Child Poets

It has been such a joy to explore haiku in my 4^thgrade music classes. A few posts ago, I shared “My Life in Haiku” and now get ready for more! These from the children (though three from me), written during a class when I sent them out in the school yard to sit quietly and see if a poem came their way. To use their senses, noticing what they hear, they see, they smell, they feel and in one example below, what they taste. To try out the challenge of the 5-7-5 syllabic structure, to consider a seasonal reference, to bring their poem home with a punch line. (All of which you can find in this first example below.)

The kids have fallen in love with haiku. One bought a book of Basho’s poetry and journals (a 4^thgrader!), all effortlessly turned inward to some silent space within when we sat on the benches on Pier 23 in our city walk to write yet more haiku. How their tender souls need this kind of silence and space! How we all do! Mindfulness is gaining traction in schools and this is a good thing, but like so much of the way we Americans do things, it is a “thing.” The cool thing du jour to do and yes, better that than a thousand other things it could be. To hear the peace bell and habitually stop and breathe. Lovely!

But this haiku tradition offers yet more. First off, it’s a centuries-old practice and that means it has weight and history and many ancestors to draw from. Secondly, it demands the mindful moment but also invites artistic expression, the art of capturing the flavor of the moment in the net of language and then sharing back with the group. And paying mind to a mathematical structure. Soon we will also try re-writing in a Chinese/ Japanese brush-painting style and illustrating with watercolors. And they’ve already enacted some in drama and accompanied with percussion instruments. Integrated arts, people!!

At any rate, here are some first-drafts from our class at the school. It might help to know that the school looks over the 280 freeway, so the many references to the roaring river of traffic is better understood if you know that. Enjoy!

The warm breeze of Spring

The cold breeze of the Autumn

Two seasons at once.

                    -Esme

Pigeons in the air

All the trees with fluttering leaves 

It is quiet now.

                -Carter

Whoosh! The wind swarming

Vrooom! The cars on the highway

Ha! The children laugh.

                         -Rohan

Leaves crunching underfoot

The fresh smell of pumpkin

A leaf falls to the ground. 

                                     -Brooke

The hot summer

Nothing but heat, the cold glass of water

Quenching my thirst.

-       Sasha

There is not one cloud

The Autumn wind blows the trees

Yet I sit so still.

-       Vedant

Trees swaying in wind

Growing bigger every year

Standing tall. Like us!

-Aristu

A blade of grass

Tastes bland and bitter

The texture is strange.

-       Lily

Birds chirp in the trees

They rustle the leaves and sing

Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet. 

-       Nola

The sky is blue

The leaves are green.

Yellow is the sun.

                        -Saskia

The grumbling highway

Yet we are in Nature’s peace

Trees swaying back and forth.

-       Jane

The wind is blowing

Rustling the leaves on the trees

Fall is the best time.

-       Julien

Smell the smell of

Smoke coming from the cars out there

Bye, Antarctica!        

                                 -Naomi

The roar of traffic

The children’s screaming voices

Drown out the bees’ buzz.

-       Doug

Hot in the bright sun.

Then cool in the leafy shade.

Which one should I choose?

-       Doug

Pen and paper poised

Two flies land on the table

Waiting for my poem.

  

-       Doug