non-ode

Rock
I un-ode you
go back to the river
rumble yourself round
be weathered smooth
w/ all your conformity

Kieran Cook
10th Grade, Probation Environmental Preservation Project
Marty Casillas, Classroom Teacher
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher



The Sea of Free

You got the eye. Love has been
catching you. The sun follows you
with kindness. Darkness can't get
in. Wondrous things.

I you, brother.

Samantha Bowen
4th Grade, Redway School
Kurt Stoffel, Classroom Teacher
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher



Humanity
 
Before we came
There was abundance all around.
Dodos and frogs and saber-toothed tigers
Had not yet said goodbye.
Harmony was dominant,
The air was pure and the grass was green
And no guns sounded throughout the world
Before we came.
 
After we came
Misty mushrooms grew abundantly,
Their fiery spores taking innocent lives.
Then flying far away
To deposit paper presidents at the feet of real ones.
Spores lit the atmosphere on fire
And burned a hole in it
After we came.
 
Mabel Houle
5th Grade, Honeydew School
Linda Umbertis-Lyons, Classroom Teacher
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher

Here

Where I come from
here you know it
I know it
it’s not Mars the
moon the sun it’s
here you come from here
too I don’t want to
live anywhere else but
here where the trees are
green the sky is blue
where cows graze and
birds chirp my home my
state my place

Heather Zingaro
5th Grade, Eagle Prairie Elementary School
Teresa Miguel, Classroom Teacher
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher

The Tree on Top of Mt. Everest

           The long stretches of
paved roads. Simply lead to
the unpaved ones.
                   Curving, spiraling,
twisting. The stars align for
you and you only.
               The best thing
I could say for you has
already been said.
                   Like a cliché
it is. Now I need you
to drop the book.
               Leave the house
twisting, melting.
               Nonsense I tell
you. Like the crusades.
               Fighting over a
ruined city? Killing millions?
If there was television
it would simply be a tv war
like the tv wars
that have happened.
               Nonsense. The
roof is in your ears. Leave.
Before the lemons fall from
the cactus.

Amy Myrick
8th Grade, Monument Middle School
Denise LoMiglio, Classroom Teacher/GATE Coordinator
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher

blue sky green grass

the sky is blue
the grass is green
butterflies' wings are
soft silk. Dogs
bark cats meow and they
never ever stop. Babies
cry mom cooks dad
watches football
teenagers scream
when they don't
get stuff they
want but I'm so
perfect the way
I'm.

Amyia Murry
5th Grade, Peninsula School
Linda Stewart & Catherine Arnold, Classroom Teachers
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher

Darkness

Darkness, darkness, skies are black,
owls are screeching, giant bats. People are
screaming, leaves aflutter, fire is burning.
Like the moon shine. The water glistens
like the moon. The rocks click, chitter and chatter
just like the animals blither and blather. Darkness
Darkness Darkness.

Orion Magpie
6th Grade, Skyfish School
Mark Jensen, Classroom Teacher
Dan Zev Levinson, Poet Teacher