by Britney Nguyen

If only they knew what they were doing to their home

With their litterings destroying our biomes

For when we have no more air to breathe

That’s when they know they must seize

But by then it would be too late

And discover that they could’ve changed the fate

When the air becomes as dark as tar

To our own Earth we have left a scar

And when the seas cry out, filled with our rummage

There will be no time to go pack our luggage

We will stay the same if we go to Mars,

But if we damage it like we did to Earth, could we really call it ours?

Poetry Publication Reflection

1. The type of poem I published was an “Inspired By” Poem.

2. My source of inspiration was an issue, which was pollution, because pollution has something to do with the whole world which I wanted to reach out to.

3. The tone of my poem is despair (keywords: dark, scar, damage, destroying).

4. The theme of my poem is to change before it’s too late.

5. Two examples of figurative language in the poem are:

a) Quote: “When the air becomes as dark as tar,”

b) Type: Simile

c) This figurative language contributes to tone and theme development because it shows that we are polluting the air with harsh chemicals and making the air unbreathable.

a) Quote: “And when the seas cry out,”

b) Type: Personification

c) This figurative language contributes to tone and theme development because it shows how much we are damaging our waters to the point they feel the need to cry, like when we happen to cry when we are hurt.

6. Two specific ways I revised this poem are

Revision #1: I changed “And when the seas become impossible to rummage,” to “And when the seas cry out, filled with our rummage,”.

Explanation: I made this revision because I wanted to add a piece of personification, to show if the seas had feelings like we do.

Revision #2: I changed “people” to “they” in the beginning and middle of the poem.

Explanation: I made this revision because I wanted the reader to think “Who?” even though it would be obvious, but the pollution could be coming from anything and anyone, but I then revealed the word “our” towards the end to show that it was us humans who were doing the damage.

7. It was easy to write this poem because pollution is a worldwide problem and coming from my perspective, I had a lot of feelings about it so I just let my thoughts flow out into this poem.

8. I am very satisfied with my final draft because I got to project how I see the relationship between humans and Earth with pollution.

By: Ladan Abdi

I walk in and smell the sweet aroma

like freshly baked cookies on a snowy white Christmas morning

When I catch it in sight, it’s hard to let go

My mouth waters, telling me to take it slow

I can’t resist, my desire for this treat is like a bears need for honey

I bite into it, I sense the delightful chocolate

Followed by a satisfying crunch

Your long bricks

Covered with a sweater

Of chocolate

Could possibly taste like an angel swaying in the air

If you were a gladiator

You could wipe out a large size of your pure competition like a war

just by the way you look or taste

The crispy wafers taste astonishing in my mouth

I keep popping them into my jaw, I tell myself to stop

Or at least slow down

“Go go go” I keep telling my brain like when your just before the finish line in a track meet

This sweetness passes on spirit I cannot control

Like the energy you have after drinking a cup of soda

The bitterly taste of this chocolate is as bitter as coffee

The sugar is giving me happiness, making me smile

1. The type of poem I published was an Ode.
2. I chose this type of poem, because it was easier to insert figurative language, and the tone and mood mostly fits the subject
3. The tone of my poem is open-minded
4. The theme for my ode poem is to make careful decsions
5. “I walk in and smell the sweet aroma like freshly baked cookies on christmas morning” This is a simile. This compares the smell of the treat to the smell of christmas cookies.
6. “My desire for this treat is like a bears need for honey” This is a simile. This compares the need for the sweet to a bears need for honey.
7. This poem was kind of hard to do because you needed a lot of thinking to make up a poem with different needs like figurative language and length.
8. I am satisfied with my draft, because I liked the way it turned out and I liked the way I used the figurative language.

By: Jamie Sheehan

It will bring you down

It will haunt you until your head explodes

Make you think your a bad person

Make you feel as if you are being attacked

You will hear the comments

Screaming in your head    

Make you feel lonely

Disconnected from your friends and family

Social Media will change you for the better

And for the worse

I wrote a Inspired By poem. My inspiration was social media and how much hate and negativity is on it. The tone of my poem is belligerent. The theme of my poem is to not get too involved with social media because of all the gloominess on the platform. One of the figurative language in my poem is “It will haunt you until your head will explode.” This is an example of a hyperbole. This contributed towards my poem by showing how impactful social media can be. Another example of figurative language in my poem is “Make you feel as if you are being attacked.” This is a simile, this shows how emotional social media can make people and how deep it can be. One way I revised my poem is I changed “Give you anxiety” to “Make you feel like you are being attacked”. I made these changes to give the line more meaning. Another change I made was replacing “Make you feel like you’re not the best you could be” to “You will hear the comments screaming in your head.” I made this revision to show how impactful the comments and hate can be. This poem was a mixture of both easy and hard because since I am on social media 24/7 I have a connection with social media already. The hard part was coming up with the figurative language. I am satisfied with my poem because I close with the topic which is social media.