A High School Student Describes the Mature Years  

   

          William J. Small is Karen Topham's student at Lake Forest High School, Lake Bluff, Illinois. I matched his poem with one of my photos to create a page in my upcoming collection, Reflections: A Collection of Poems, Photos, and More. Then I added the quotation by Emily Bronte to help students generate ideas for their writing. Feel free to download this and other poems and photos in this blog for use in your classrooms.

          Small's poem is just one of more than 130 others included in Reflections along with carefully selected photos. The work includes not only poems and photos by students, but also contributions by teachers and other writer-photographers. You can see more samples at  www.starteaching.com. Click on "Latest Issue November."

"Every leaf speaks bliss to me./Fluttering from the autumn tree."  -Emily Bronte

Self-Identification in the Crinkling of Fall

 

The light glazes the treetops

                          A crisp crinkling ripple in my ear                                         

I splash in the wind,

I grasp for the aftertaste of the moment,

Left behind by the blink of my eye

Like a mossy rock it slips through my mind

Deeper and deeper away

In a crescendo it once again erupts

As I feel the light shivering of the grass,

Against my restful body

I spin along with the Earth

As it tells me all its secrets

                                               Of love, lost, and etc.                                                            

The only sounds trickle from a sparrow

Scatter from a squirrel

Tickle from a falling leaf

To create a stream of sounds

                                                                                   

Oh Fall!

Bring change and beauty, as I grow old!

And now as I bath in the angst of coming maturity

I pray to resemble the subtle whispery kisses of you.

                        -William J. Small

Poem Copyright © 2010 by William J. Small

Photo Copyright©2010 by Hank Kellner

Write What You See and Prufrock Press

Published by Cottonwood Press in 2009, Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner is now marketed by Prufrock Press, http://www.prufrock.com.  This thought-provoking collection contains photographs and a wide variety of inventive writing prompts to motivate students.

     Written by a veteran of the Korean War and retired educator who has served as an English Department supervisor and adjunct associate professor of English at the community college level, Write What you See includes a CD-Rom and a special section telling how teachers nationwide use photos to inspire writing. 118 pages, 8 1/2 X 11, Softbound, ISBN 978-1-877673-83-2, Grades 7-12, $24.95

A Poem about Trees

Julie Brown teaches English 11 AP, Journalism, Cinema Study, and Creative Writing at Bolingbrook High School, Bolingbrook, Illinois. I matched her untitled poem with one of my photos to create a page from my upcoming work, Reflections: A Collection of Poems, Photos, and More. I added the quotation that precedes the poem.

        This book is designed to inspire class discussion that leads to written compositions. Feel free to download  this combination for use in your classroom. By the way, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

"I like trees because they seem to be more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do."                       Willa Cather

 

                                             every year, it's always the same

                                             the brown, rough statues stand tall

                                             feet firmly planted in the ground

                                             hoping to grow, reaching the sky

                                             just out of grasp

                                             then come the pesky green dots

                                             spots of color--until mid-spring

                                             then they are in full force

                                             waving, swinging, attracting attention

                                             the trees just sigh and stand

                                             by autumn, they've had enough

                                             they start to burn the leaves off

                                             slowly, one by one

                                             green to yellow to red to brown

                                             as they fall, the trees regret

                                             winter's here and they've lost their coats.

 

Photo Copyright © 2010 by Hank Kellner      

Poem Copyright © 2010 by Julie Brown

Write What You See and Prufrock Press

Published by Cottonwood Press in 2009, Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner is now marketed by Prufrock Press, http://www.prufrock.com.  This thought-provoking collection contains photographs and a wide variety of inventive writing prompts to motivate students.

     Written by a veteran of the Korean War and retired educator who has served as an English Department supervisor and adjunct associate professor of English at the community college level, Write What you See includes a CD-Rom and a special section telling how teachers nationwide use photos to inspire writing. 118 pages, 8 1/2 X 11, Softbound, ISBN 978-1-877673-83-2, Grades 7-12, $24.95

From Film Images to Digital Images

After using film to create photographs for more than forty years, I've finally gone digital. Yep! I  plunked down big bucks for a Leica M 9. Of course, it took me a while to adjust to the differences between film and digital images, but I finally got it right.
        Here's an example. I was strolling through town here in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on my way to my favorite coffee shop when I spotted the scene shown in the photo reproduced below. I shot just one frame. Later that day, it inspired Elizabeth Guy to write the accompanying poem.
        If you've been reading this blog regularly, you know where the poem and photo ended up. You're right! "The Blue Door" and its accompanying photo will appear in my upcoming collection of poems and photos submitted by students, teachers, and others nationwide.
        When it's published, Reflections will contain 122 poems, 22 haiku, 100+ black and white or color photos, and more. Here's a sample page from the manuscript. I added the quotation and Creative Concepts words to help motivate students in their class discussions and writing.


CREATIVE CONCEPTS: Unexpected, Mystery, Serenity, Secret

"Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the Diety to be a source of delight."   John Ruskin

The Blue Door

Right there
In the middle of the city
High above the alleyway
A blue door

A balcony haven
Bedecked in flowers
Beckoning the sun
A promise of warmth
Serenity
Behind that blue doorway
A cool and calm retreat
What secret pleasures
Linger there inside
Above the street

Behind
A multi-paned
Azure stained                                                            
Unexpected door                    
                   Elizabeth Guy    

Write What You See and Prufrock Press

Published by Cottonwood Press in 2009, Write What You See: 99 Photos To Inspire Writing by Hank Kellner is now marketed by Prufrock Press, http://www.prufrock.com.  This thought-provoking collection contains photographs and a wide variety of inventive writing prompts to motivate students.

     Written by a veteran of the Korean War and retired educator who has served as an English Department supervisor and adjunct associate professor of English at the community college level, Write What you See includes a CD-Rom and a special section telling how teachers nationwide use photos to inspire writing. 118 pages, 8 1/2 X 11, Softbound, ISBN 978-1-877673-83-2, Grades 7-12, $24.95