Badgerblog

Where would we be without adjectives? Whether we’re compelled to share a description of a good meal, the weather outside, the hardest day of our lives, or the most happy occasions, adjectives are instrumental. In celebration of the adjective, we’d like to spotlight some extraordinary writers using vivid describing words to paint complex pictures of themselves. Not only are these list poems proof of a young writer’s expanding vocabulary, but they also highlight one of the finer moments from our Community-Wide Reading event, which happened this past Saturday. At each of these reading events, our staff is delighted to hear poems and stories that represent such diverse and rich voices, experiences than run the gamut from the imaginary, to hardened memory, to those sensory experiences that invite us, briefly, into the lives of our students.

Adjectives

I am testy, successful, silent, pleasant,
outrageous, magnificent, gentle, courageous,
blessed, brainy, adventurous, great,
nice, victorious, splendid, strong, funny,
kind-like, good, energetic, confident,
creative, awesome.
I am Anna.

Annahie, fourth grade, Del Valle Elementary School

I Am

I am crazy, depressed, dizzy, embarrassed, grumpy, happy, healthy, itchy, kind, lazy, lonely, lucky, nervous, nice, noisy, nosy, sad, silly, slow, strong, tired, upset, weak, young, tricky, proud. I am Jonathan.

Jonathan, fourth grade, Del Valle Elementary School

I Am . . .

I am awesome, beautiful, confident,
dog-tired, energetic, fierce, giant,
hilarious, icy, juicy, kid-like, light,
magnificent, new, perfect, the quickest,
rapid, skinny, tall, upset, victorious,
wet, yellow, zany. I am Teneshia.

Teneshia, fourth grade, Del Valle Elementary School

For our Spring Holiday Poem Card Contest and in honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we asked our 170 Badgerdog writers to wax poetic about the women they call Mom. We received more than 120 poems celebrating the strength, wisdom, and beauty of mothers who sing songs and wash flip flops, mothers with skin so soft and eyes that shine in the sun, mothers who work too hard, and one mother, who, if she were an animal would be a cat. We selected the three poems that moved us most with their artistry, insight, and vision. You can find the first two of these in preceding posts.

Today, we are pleased to announce the contest winner—Siearra at Del Valle Middle School, whose poem “Tiger Mama,” hits on one mother’s toughness, verve, bite, and beauty. Siearra’s poem will be distributed in restaurants across the city, so if you’re taking mom to brunch on Sunday, you may find this beautiful poem—an ode to mothers everywhere—tucked inside your check.

Tiger Mama

She’s like a grasshopper,
hopping in the streets of Hynoon,
eating the guts of insects,
saying, “Clean your room, Siearra!”
She’s like Air Jordans—fresh and tight.
She’s tough as a tiger biker,
always yelling, “Yield!” in the strangest places, like the grocery store.
She’s the Himalayas—courageous and extraordinary, the mountain of wisdom.
She’s always asking me, “How much do you love me, McShorty?”
She loves the taste of dark chocolate.
She’s like poison ivy—contagious in so many ways.

Siearra, seventh grade, Del Valle Middle School

Original artwork by Sarah Meraz.

For our Spring Holiday Poem Card Contest and in honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we asked our 170 Badgerdog writers to wax poetic about the women they call Mom. We received more than 120 poems celebrating the strength, wisdom, and beauty of mothers who sing songs and wash flip flops, mothers with skin so soft and eyes that shine in the sun, mothers who work too hard, and one mother, who, if she were an animal would be a cat. We’ve selected the three poems that moved us most with their artistry, insight, and vision, and we’ll be publishing these on the Badgerblog this week. On Wednesday, we’ll announce the winning poem, which will also be distributed in restaurants across the city, so if you’re taking mom to brunch on Sunday, you may find a beautiful piece of poetry—an ode to mothers—tucked inside your check.

Today we present one of our finalists, a poem from Adonis at Hornsby-Dunlap Elementary School. With great honesty and humor, it celebrates the unconditional love mothers wield, and stern protection that flares up when we ask for too much. Congratulations, Adonis!

Motorcycle Mom

My mom always sticks with me.
I can always say I had the best birthday.
With her smooth hands, she pats me
___on the back when I can’t sleep.
I can remember her saying, “You, my son,
___you can be anything you want to be.”
I asked her, “Can I be a singer?” Yes!
“Can I own a motorcycle?”
She looked at me. “Are you serious?
___Come on. You want a motorcycle?
___Over my dead body.”

Adonis, third grade, Hornsby-Dunlap Elementary School

For our Spring Holiday Poem Card Contest and in honor of Mother’s Day this Sunday, we asked our 170 Badgerdog writers to wax poetic about the women they call Mom. We received more than 120 poems celebrating the strength, wisdom, and beauty of mothers who sing songs and wash flip flops, mothers with skin so soft and eyes that shine in the sun, mothers who work too hard, and one mother, who, if she were an animal would be a cat. We’ve selected the three poems that moved us most with their artistry, insight, and vision, and we’ll be publishing these on the Badgerblog over the next few days. On Wednesday, we’ll announce the winning poem, which will also be distributed in restaurants across the city, so if you’re taking mom to brunch on Sunday, you may find a beautiful piece of poetry—an ode to mothers—tucked inside your check.

Today we present one of our finalists, a poem from Luna at Del Valle Middle School. We were stunned by its depiction of a mother who seems to both obey the rules but defy expectations; she seems to even teeter on invincibility. Congratulations, Luna!

Converse Mum

She’s like a fly,
Always running up and down Dearbonne Drive,
Eating the leftover raw meat.
You better love her.
She loves wearing Converse.
She’s cool, like hot rocks.
She always stops at stop signs.
She’s pretty as a lovely river falling over smooth pebbles.
The way she talks makes me think she was born in the Country of Sarcasm.
Do you love her yet?
She loves the ripe, watery taste of watermelon.
She is a redwood tree.

Luna, seventh grade, Del Valle Middle School

This week’s selection for Badgerblog comes from Jose of Creedmoor Elementary School, and it shows you don’t have to write a hundred words to make a good point. Furthermore, sometimes the nicest, simplest things are the things that need to be said the loudest. Of course, our Badgerdogs work hard year-round to make sure their voices get heard, but what Jose captures in his poem is the drive behind all that wonderful hard work: Fun!

Blackie and Milo

you are so fun
you are soft as a bun
you look like a light
you are always in my sight
you shine like the sun

Jose, fourth grade, Creedmoor Elementary School

The sun sailing unhindered through the blue, cloudless sky; parking lots and car hoods so hot you could fry an egg on them; afternoon retreats to Barton Springs. Summer is definitely coming in Austin, or at least some days it sort of seems so. As the city heats up, we become more observant of the things we wear and the things we carry out the door with us every day. It makes us judge the value of those things, determining whether they’re worth the extra burden in the oppressive heat. In this week’s selection for Badgerblog, author Mariah shows us that these decisions are about more than personal comfort. They’re about the “overriding” need to “feel cluttered.” Congratulations, Mariah, on writing such a potent poem!

What I Carry

The things I carry are important
but replaceable. So there is no need
to carry anything at all,
but the need to feel cluttered is overriding.
I carry a chongo,
my ring, ID, a rubber foot, a mirror, and some perfume.
I carry the chongo in case the feeling of hair
on my neck on a hot day becomes too annoying.
I carry a ring on my middle finger.
I’ve carried it so long that when I take it off
you can see the white outline left behind.
I carry a school ID because
it’s a sin to leave it at home on your bed.
I carry a rubber foot I bought
from a package that cost me 60 cents at Wal-Mart,
and I carry it because I forget to remove it from my things.
I carry a mirror in case of a runaway eyelash,
but otherwise its useless. Lastly, I carry
perfume because you must always smell inviting.
Notice that a cell phone isn’t on my list
even though I’m a teenager.

Mariah, eleventh grade, Del Valle High School

With words, we can remake not only our experiences and memories, but our entire selves. We can re-sculpt and replace and give ourselves all the glory or absurdity we demand. This week’s Badgerblog selection invites us to do just that—to discard our usual appearances and revise ourselves however we choose. Many thanks to Brandon at Hornsby-Dunlap Elementary for reminding us that we are what we choose to become, and we can reinvent ourselves whenever we like.

Any Face

What’s the matter with the sun as your face?
And books as eyes?
And a nose made of dimes?

If you had the right to make your face,
What would your face have?
Would it be like mine?
Or different?

You decide what it will be
And if you don’t like it,
Make a new one.

Brandon, third grade, Hornsby-Dunlap Elementary School

This week’s Badgerblog selection is an overdue reminder to take a few minutes and imagine your hero-self. If you woke up and found your cape hanging in the closet, where would it take you? Which symbol would you plaster across your chest? How, exactly, would you set out to save the world? For Malia at Baty Elementary School, being a hero means providing sustenance to people across the globe and riding in an airplane with big stash of scaly fish.

Hero

I am a hero who likes to eat fish.
I throw fish out to people,
and my outfit has this fish on it.
I’m not just in one place,
but all over the world.
I travel in a fish plane
and hand fish out
to the places that have bad rain.

Malia, third grade, Baty Elementary School

We’ve all stumbled upon traces of those who’ve come before us—in photographs, letters, artifacts. Such things leave us with proof that someone else has passed this way, but they rarely explain who and why and what those moments were made of. This week’s featured poem, “Footprints,” beautifully embraces those ruminations and the reality that we can only find the answers sometimes.

Footprints

I am curious about the footprints
They make me think—
Whose are those?
Who was riding the bike?
Was it a woman?
A man? A child?
The little pond reflects the Earth’s
Living things and living creatures,
Its trees and plants.
I wonder what kind
Of car it was? A truck?
A minivan?
I guess I will never know.

Brenda, fourth grade, Hillcrest Elementary

Click here to see the M. C. Escher image that inspired Brenda’s poem.

Photo courtesy of Lanie Anderson.

Fairy tales are always liberating to a young mind—the colorful, distant lands and clear principles of valor and courage open the imagination to magical, alternative universes. But as time and age force our attention toward “real world” concerns, we lose sight of these fantastical possibilities. This week’s selection, a poem by KayCee from Del Valle High School, reminds us that the world of fairy tales is not merely a place of fiction, but that the people and places we encounter every day are just as full of wonder and romance as the imaginary kingdoms where our young imaginations so often sought escape. Congratulations KayCee for composing such an insightful poem!

Princess

Every girl’s dream is to be a princess,
A princess of a distant country,
Wishing for her prince to come rescue her.

It’s the same in high school.
Everyone wants to be the most popular,
Wants the handsome quarterback boyfriend.

But the truth is:
Being popular is not that important.
(Don’t look at me like I’m stupid!)

Not all guys are quarterbacks,
And you really are the popular princess
In the country of your friends.

KayCee, ninth grade, Del Valle High School