By Sami Fuleihan

Money
Sitting There
A stack of mint green paper
Pure, like a unblemished jewel
Why?
Why are you so valuable?
You are coveted
Everyone wants you
But 1,000 years ago
You were worth nothing
Overseas
You are worth nothing
But here
You are valuable
Like a basic human need
Oh, how fresh
Like a cool glass of milk on a warm summer day
Money
Beautiful
In a special way
Beautiful like a sparkling diamond
You are valuable
Because we say so
No one,
Could find anything superior
Than the sight
Of you
Sitting there
A stack of paper
Unexceptional, like green grass
But special to us
Like a cherished gem
Money

Reflection
I published an “Ode to Money”.
I chose to write an Ode to Money because I felt that I could emphasize an impressive change of tone.
The tone of Ode to Money starts off curriosly and than changes to an appreciative tone. A couple of times, I even flat out wonder why money is so valuable
“Why? Why are you so valuable?”.
The theme of the Ode, is that money is valuable, but only if we value it. As in don’t place to much value into something that’s just a bunch of paper.

“Unexceptional, like green grass” -Simile
This simile shows how normal looking money can be.
5.) “No one could find anything superior to the sight of you” – Hyperbole
This hyperbole shows that money (for some people, )can be obsessive and overvalued.
6.) I changed waned, to coveted.
I made this revision because I felt that coveted better explained the tone of the poem.
6.) I changed, “Anyone would be hard-pressed to find anything better than the sight of you” to “No one, could find anything superior than the sight”. I made this revision because the hyperbole emphasized how hard it is to find better stuff than money, with no strings attached.
7.) I found that it was hard to write this poem, because I had to add a lot of figurative language to the poem,( more than I normally do).
8.) I am really happy with my final draft, because all the revisions I made helped the poem grow. Originally the poem was really weak with not too many extravagant words, and almost no figurative language. However now, the poem contains a plethora of figurative language and elevated words.

By hailey joe

The cold barren mountain

Is now empty

Alone

The journey up is silent

Everyone’s face frozen

Unable to talk

Just sit quietly waiting

We stare tirelessly

At the long way up

Counting down seconds

Till we start our journey down

Empty lifts creak back and forth

like broken floor boards

echoing in the silence

The darkness escapes

as the warm yellow pours in

Lights as big as mountains

Flick on

Illuminating the path down

the cold barren mountain

As we escape

The safety of the lift

We start our journey down

The cold barren mountain

The winds pinch my bare face

As my snowboard slices

The now ice like snow

The lift felt as though we had waited years

But the way down lasted a minute

It felt as though we were flying

Through the sky

Flowing with excitement

We head in

Ending the trip with that as

our last ride

Reflection questions

1. I did a sensory poem
2. I choose this event because every year I go on a snowboarding trip with 4 other families and the last ride of the day is always very cold and everyone is tired but it’s really important and special.
3. Exhausted and cold
4. Even though the trip up and down may do cold and exhausting the trip down is always worth it
5. Lights as big as mountains and Empty lifts creak back and forth like broken floor boards
6. I changed lite to illuminated and I changed empty to barren.
7. It was easy but some parts were tricky like descriptive word choice
8. I’m pretty happy I feel like the poem turned out pretty good

I Don’t Want To End Up Under The Bridge
By Yuvraj Sehgal

I don’t want to end up under the bridge
Sometimes when I feel depressed
Sometimes when I need uplifting
Sometimes when I am despondent
Sometimes when I feel melancholy
Sometimes when I feel woebegone
I let myself go to my happy place
I let mother nature take over
I let the ripples in the river talk happy into to me
I let the leaves which rattle in the wind talk to me
I let the wind blow away the bad thoughts
I let the birds singing relax me
I don’t want to end up under the bridge

Reflection:

I published an inspired by poem in response to the song Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I published an inspired by poem because I had this song stuck in my head which was Under the Bridge by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I was thinking about how the song would be different if I make the actions that are written in the songs lyrics positive instead of negative. In the quote from the song the singer is referring to taking drugs after he makes a bad decision, “Under the bridge downtown / Is were I drew some blood / Under the bridge downtown / I could not get enough.” In my poem I take a negative situation and find a positive solution like in this example, “Sometimes when I feel woebegone / I let myself go to my happy place.”
The tone of my poem at first is negative because I wanted to establish a depressing environment, “Sometimes when I feel depressed / Sometimes when I need uplifting / Sometimes when I am despondent / Sometimes when feel melancholy.” The tone at the middle of my poem changes to a hopeful feeling because I wanted to portray that you can have a negative situation and still have a positive solution, “I let myself go to my happy place / I let mother nature take over / I Let the ripples in the river talk happy into to me / I let the leaves which rattle in the wind talk to me”
The theme of my poem is that a in times of sadness you can’t back down, and you need to think positive so that positive things will happen. If you think negative your entire life will start to go in a downward spiral, and at that point it will be hard to recover, but if you can fix it before it reaches that stage you will be in a better place than where you started from. This is my theme because in my poem when I am sad I think of happy thoughts so that I can handle the situation in a positive way, “Sometimes when I feel melancholy / Sometimes when I feel woebegone / I let myself go to my happy place / I let mother nature take over.”
An example of figurative language in my poem is a metaphor when I say, “I don’t want to end up under the bridge.” This helps add another way to think about the main idea of my poem so it is easier for the reader to form a connection, it works like an analogy because I am comparing being under a bridge to being in a bad place in life which corresponds together. Another example of figurative language in my poem is personification when I state, “I let the ripples in the river talk happy into to me.” This is effective in my poem because it explains the reader how the sound of the river flowing and it’s waves crashing calms me down because my poem says, “I let myself go to my happy place / I let mother nature take over,” which means that nature is what helps me calm down and when I need to revise the decisions I have made, I go to nature.
Revisions:
1.) I changed “sad” to “melancholy.” Explanation: I made this revision to enhance the vocabulary to more adult and teen like terminology so it can be used for that specific audience, plus I couldn’t use sad 5 times, so I used synonyms for sad to make it sound more interesting.
2.) I also changed “shake” to “rattle.” Explanation: I made this revision to also make this for an older audience, plus I needed a more descriptive word to describe a sound rather than a motion and even though they are similar when we think of rattle we think of sound.

7. It was easy to write this poem because thinking positive is what most people
should do, but many people go down the wrong path which is the way the song
describes it. It was easy to write because I always thought and still think that
this song is a bad influence for young kids who have not yet learned how to
deal with there problems, so I thought it would be a great idea to show a better
solution to the problem.
8. I am extremely satisfied with my final product because it shows how kids and
adults should deal with issues, problems and hardships that they encounter on
a daily basis properly. My poem also builds good characteristics and core
values into kids and adults which will help prepare them for the future

By Tyler Byrd

I hear the roar of rotors,

I watch the boots hit sand.

I feel the danger in the moment,

and they can barely stand.

I hear the screams like thunder,

They echo throughout the row.

The bangs, booms of bombs,

and they all continue to grow.

I hear the cracks like earthquakes,

I watch the battle unfold.

I feel that feeling of death,

and I allow it to take its toll.

I hear the crackle of fire,

I watch the bodies lay.

I’ve grown used to this occurrence,

it’s just another day.

I remembered the reason for my hate,

The hate like a raging beast.

I watch their AK’s upon their backs,

I growl when watching them feast.

My home it lays in ruins,

I know not who made it so.

The one thing I know is simple,

I wish that they would go.

1. The poem type I chose to work with was a “Inspired by” poem.

2. My poems insperation was based heavily on a innocent civilian in the Middle East, a location known for US Military and terrorist involvement.

3.  The tone I was going for in “I wish that they would go” was a a mix of Angry and Sad emotions.

4. The theme of my story was that a large amount of Terrorism takes place in the Middle East. We don’t really stop to think about the citizens of the Middle East, those that stayed there and deal with the constant fire fights between the United States Military and the Taliban, ISIS, and Al Qaeda.

5. Two examples of figurative language “I wish that they would go” are

”A hate like a raging beast” -Line 18. Simile. This helps to scale the hatred this man has for the Terrorists that take so much from him.

”I hear the roar of rotors” -Line 1. Personification. This helps to show the helicopter as if it was a beast carrying little soldiers within.

6. Two ways I revised my poem was adding my sections to it, it only had four sections originally but it is now six, aswell as that I also changed the name and ending around from “I hope that it will change” to “I wish that they would go”

7. This poem was reletivly easy to write suprisingly. Most would expect me to ponder for hours searching for ideas but truthfully I just sit down, think of a subject, and start rhyming to make a product.

8 I am satisfied with how my final draft came out. Then again, I’m satisfied with most of the stuff I make.

By Lance Burns

While at camp I came back from a soggy hike with my Boy Scout troop.

The terrain was mushy and it was raining.

My leader instructed me and my friend bob to take out the trash.

The dumpster was on the other side of camp near the mess hall.

Bob and I began our trek.

We were half way through the forest when  a twig snapped behind me.

I slowly turned around shaking vigorously

I pointed my light towards the tree line.

several beady eyes were looking my way.

Bob belted RACOONS!

We booked it out of the forest .

Once we escaped the forest we ran to an open field.

Bobs head lamp was on so his face got bombarded by moths.

We finally escaped the moths and saw a silhouette of a man.

The shadow yelled and we ran away.

We knew we were near because of the putrid smell of garbage.

On the way back to camp I tripped in mud and tasted a mouthful.

It tasted earthy and wet.

Out of all this nothing good happened.

I will never return

1. I wrote a sensory details poem
2. I chose this poem because this memory was filled with senses form sight to sound and even taste.
3. The tone of my poem is misery
4. Camping hardships
5. There is taste of mud(imagery)  this relates because if you taste mud you will be miserable and onomatopoeia (snap) and this relates because snap is a sound word.
6. I changed intensely to vigorously and changed when I was at camp to while at camp
7. This poem was easy to write because I can remember most of what happened
8. I am very satisfied with my poem because it shows the worst moment in my life that most people will think is funny.