About Hands on Stanzas

Hands on Stanzas, the educational outreach program of the Poetry Center of Chicago places professional, teaching Poets in residence at Chicago Public Schools across the city. Poets teach the reading, discussion, and writing of poetry to 3 classes over the course of 20 classroom visits, typically from October through April. Students improve their reading, writing, and public speaking skills, and participating teachers report improved motivation and academic confidence. You can contact Cassie Sparkman, Director of the Hands on Stanzas program, by phone: 312.629.1665 or by email: csparkman(at)poetrycenter.org for more information.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Creation Myths -- James Weldon Johnson's The Creation

Creation myths are stories about the origin of man that all cultures from the beginning of time have attempted to explain. We discussed myths from ancient Africa, Asia, Greece, Middle East, and Native America. Many of these myths had similar themes and symbols of life. The students wrote their own version of the creation of the Earth and Man.

Vivian M

Today the world is created
By a war between two gods
But an angel helps God win
Then he became a God
Then he made
Trees out of wood
He made the sky
By water
A moon
Can be made by clay

How The World Was Made
Veronica M

One day God
Wanted to go down from the sky
He didn’t see anything
He decided to make a lot of things
But first he needed a place
To put all of the stuff
So he created a big place
And called it the World.
Every time he moved
A thing appeared
But he couldn’t make anything
So he cried so hard
That with his tears
He made lakes
And seven seas
But all he saw was water and dirt
So with the dirt
He decided to make mountains
He said this world
Doesn’t have color in int
So I am going to create flowers
And grass and a lot of trees
He made the world a better place
But nobody lived there
So he decided to make a lot of animals
Like deers, and dogs, and so much more
He said it is perfect
But something is missing
He said “I’ll make someone
And I’ll call it a person
A human”
He made two humans
One was the man
And one was the woman
And it was perfect
The man and the woman
Helped him with his world
By gathering the wood
From the trees
And made a house
But there was no light
So with the power
He made the Sun
And when the sun is out
He would call it Day
He created another one
This one was the Moon
But this one wasn’t hot
And when the moon was out
It was Night
And everybody has to sleep
To rest
And the Day is to work
To play
One day the woman was sick
She felt bad
And months later
Something came out of her stomach
It was another human
We said we would call it a baby
The world was great
But the bad thing was
That I needed it to go
Home on the blue sky.

Andrea C

When the world was created
I thought about light in the sky
I started creating stars
They shine like diamonds
In the sky
The moon came from
A white dream I had
In white
The trees were for
The animals to hide
The flowers remind me
Of the shirt I had the other day
The wind was made
When I sneeze
But after all the work
I felt lonely
So I decided to make a friend
Who would help me
And be my friend
But I could think
How he would look
Like a person
That could fly and talk
So I decided to create
An angel
He and me
Created the water
From tears
When he was not there for me
On cold, cold winter
I wanted to snow
And from the tears I cried
This is how the snow was made
And hard, hard wind
Came from my sneezing
The animals came
From my dads snorings
The turtle is as slow
As when I am sleepy
I walk slow and bump my head
And fall
The bunny is as soft
As my pillow
I don’t understand
Why I didn’t make
The cat that barks
And the dog that meows

Edwin N

I am God
I always flap my wings
In my tears
And make water
I made the sun
Out of mirrors
Held against the sky
And there is light
The sand made people
The sun made the moon
I made the animals
The same way I made people
I made the mountains
Out of saliva
The trees come from my hair
All I do is make my hair
Really really hard
And I am God
So I am beautiful
And I’m going to be around
For a really long time.

Fabian J

The god Eethline
He fought with Chrome
As they stepped
Mountains were made
Plains were flattened
When they hit each other
Blood flew out
Hit the floor
And turned to people and animals
One drop of blood
Flew up so high
It turned to sun
And a bit of saliva flew
Oh so high
It turned to moon
Without a lie, son
The earth was made
With people, animals, and life

Silverio G

What I think
The world was
Created by God
I think he created land
I think water
Came from a god
From Egypt
I think in a thousand years
The world is going to rise
The land is going to rise
The water and the fire
The angels are going
To blow the horn
When it’s time
For the world to end

Jasmine W

As God makes a man
A man wants a woman
He calls up on God
And asks can he get one

He pulls out a rib
And points it to the sky
Then God reaches down
And grabs the tiny rib
He said a few words
And a beautiful woman appears
God thought they both were beautiful
So he had to give them a name
He thought to his self
What about Adam and Eve
And that’s when the first
Humans were made

As God thought to himself
Since there are humans
Where will they live?
So he started to think
Of all these wonderful ideas
With grass, animals, plants and rivers
Now they were happy
But everything was flat
And now no one was happy

So God picked up the earth
And spun it around
Put it in space
And that’s how the Earth got round
Now the humans are happy once again
And that is the story
Of woman and man

Jesse H

It started with a bird
It was a simple eagle
Placed on earth to fly
Yet she was lonely
So she asked God
“please give me the power
to create life”
and so it began
the life of human beings
animals and dinosaurs
now the world was
a peaceful place
until the dinosaurs rebelled
they said “we shall rule
this land, for we
are the strongest things on the planet”
then God responded
“You are the stronges
in this planet
but not in the heavens”
And with this
God sucked the life
Out of the big reptiles

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