Poetry for People's Favorite Quotes

Type in YOUR favorite quotes in the comments section, and I'll post them! Together we can create a huge list of amazing, inspiring ideas! (Song lyrics, lines from books, and things you've heard people say are all perfectly acceptable, as long as you include who they're by.)

1. "You are what you eat, it's often said. If this is true, then what we are today is mostly corn." --Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma
2. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."--Eleanor Roosevelt
3. "Without music, life would be a mistake."--Friednich Nietzche 
4. "A laugh is a smile that bursts."--Unknown
5. "There are only 3 colors, 8 notes and 26 letters--but it is what we do with them that counts."--a fortune cookie I got
6. "Man plans, God laughs."--an old Yiddish saying
7. "A word to the wise ain't necessary - it's the stupid ones that need the advice."-- Bill Cosby
8. "You must be the change you wish to see in the world."-- Mahatma Gandhi 
9. "Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive."--Elbert Hubbard

 

The Writing Machine

There once was a boy named Jason McLean,
Who conjured up the amazing writing machine!

It teeted and hooted and began to shake,
a story, a poem, what would it make?

It shook even more, it was about to burst,
When Jason gave it some oil, quenching it's thirst.

And out popped a poem, then a story, then a book,
a fable, a novel, no matter the time it took.

The books and poetry all piled high,
and in that second, the paper went dry.

The machine, sputtered and started to squeak,
And all the oil, sprang through a leak!

Then the machine over loaded,
and with a bang; the thing exploded.

Leaving Jason's room in a mess,
putting poor Jason, under distress.

For there once was a boy named Jason McLean,
and that was the end of his writing machine.

Boat House

My boat house
A place covered in old cream paint
And bordered with faded red
Peeling and chipping through the years.
Inside an old rustic boat sits
Coated in rust and silvery metal.

The flooring was bare concrete
Rough and dirty
The walls were old and wooden
Rotting and decaying.
Littered with cobwebs and
Night crawlers.

The cement supports
Tumbling into the lake
Like a glacier.
Slow and steady
Little by little creeping
Out of existence.

When my dad saw it;
Everything changed.
He brought in his crew of workers
Who catered to his every idea
With big trucks filled with supplies
Piling in to our driveway.












They lathered on fresh salmon colored paint
With green highlights
And a dash of bright cream around the edges.
They tore out the floor and
Stripped down the walls
Took out the rusty metal boat.

They added smooth new walls
That they added a texture to.
And made a new floor
This time a wooden one
Then rubbed a stain
All the way through the interior.

They added a new sink
And small fridge
And when they were done they
Left us alone with this new masterpiece.
The only thing that remained
From the old boathouse was the roof.

The roof was left
As a reminder of the old boathouse.
What was there
And what is here now.
With loose nails hanging from the ceiling
And the smell of slow rot slipping down.

But this is no longer
The old boathouse.
This one is perfect.
We rebuilt most of it
And use it now more than ever.
But sometimes I like to think about the old one.

Poetry PP

Songs are Just like Poems!

You know, songs are a lot like poems. The lyrics are a poem, they don't always rhyme, but not all poems rhyme! THen we add in music, and whala! You have a song. Here is on of my favorite songs:

When I was Little

This is a poem I wrote in fifth grade:


When I was little, I had a big bush of hair.

When I was little, my first word was “uh oh!”

When I was little, I was always smiling. 

When I was little, I was usually bare-foot.

When I was little, I had a very special

stuffed animal.

When I was little, I wasn’t very good at walking.

                                                                 

When I was little, I was very cooperative.

When I was little, I had my own room.

Now, I’m not any of those things!

Rachel's Beginnings Poem

As February started its end,

My life started its beginning.

Born fresh and new,

A Pennsylvanian baby at Abington Hospital.

Brought out by my dad on a cold night at 11:00

I came right on schedule,

easy and ready to meet the world.

Mom says I was the easiest of the three

And in many ways I still am.

They all thought I was going to be a boy,

But I came out a girl, the only one.

Dad joked the name Naomi,

But mom took it seriously.

Dad saved the day with the name Rachel,

The name meant for my older brother

if he were a girl.

They got a baby as bald as a pumpkin,

With chubby cheeks like Jell-O,

And glassy eyes rimmed with blue

And dotted with green.

Who couldn’t; when she grew teeth,

Get her hands off apple

And when she sprouted long fingers,

Couldn’t stop tapping away at the piano.

They all say I was a perfect toddler.

Mom would say, “Don’t touch that Rachel.”

And I would say “ok mommy.”

And then a few months later

I sprouted hair.

Almost overnight,

A jungle of grass, weeds and flowers

Sprouted from my bare head

Tangling and wrapping around each other

Growing like reeds

As thick as the amazon,

with curls as blonde as the shining sun.

From the earliest I remember

Being in an apartment

On Valentines Day

Receiving a box of chocolates

And jumping up and down on the couch

in joy and happiness.

I said to myself “I will remember this forever”

And it seems I did.

Two years after my birth came another one.

A chubby little boy

Named Joey.

He made me a jealous kid.

Turned me into a little monster.

I was no longer the little angel,

but a screaming kid 24-7.

But after a few years or so,

It got better and now I am an easy kid again.

I have many relatives.

I have aunts and uncles.

On my dad’s side,

I have Aunties Steph, Grace, Barbra, Pauline, Gillian, Cynthia and Joy

I have Uncles Stockly, Robert, Roy, Dexter and John.

On my Mom’s side,

I have Ants Erico, Judy and Jenna

And Uncles Bobby and Donald

I will be twelve on February 26, 2013

And it will be a good one.

Imagine: twelve years from the beginning.