In the book, Wishes, Lies and Dreams, Kenneth Koch goes into a NYC public school and works with students writing poetry. We are using some of the ideas in this book to help us get started writing our own poetry.
This was our first attempt at a group poem. There were a few requirements –
• to start with the words I wish
• to include an animal, a place and a color.
We Wish…..
I wish that I could be as fast as a cheetah. I would run through the fields of Africa and see all the green grass, and see only the green grass.
I wish I knew where to find a yellow iguana that someone told me only lives in Vermont.
I wish that someday, I will be dribbling down a court in North Carolina, as one of UConn’s gray Huskies.
I wish to walk under the flaming yellow sun and feel the rays beating down on my face. I wish to dig my toes in the wet morning grass in the meadow. I wish to watch the colored birds swoop across the canopy of the jungle.
I wish that I could go to China and see the Great Wall with my family. The flag is red, and I want to see a tiger.
I wish I were a pro snowboarder who lived up in the white mountains of Colorado where there are a lot of deer.
I wish that I could be a purple fairy who lived in Monkton and had a dog named Samoa to eat cookies with.
I wish I could be a blue penguin in the Arctic.
I wish that I could wake up in my room to find a werewolf transform into a beautiful, tan human being.
I wish I was a sunlight yellow leaf slowly gliding toward the ground watching squirrels harvesting their nuts.
I wish my games were cool and not dull. One game is cool but it’s about blue piranhas and not dying.
I wish I was a dancing blue peacock strutting my tail in the winds of the zoo being followed by “wows!!!”
I wish that the white snow would melt in Monkton so I could walk my dog.
I wish I could be a flying green leprechaun flying with gold across the rainbow.
I wish that there would be fluorescent yellow monkeys jumping all over New York City.
I wish at my house my golden dog wouldn’t be annoying to my friends.
I wish I could fly on a bird to Vermont, the green mountain state.
I wish I could go a cruise trip to Hawaii and spot stingrays in the turquoise water from the deck of the boat.
I wish I could have $100,000,000 of cold crisp green cash to throw up in the air of my mansion with a Saint Bernard named Buddy.
I wish I could go to Canada to a zoo to see silver seals.
I wish that my school mascot was always the mountain lion, and my school would always be seafoam green. I wish that Monkton Central was K-12 and I never had to leave.
Please post your individual I Wish poems.
Feel free to make constructive comments on your peer's work!
I wish that
ReplyDeleteI was a fish,
So I could
Swim all day.
Sometimes I wish
I could be the ocean,
Flowing over bare legs.
I wish I could
Be stranded on a
Deserted island
So I could try
Out my surviving
Skills there.
I wish I could
Dive deep into the
Ocean while fish swim
Like colored sheets all
Around my body. -Eli
I wish to walk on the ocean floor,
ReplyDeleteThe soft sand burying my feet,
Sometimes I wish that every lightning bolt,
To strike the sky would be a different shape,
Like the fluffy white clouds,
That float across the blanket of blue,
Sometimes I wish that every drop of rain,
That touches the ground,
Would turn into a beautiful flower,
I wish that every tree would grow with one drop of water,
And I wish that every feather,
That ever fell on the ground,
Would make a blanket for the animals on the forest floor,
I wish that in the winter the flowers,
Would still poke out of the snow,
To leave a drop of hope that spring will still come.
SW
I wish I could build a log cabin in our backyard. I wish I was in Vermont, the best home ever. Oh, wait I’m already there. I wish I had 10 pet frogs. I sometimes wish I was a pro baseball player. I wish at night, on a warm summer bug-infested night, I could be in the lake with my cousin. I wish summer would never end so I could always see my cousin. FC
ReplyDeleteI Wish
ReplyDeleteI wish I could spin
in the light of the full moon,
dancing peacocks singing the song of
angels who swoop down and kiss my cheek
I wish I could be a baby.
I wouldn’t have to worry about
a single thing.
And momma would love me so.
I wish I could walk on
the sand of Love and
bite the apple of Knowledge.
I would swim in the waters of
Creativity forever…
I wish I could be my cockatiel.
I would snuggle up in the curve
of my owner’s neck and preen.
I would be safe from
Dog and Cat
who would want to eat me up.
And I wish that there was
no school
and you could know by
loving.
WA
I wish I was a flying green monkey tied to a nuke. I wish I was locked in a 29 foot by 29 foot building with the room filled to the top with tacos. I wish I can own every kind of dog there is in the world. I wish I could ride a donkey to Texas to buy my corvette so I can jump the Grand Canyon.
ReplyDeleteNG
I wish
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wish that my sister would disappear for a day and come back later the next day.
I wish that I could feed the dolphins at SeaWorld again in my life someday.
I wish that I could build a cloning machine so I could get out of school whenever I wanted to.
I wish that there weren’t as many wars going on in the world right now.
MW
I wish
ReplyDeleteI wish my little brother had a jack-in-the-box.
In that jack-in-the-box I wish their was a clown wearing a hockey jersey.
On that hockey jersey I wish their was a pocket to hold his sunglasses.
On those sunglasses I wish their was a hole in one of the lens holes.
The clown in the jack-in-the-box probably wishes that he never had to poke his head out of the jack-in-the-box because of the cut on his head and the hole in his sunglasses.
By KB
I wish that I could go to college,
ReplyDeleteI wish that when I’m in college I get to party a lot.
I wished I lived somewhere were there was snow all year round so I could snowboard,
I wish meet Eminem and here him sing,
I wish that I stayed young forever and nobody died,
I wish I had a lifetime supply of Osiris Adidas and Nike high tops.
JB
I wish I were a million-air so I could afford all the things I fantasize.
ReplyDeleteI wish I wee a pro snow boarder and rode head to head with Shaun White.
I wish that I could live in the Colorado Rockies; I would wake up take my home cut bacon and cook it on an oiled up pan. I would now I have a lot of land to Rome, I could wake up put gear on and go snow boarding.
I Wish I could go cliff jumping when ever I wanted and be able to jump from 120ft to 80ft.
I wish I had green hair so I could be one of a kind.
I wish I had a tattoo on my back and upper arms; there would be skulls on my upper arms and a dragon on my back.
CM
I wish that the browned crystals on the ground would melt away,
ReplyDeleteAnd be replaced by lush waves of green grass.
I wish I could be playing basketball at camp,
And win the championships for our team.
I wish that next year,
I will be on the same crew as my friends.
I wish that by 9th grade,
I will be able to play on the Varsity b-ball team.
I wish that I am running, red dust billowing behind me,
In an All-star Regional’s game.
I wish that when I am older,
I will get a full basketball scholarship to Uconn,
Or get accepted into Stanford University.
-BK
I Wish
ReplyDeleteI wish that every morning I could bloom like a flower and shine like the sun.
I wish that my great-Grandpa could come back and stay with me forever.
Sometimes I wish that I could shine like a sapphire radiantly glowing in a dark room.
I wish that I could sing all say long and make everyone around me smile.
I wish that I could go swimming with the slippery blue dolphins in the sunshine of Florida.
I wish that my cousin, Smarshmellow would go to college closer so I could see her more.
Sometimes I even wish that I lived next to the ocean and I could go swimming every day. I wish I could be in a Broadway play and be the star.
I wish my friends and I could meet Taylor Lautner.
I wish that I could play basketball with Rajon Rondo, and Ray Allen, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnet.
I wish that all my clothes were bright and happy.
I wish that all the pain in the world would fly away like a bird.
I wish that I could dazzle and sparkle like a million stars on a warm summer night.
MM
Sometimes I wish I could float around like I was on the moon.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish I could go the mountain every day and fly through the air on my snowboard.
I really wish that I could go to the log cabin and gallop through the woods with my dogs trailing behind.
I wish that I could throw a pie at my brother to get revenge,
And I wish that I could jump in a foam pit.
Sometimes I wish that I had a housecleaner,
And I had my dream room that was fun to hang out in.
Sometimes wish that my best friends lived next door, and we could be with each other day in and day out.
I wish that I could curl up in front of the fire after a long winter’s day,
Or take an ice bath after a sizzling summer day.
Sometimes I wish for something new to do every single day,
But usually I wish for nothing more than what I already have.
GJ
I wish that I could drive a boat all around the world. I wish I could have a lion and a bear as pets. I wish I could have a four-wheeler trail so I could go four-wheeling with my friends. I wish I could ride in plane to go to Alaska to fish for whales. I wish I had a really big flat screen TV so I could watch a movie and make it feel like I am in a movie theater.
ReplyDeleteDB
I wish I could travel to Paris and see the lit city from the Eiffel Tower,
ReplyDeleteAnd sometimes I wish that I could ski in every season but still have the warm weather, crisp leaves, blooming flowers and fluffy snow,
And I wish that every fruit that was picked another one would grow somewhere else around the world,
Sometimes I wish that whatever I drew
on a piece of paper would become real,
I wish I could see the stars every night without any clouds threatening to wash them away.
HW
I wish
ReplyDeleteI wish I can fly around the world on a blue and red fire breathing dragon.
Also I wish I could run on the moon with a spacesuit on and be the first kid on the moon.
Sometimes I wish that I had the lasting pencil so that I can write more.
And I wish for a country of my own and I will call it … clodgoland because I want to know what a president feels like for a day or two!
Also wish I could take the class and myself to Paris to see the Eiffel tower.
Ac
Sometimes I wish I could soar through the wind, and nobody could tell me what to do. Freedom. I’d have freedom.
ReplyDeleteI would just fly away if someone doubted me.
Fly away, fly away, fly away.
I would never be in a sticky situation, because I would just…fly.
AS
I wish we could show your blog
ReplyDeleteOn the big screen at the second lunch
And have you read your poems
To our amazement and delight
Laughter and joy.
You could inspire us!
SS
I Wish
ReplyDeleteI wish I was the oldest kid in my family so I wouldn’t get picked on by my sisters.
I wish every thing in the world was free so I could get any thing I wanted.
By JF