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Health & Fitness

Back to School Poems for Parents & Kids

My last post was somber; this post is fun. I promised some back-to-school poems so here you go!

For kids and anyone who loves the alphabet, I offer you Edward Lear's "Nonsense Alphabet." It's an old fashioned poem, but it contains this sweet little stanza about our state bird. 

Q was a quail
With a very short tail;
And he fed upon corn
In the evening and morn.

For older students and adults, try this Langston Hughes poem about writing an English assignment in high school, "Theme for English B." This lovely, free verse poem shares the experience of being a student of color writing an essay for a white teacher. Many in Cupertino may sympathize with these lines, whether they have expressed them or not. 

Being me, it will not be white.
But it will be
a part of you, instructor.
You are white— yet a part of me,
as I am a part of you.
That's American. 

Notice how Hughes ends these lines with just a few powerful words: white, be, instructor, me, you, American. He is speaking to the teacher and to us in this contemplative poem that tells a hopeful story. 

The last poem I want to share with my Cupertino friends is "Trouble in Math in a One-Room Country School," by Jane Kenyon. Kenyon is a favorite poet of mine, and while Hugh's poem recollects an urban college experience, Kenyon's recalls a young rural girl's point of view. I was made to stand behind a coat rack once as a fourth grader (for crying in class) and that experience has found its voice in my own poems. Enjoy the gorgeous voice of this poem, the sensory details, the proclaimed freedom at the end. 

Whether you are going back to school or just starting, as a parent or a student, or if you are remembering your own school experiences during these cooler fall days, I wish good school days to you!

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