Of Sad Girls & Clumsy Boys

Poetry happens in the imagination. But what is the imagination? What does the word mean?

William Carlos Williams thought a lot about the imagination, and wrote many wise words on the topic. He said, "There is a constant barrier between the reader and his consciousness of immediate contact with the world. If there is an ocean it is here. Or rather, the whole world is between...." For Williams, this unexplored region, this ocean to be navigated, is the imagination. Poems sail upon it, charting courses, showing us what it is.

The imagination is the space between what is & how we put mere reality into words. It is the space between the symbol and what the symbol represents.

As you will see in these poems, the words come first. They determine the situation. Everything else--the world--follows.

Jennifer, Room 112 (7^th Grade)

Crying Girl

The rain, a sad girl
A broken heart that has lost
All is gone

She lies, crying
No one shall make her stop
No one could

Her tears flow down from the sky
Covering up the shines of light
Glooming us,

The ones awake dance in glory
Others lick the lake has been filled
She warms our hearts, gratitude

Yet, she stops—she has forgotten
As she rises the sun creeps, drying
She drifts away. She will come back, crying.

Jennifer, Room 109 (7^th Grade)

The Clumsy Boy

The boy is like the wind.
He’s always moving.
He sometimes falls.

The wind goes into trees,
The boy bumps into them.
Then he falls.

The wind goes everywhere.
The boy goes everywhere.
He’s so clumsy.

The wind pushes people.
The little boy crashes into them.
He’s so clumsy.

The wind is not afraid to fly.
The boy got hurt the last time he tried.
The clumsy boy.

Nard, Room 112 (7^th Grade)

That Sad Girl

The rain, that sad girl,
Falls gently, showering the green grass
That sad girl

Blue skies fade away,
Smokey, gray clouds form above
Sadness fills the air

The soothing sound of raindrops,
overpowered by thunder
Sadness fills the air

Gently raindrops touch your skin,
Lightning flashes up the sky
Sadness fills the air

The rain starts pouring down,
The girl goes mad and screams with fury
That sad girl

Desiree, Room 109 (7^th Grade)

That Clumsy Boy

The wind, that clumsy boy
always running through houses,
that clumsy boy.

Cool and fresh breath
trying to get in through open windows
but falling down off that ladder.

The leaves blowing
the weak clumsy boy almost falling
off the swings in the park.

Fears of no more of the
clumsy boy who could
never stay still.

That clumsy boy always
out when its snowing and raining
that clumsy boy.