Poet Laureate Ted Kooser in Syracuse
"Community Life in Poetry"
a year of poetry, a day of celebration, a constant community voice

Poetry Partnerships

East Middle School, Auburn
"A Eulogy for Dead Words" with poet Debra Hutchison

Three classes of sixth, 7th, and 8th grade students worked with the poet to identify a list of “dead words” such as “nice,” “good,” “fun,” etc., and “lay them to rest” in favor of stronger vocabulary and descriptive language. The students created a dramatic presentation of a “funeral” for the dead words, and created a series of poems to eulogize these overused words. All participants were encouraged to dress and respond appropriately for the occasion. The partnership team included three ELA teachers, the teaching poet, and the music/theater teacher.

Farewell “Pretty”

It was superb knowing you, Dear “Pretty”
Now I have to move on without you.
It is going to be hard to move on.

I call all my friends “Pretty,”
My hair is “Pretty.”
How you look is “Pretty.”
I say, “Oh, why do we have
to get rid of you?”

Now I must replace you
with charming, cheerful, and lovely.
These are the words to express beauty in my life now.

--  Angela

Farewell to “Ate”

Goodbye to my dear “ate”
I am going to miss you
Sweet sorrow, sweet sorrow

Yesterday I “ate” an apple.
Today I “ate” a cantaloupe
Tomorrow there will be no “ate”
Only “dissolved,” “absorbed,” and “nibbled.”
Now I have used you so much
You have no meaning to me
Oh sweet sorrow, sweet sorrow.

Welcome “Dissolved,”
Welcome “Absorbed,”
And welcome “Nibbled.”
Welcome to my world!

-- Brianna

Good bye “Big”

Big, I’m so sad that you are gone,
you helped me with my writing.
My whole language is going to change.
You helped me learn to write.
You helped me understand the size of things.

How will I write without you?
You always helped me.
Now you are gone never to come back.
Why did you have to go?
You helped people with their writing.
Thank you for helping people
and making writing better for all of us,
thank you.

But with you gone
more words will come in
for example, husky, gigantic, whopper.
You have gone to a better place.
New words are coming in
to make my writing better.
All thanks to Big you helped us so much.

-- Thomas

Junk to Rubbish my heart is filled with languish for JUNK has ceased to be said. now i’ll be forced to enjoy my life without you in my head. even though you’re still longing to be revealed i have to move on and feel content with rubbish, crap and scrap. OH WAIT, if i’m writing for a teacher or colleague i might use debris, waste and trash -- Ronnie

Comments from Teachers:
"All students walked away with an increased awareness of how our word choices affect our writing voice. Some students were successful in overcoming their fear of public speaking…Most importantly, our students learned that poetry can be an effective tool to help them express their inner voice…In the larger picture, this allowed them to look at their learning in a new way.”

"I expected chaos! I thought my students would resist everything and anything having to do with poetry but was never more pleased to be wrong!”

“Deb enabled and encouraged students to write by giving them a real-life example of someone who successfully uses poetry every day.”

“The teachers gained an increased awareness/comfort with using poetry in the classroom…all of them indicated a desire to incorporate more poetry in their curricula for next year.”

Read a poem by Debra Hutchison.