young adults really "get." They enjoy linking poems they're reading with their own life experiences and understandings.

But they are also often surprised to discover that we can have very different images of the same poem. One way to highlight this imagistic power of poetry is to use poems in conjunction with images, matching poems and pictures that seem to go together. We have taken this idea and created several poem posters and postcards that pair poems with contemporary photographs. You can download and/or print them at the Pomelo Books site here. 

Here is one example from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, just to get you started.

"Body Art" by Marilyn Singer

Here is the last of our student-created "poem movies." This one features Marilyn Singer's poem, "Body Art," and is created by graduate student Phyllis Yarbro. Click here to watch it.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the eighth grade section, week 35, for the theme, "Summer Vacation."

We hope you've enjoyed our homemade masterpieces. We've had fun making them and exploring ways to use technology to promote poetry!

Next up: Backstories for some of the poems in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School from the poets themselves.




Image credit: rpghacker.com

"Grandma's House" by Kate Coombs

Here is a "poem movie" for Kate Coombs's poem, "Grandma's House," created by graduate student Sherri Wilcox. Watch it here.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the seventh grade section, week 13, for the theme, "Families."

"The Waking House" by Charles Ghigna

Here is a "poem movie" for Charles Ghigna's poem, "The Waking House," created by graduate student Casey Torisk. Check it out.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 12, for the theme, "House & Home."

"Wong's Café" by Janet Wong

Here is a "poem movie" for Janet Wong's poem, "Wong's Café," created by graduate student Karen Tassone. Look for it here.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 16, for the theme, "Holidays."

"According to Bread" by Lesléa Newman

Here is a "poem movie" for Lesléa Newman's poem, "According to Bread," created by graduate student Jill Swann. Watch it here.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the eighth grade section, week 32, for the theme, "Metaphor & Simile."

"These Hands" by Renée M. LaTulippe

Here is a "poem movie" for Renée M. LaTulippe's poem, "These Hands," created by graduate student Ann Siejka. Watch it below.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the seventh grade section, week 15, for the theme, "Stuff We Love."

"Pen" by Nikki Grimes

Here is a "poem movie" for the poem, "Pen," written by Nikki Grimes and created by graduate student Lisa Scott. Watch it here or below.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 33, for the theme, "Personification."

"Restless" by Joyce Sidman

Here is a "poem movie" for Joyce Sidman's poem, "Restless," created by graduate student Ellen Samples. Check it out.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the eighth grade section, week 34, for the theme, "On the Move."

"First Practice" by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

Here is a "poem movie" for Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem, "First Practice," created by graduate student Sabrina Ramirez. Watch it here.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 14, for the theme, "Community."

"Meet the Saurus" by Heidi Mordhorst

Here is a "poem movie" for Heidi's poem, "Meet the Saurus," created by graduate student Karey Pustejovsky.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 28, for the theme, "Books."

"Names" by Julie Larios

Here is a "poem movie" for "Names" by Julie Larios created by graduate student Priscilla Pineda. Look for it here.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 10, for the theme, "Food."

"Giving" by Jane Yolen

Here is a "poem movie" for Jane Yolen's poem, "Giving," created by graduate student Jennifer Normile.

This poem is featured in The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School in the sixth grade section, week 15, for the theme, "Stuff We Love."