Nature Clips

Most students love nature and have enough experience of phenomena to be able to write reflectively. It is best not to ask them to write long poems about nature, as their experiences usually cannot sustain extended exploration, but a strong short poem is better than a long weak one. Here are some nature clips written by students.


View of the Sea
Justin Clements (California)
Grade 10

The sea eats ships
beneath an endless darkness.
Salt burns eyes and dries flesh.
Slippery greens tickle fish at play
and moored boats
rise and
fall
as waves crash.



Winter's Alliteration
Justin Clements (California)
Grade 10

Frail relationships are made firm
when flurries fly.
Families form
when frost falls.
Neighborhoods forget
distances, fences and yards
watching children frolic
in winter's frigid fantasy.



Morning Birdsong
Sam Whitaker (Ohio)
Grade 11

Still sleepy eyed,
the birds taunt me
to join in song and so I do.
Together, in perfect harmony
we praise the sunrise.
For one glad moment
I feel all the happiness promised
of a new day
and fly teary eyed
in the first lavendar glow
that softens the edges of the world.



Banana Man
Ansil Williams (Trinidad and Tobago)
Grade 12

Hanging,
gentle winds brush
green lingering leaves.
Banana Man's rough mitt
soft grasps the yellow cluster
and places it with brothers
in a basket to be sold
golden new or speckled brown.
Banana Man knows the way
from womb to cradle of death,
from green to empty husk.