Not Quite

My students and I celebrated Poem in Your Pocket Day safely and at a distance this year. Rather than the usual fun and revelry of everybody reading poetry for a few days before and choosing poems we love, then transcribing and decorating them to carry in our pockets and share throughout the day, this year we posted our selections on our online learning management system, and then read and commented from afar. 

It wasn't the same at all, but it was still poetry and it was still pretty moving. Here are just a few of the poems my students chose, along with part of their explanation why:

Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too, by Shel Silverstein, "because it has been a classic to me all my life, I used to have a lot of Shel Silverstein books in my home" 

Sisters by Lucille Clifton "I liked these lines because they represent a strong friendship, and because I hope that can be me and some of my friends." 

The Road Not Traveled by Robert Frost " I think it sends a message that it is ok to be different. To take a different path." 

Veils by Witter Bynner "I also chose this poem because in one of the sentence in this poem it says “And this of a purple moon ”I wish there was a purple moon it would look so pretty." 

Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow "It’s really cool how Henry Wadsworth Longfellow makes the entire poem rhyme and how he tells the story." 

Phenomenal Women by Maya Angelou I think that sometimes people are ashamed for who they are. This poem is the opposite.

Gosh, I miss my class!