Teen poetry

Lawrence High School students in Joy Clumsky’s creative writing class were challenged to select a work of art that “spoke to them” on an imaginative/emotional level and to interpret that art via free verse or rhymed poetry.

The following poems are from students in Clumsky’s class:

A World Flipped Upside Down

In a world flipped upside down,
Nothing is at it seems.
Up is down,
Down is left,
And left is spiraling away.
In a world flipped upside down,
Nothing is as it seems.
How can a fish fly in the sky?
Where can a dog walk a man?
Why, in a world flipped upside down,
Nothing is as it seems.
“Yes” means “no,”
And “no” means “sure”
In a world flipped upside down.
I did not write this poem …
The poem wrote me,
In a world flipped upside down.

— By David Stogsdill, inspired by M.C. Escher’s “Relativity”

The Humble Nymph

Perched upon lofty, forgotten tree limbs,
The Green Violinist sends forth his song
To flutter upon unsuspecting ears.
Smiling, the strangers lose themselves
In the inexplicable melodies, intoxicating,
Swayed and soothed by the mysterious source
That is too distant,
Too dreamlike to view.
Their reality is a tedious thing
Of fact and obligation;
The violinist, he filters it with prism eyes,
Creating a scintillating array
Of shades supernatural.
His world, childlike and replete with wonder,
Is created by simple joys;
His only schedule involves serenading
The iridescent sun.
Through he will never be seen
By any living creature,
The Green Violinist plays on,
On lofty tree limbs
And rusty rooftops.
He plays on.

— By Gina Lorenz, inspired by Marc Chagall’s “The Green Violinist”

Enchanted

Muddled and abandoned in the ambiguity
Of an indolent throng,
Nature’s subtle song enchants a wistful few
Who heed the tune, unwavering.
Flowering shores embrace a flowing stream,
Weaving a tapestry of sheer divinity.
As a waning sun warps towering oaks into lanky shadows,
Lazy breezes like weightlessly on one solitary gaze.
Subdued majesty surrounds the sole spectator,
Seizing his senses,
Daring the pilgrim to ever stray again.

— By Meredith McCarter, inspired by George Inness’ “June”