MPitS - Mendocino Grammar School

MPitS

Mendocino Grammar School
2003/2004

A Slave in Need

Inspired by "Eye Contact" Photo by Keba Konte

Let me tell you about a girl
A slave girl. She works hard
all day in a wheat field.
She's a slave in need with scars on her hands
and bruises on her knees.

With skin as dark as the dirt
At night.

She waits to be taken away
to somewhere never before
with flowers as bright as the sun.

Ripped clothes torn shoes
She's a slave.

A slave in need
With wind blowing
and sand
At the bottom of her feet as she walks.

And she thinks to herself
I'm a slave in need.

Zoë Hall, Fifth Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Gail Lauinger, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

A Thread

My friends
and I are
connected
by a thread.
We are one.
We help each other
through good
and bad times.
Sometimes, one
will break-
the thread,
leaving another
behind. A
delicate thread
cannot always
support, but it
can be mended,
and we will be
connected
once again.

Gregory Zilboorg, Fifth Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Gail Lauinger, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Sprawled in the Sky

Inspired by "Jumping over places I'd rather not be" Portrait by Keba Armand Konte

Flying over a city of gold
leaping out of the barrios of life and rules
you become part of the sky
the world below you frozen in a flower
free and in your own world of
light and air
sprawled in the sky
in the spotlight
your world in a painting of light drenched
honey, in a frame of uncertainty
sprawled in the sky.

Zora Bowman
5th Grade, Mendocino Grammar School
Gail Lauinger, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Wolf Moon

In the autumn mist I see
the stillness of the wolf moon
as it glistens in the sky.
I think about my dad
I miss him a lot
As I hear the wolves howl
I hear the crying of a little boy.

Van Lara, 3rd Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Millie Jensen, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Lion of the Mountains

He sits as his golden river of a tail drifts
through the air like a stone pushed
into the sand by time.

He lifts his age-old head and opens
a burning moon eye, as if to ask, why?

He stretches and twists like metal
being bent by a cold hammer.

He is lion and
he is of the mountains.

Habibie Grimes, 5th Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Janna Hansen, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Row Upon Row

Inspired by Postcard of Easter Island Monoliths

were once the ancient
people of the world.

their dreams, ideas, thoughts,
frozen in time.

all that's left is
them, carved from

boulders.

Gregory Zilborg, 5th Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Gail Lauinger, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Gold
Inspired by "Oregon Sunrise" Photo by G.C. Tomlinson

The sky is like gold scattered across a floor
Color seeping into all the cracks of the world
God is the artist putting the last strokes of paint
on his canvas of sky. Boats sit
waiting for the fire
out of the dragon's mouth
to burn the boats and send them away.
The scent of oranges fills the earth.

Hannah Rittiman, 5th Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Janna Hansen, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

Red Snow
Inspired by Postcard of Utah State Park, "Rocks"

I will tell you a tale of war.
People fell to the ground, their blood staining
the beautiful snow with blood red as fire.
Crawling along toward safety.
Then you
can't move. You are F
A
F L
A L
L I
L N
I G
N
G and suddenly
you are gone. Months later you are
deep in the earth and the only memories
people have of you are your handprints
In the red snow.

Chloë Grinberg, Fifth Grade
Mendocino Grammar School
Gail Lauinger, Classroom Teacher
Karen Lewis, Poet-Teacher

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