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Who I Am: Poems by Kids

June 1, 2012 by The Good Life @ GMP 2 Comments

Chameleon / How I Know I’m Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine”

Chameleon

There is a chameleon in me I am stealthy
I like hiding in the night
I feel unstoppable
Me and the chameleon hide in shadows The shadows keep us hidden
I like wearing black
Shadows protect me from being seen I’m like camouflage
I like this feeling
I’ll never give it away

—Ethan from Del Valle Elementary

♦◊♦

How I Know I’m Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine”

Because I’m mysterious and
I do things that are

unexpected. I don’t
sound like Lil’ Wayne.

I could be
as old as 1962.

I sound peaceful.

—Juan from Del Valle Middle School

Read more poetry by kids in this series.

About The Good Life @ GMP

"The Good Life" is asking men of the 21st century, What does your "good life" look like? Weekly themes, new content daily. Follow us here on The Good Men Project, on Twitter @GMPGoodLife, and Facebook.

2 Comments on "Who I Am: Poems by Kids"

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“You can’t ask a kid to juxtapose Duke Ellington with Lil’ Wayne; he did that on his own.” — The Good Men Project

5 years 3 months ago

[…] This is a comment by Jesse Stoner on the post “Who I Am: Poems by Kids“. […]

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Jess Stoner

5 years 3 months ago

I asked Juan’s Badgerdog instructor, Brian Nicolet, about how Juan wrote the poem. (And I goofed! Juan goes to Dailey Middle School, not Del Valle–sorry about that! Dailey is in Del Valle, anyway). And here’s what he wrote: One never knows what kids will latch onto, especially when one is trying to teach those kids a thing as decidedly esoteric as poetry. I mean, I’m here to tell you. One of the best poems any of my students ever wrote resulted from an exercise that had virtually zero input from me. There was some preamble, sure, but basically I just… Read more »

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Chameleon / How I Know I’m Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine”

Chameleon

How I Know I’m Duke Ellington’s “Fleurette Africaine”

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