Thursday, March 30, 2023

Poetry in the Halls, High School edition

Poetry is everywhere; it just needs editing.
~James Tate


Hi folks! Happy Poetry Friday!

As a gift to celebrate 16 years of blogging, I'm offering a pdf for Poetry in the Halls, High School edition. It features poems by Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Matsuo Basho, Doraine Bennett, William Blake, William Stanley Braithwaite, Gwendolyn Brooks, Karen Eastlund, Barbara Kingsolver, Michelle Kogan, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Amy Lowell, Bridget Magee, Carl Sandburg, Janice Scully, Edward Shanks, Sara Teasdale, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, E.B. White, and me.

Print out these ledger-sized poems and put them up in your school hallways, library, or other poetry-inviting place! Laminate them if you can :-) They look great mounted on colored construction paper, too!


I coordinated Poetry in the Halls in various elementary, middle, and high schools for a dozen years. One of my daughter Elena's favorite poems is The Orange by Wendy Cope, which she saw in the halls.

A(nother) Year of Reading has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Mary Lee!

14 comments:

Denise Krebs said...

Tabatha, what a gift you have shared with the world. I love Michelle Kogan's concrete poem, and your wonderful poem about Vincent, and your question of all the high schoolers who will read this beauty: "Can a person approach this world
with a faith in love unfelt, unknown?" I hope so! Amen.

Irene Latham said...

Poetry in the Halls is a great idea, and not just for schools! Thank you for the pdf. I love your Vincent poem. And Sara Teasdale has so many gems, doesn't she? Love seeing poems by PF friends, too. Thank you! xo

Mary Lee said...

I, too, love "The Orange." So simple. So perfectly true. I'm definitely going to share your gift with the HS teachers in my life!

Bridget Magee said...

Such. A. Cool. Project, Tabatha. Thanks for including me among all the super-star poets and for engaging students with poetry where they walk. Lucky kids. :)

Heidi Mordhorst said...

A great gift indeed, and why only in schools? Let there be an Office Edition, an Emergency Room Edition, a Starbucks Edition! 😊😊😊 Happy NPM!

Janice Scully said...

Thank you, Tabatha. What a wonderful way to bring poetry to young people. And I think Heidi's other editions are a great idea. A great distraction in the Emergency Room. Thanks for sharing my poem.

laurasalas said...

Thanks, Tabatha! I'm looking forward to reading these. Loved the Cope poem. I wasn't familiar with that one. I always learn cool stuff from you. Happy blogging anniversary!

tanita✿davis said...

Aaah, what a gift of a legacy to leave to the schools and to your kid. And I will always adore Wendy Cope - so fun.

Lou Piccolo said...

‘And that orange, it made me so happy, as ordinary things often do.’

This line alone, I love. I think we all forget how much happiness is everywhere around us, and often so simple. Thank you for sharing this poem!

Sarah Grace Tuttle said...

Tabatha, thank you for sharing this Orange poem! It's new to me, and it's lovely to discover such a joyful poem first thing in the morning. Happy Poetry Month!

Linda B said...

My class wrote poems for the school during April, chose a certain place and wrote. It is wonderful that you do this, Tabatha. The Orange shows so well what a teen feels when all is right with the world. Thanks for sharing.

mbhmaine said...

The selection of poems you've shared is wonderful! They are a wonderful gift at any time of the year. I love "The Orange" and was especially drawn to the excerpt from Sara Teasdale's "The Crystal Gazer." Thank you!

Linda Mitchell said...

You're the best! I'm sending these to my school e-mail right now! Love seeing familiar poets in the mix.

Michelle Kogan said...

Such a wonderfully rich collection Tabatha, thanks for coordinating all and for making them printable too! And I love "The Orange" too–those incredible simple pleasures, thanks for sharing it! Happy National Poetry Month! xox