A Few Fun Poems

Grab your atlas, running shoes, (Spanish to English translator,) and a good book! You ready? Let’s go, fam!

As many of you may know, I’m a poet, though I don’t always own it (sorry, I just had to do that XD). I believe I’ve only shared a couple poems (if not just one) here, and I want to change that by sharing 10 poems I wrote for two classes. Five from Literature first, followed by five from Illinois History.

***

Recently, we (my classmates and I) have been learning about poetry in our Literature Class, and our teacher gave us a fun assignment. We were supposed to rip a few pages from a few books (imagine that; ripping pages from books in a literature class. It was an incredible experience, and we all revelled in it) and then circle different words, so that the outcome forms a poem, of sorts. Basically blackout poetry.

Here are the five I wrote for my Literature Class (I added the commas, periods, and such afterwards; I also formed them into lines they weren’t formed into before):

1. The Coat Carriers. (Put together from page 29 of From Time to Time by Jack Finney.)

Almost at run,

Almost immediately,

The porters,

Dressed in white,

Haughty,

Jeweled turbans,

To the eyebrows,

Carried coats.

These woman,

The men,

A very few,

I suppose,

Were presented

With bouquets

By uniformed boys,

Some carrying

The dock entrance

Heavier luggage

2. That Titanic. (Put together from page 30 of From Time to Time by Jack Finney.)

Sweating men,

With names

Of the city London,

Remember their streets right.

A few truly believe

I didn’t.

Couldn’t.

Along the ship,

Visored caps

Stood directly just short of the block letters.

But I,

No difficulty.

And of course yes.

That Titanic.

3. Crazy Kites. (Put together from page 189 of From Time to Time, by Jack Finney.)

She mundanely talked

Of the English Channel

On accident.

Frank smiled

Toward the pier.

The presence

Of these crazy kites,

Awful;

Condemned;

Helpless

Over the evil construction

Of rough wood planking.

I want to fly

Like a boat!

He thought I shouldn’t.

I was seasick.

4. Motions. (Put together from page 190 of From Time to Time, by Jack Finney.)

Frank,

The kind you’d find

In an electric chair,

Waited.

It seemed swift,

Our motion,

And I had

A hundred tons of sun

On my face.

I could feel the engine,

Loudly sailing fast,

Again.

Slow,

Slowly,

Engineless.

5. Mundane Business. (Put together from page 140 of Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes.)

The weather

Is the same.

The figs,

Apricots,

Lettuce.

The girl gave up eating,

As do clean, medieval buildings.

Stone.

Darkness.

The end.

Wooden customers.

Quality cares.

Shifting day

Gargantuan,

Misshapen tomatoes

Ever select produce.

Each.

***

The next five are haikus I wrote for my Illinois History Class. (Disclaimer: they’re not that good. I honestly didn’t have a lot of time to write them.)

1. The Prairie State.

The Great Prairie State,

Founded in eighteen eighteen,

Is almost all corn.

2. Illinoisians.

Obama and Abe…

Reagan and crazy Capone…

All Illinoisians.

3. Chicagoland.

Great Chicagoland

Home to more than eight mill. peeps

What an awesome place.

4. Cairo, Not Cairo.

Cairo, southern Il

Not the Cairo in Egypt;

Get it right, people!

5. Things and Things.

Baseball, Wrigley field

Sadness in the Civil War

Meat from big stockyards.

And there you have it, friends! Ten poems for you to read simply for fun. I hope you enjoyed them!

With God’s Help,

Daniel L. Amador