books & parenting : Poems of happiness, anti-gravity, chaos, and rest from Ann Arbor students

By Scott Beal AnnArbor.com Community Contributor

Posted on Fri, Jun 17, 2011 : 12:23 p.m.

Last Friday night, all 27 kids from my poetry crew at Ann Arbor Open School read poems to a lively and delighted audience at Nicola's Books. Demand for the kids' new book of poems, "Why Is The Sky Purple?" outstripped supply, and several people were unable to purchase copies.

So there's a good chance we'll be printing more. Which means, if any of you out there in reader-land would like your own copy (for $9), please let me know so I can include you on the special order.

The book, as I've said repeatedly, is excellent. And meanwhile, after the students and I went through the process of selecting and compiling poems for the book, we continued to meet and work. And so the students have written quite a few more poems, and in many cases it's some of their best work.

Accordingly, I thought it would be nice to spend a column or two sharing some of the poems that you can't find in the book. Here are four wonderful poems written after the book went to press.

Reading In My Tree

by Natalie K.

Peaceful. Relaxing. I'm reading in my tree. Sitting crossed-legged with all the ants crawling around my tree and me. I feel happy, with the ants and spiders that are my friends. My hands flip through the thick pages with bold, fat letters that cover the front and back of the page. My head is tucked right into the pages filled with meaning-less words. My head and I am sinking farther and farther into the pit of words with untold stories and secrets. I am now feeling lost and afraid. NO one is here with me. No one experienced what I did. No one can feel what I am feeling now. No one.

[untitled]

by Leo L.

Dear Grandma.

Something weird is going

on here. There's no gravity

here! every time I try to

bike and I hit a bump

I fly into the air.

We have to have fans

to turn. Mom said we

were bouncing off the

walls today. My favorite part

is bouncing from the floor

to the ceiling.

Playing tennis is so hard

the only way to win is

to spike it onto their

side it's amazing

how far out into the

lake I can dive. I

started floating out over the lake

but then I reached the

edge of the zero gravity

zone and I fell in.

so I had to swim back

to the no gravity zone

and float back to the beach.

I really wanted to see you

but the zero gravity thing

doesn't stretch that far.

It's very fun I must

have hit a hundred home

runs.

Love Leo.

Chaos

by Kayley S.

Tense. Your whole body tense.

Frustration builds in your muscles,

and your brain is commanding your

mouth to scream. Everyone around

you is running around all over,

disobeying completely what you

asked them to do. They have

lost their minds, and you can

do nothing to change it. Alone.

No other people are in the same

position as you are in this craziness.

You have nobody to tell how

you feel. Just yourself. No one

else. You stand on both feet

and bring your hands to your

forehead in tight fists and

squeeze your eyes shut. Your

patience bursts! Chaos rains down

over your tense muscles, and you

scream.

Saturday

by Julien F.

Saturday is when I wish I could rest but

I've got to play in two soccer games.

Saturday is when my hair clumps up

and the shin pads and socks on my

legs stink. It's the day for working, relaxing,

biking, and knowing you can stay up late.

It's the day for winning and partying

and having a good time. Saturday Night

Live, soccer, sleepovers, the YMCA. Take a

shower for as long as you'd like. Play in a game and

score a goal and then take another

shower for as long as you want.

Saturday is the feeling of no homework

and a pillow on your face as you float

into the night.