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First Day of School
by Ruth Donnelly

I’ve got a brand new lunchbox,

My shoes are shiny clean.

I’ve got a cool new bookbag,

And a pencil box that’s green.

But I don’t know my teacher

Or where my desk will be

I don’t know if I’ll like the kids

Or if they’ll play with me.

I peek inside my classroom

I stand there for a while

My teacher’s tall and kind of loud

But has a great big smile

And, best of all, she’s got my

Favorite book on the shelf.

I kiss my mother at the door

And walk in by myself.

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I like this poem because the persona expresses feeling and the emotions of children starting a new day of school, excited and a little bit worried. This poem uses easy words to understand and visualize clearly such as having a lunch box, new shoes, various items, and the environment.

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Sick
by Shel Silverstein

“I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
“I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I’m going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I’ve counted sixteen chicken pox
And there’s one more--that’s seventeen,
And don’t you think my face looks green?
My leg is cut--my eyes are blue--
It might be instamatic flu.
I cough and sneeze and gasp and choke,
I’m sure that my left leg is broke--
My hip hurts when I move my chin,
My belly button’s caving in,
My back is wrenched, my ankle’s sprained,
My ‘pendix pains each time it rains.
My nose is cold, my toes are numb.
I have a sliver in my thumb.
My neck is stiff, my voice is weak,
I hardly whisper when I speak.
My tongue is filling up my mouth,
I think my hair is falling out.
My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,
My temperature is one-o-eight.
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is--what?
What’s that? What’s that you say?
You say today is. . .Saturday?
G’bye, I’m going out to play!”

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This poem is so creative. I love it! It can express many symptoms of sicks or illnesses that almost everything is possible and impossible from a child, who don't want to do anything because don't want to go to school, but at last he can realize that it isn't a school day. So, he will go out for fun. Such a funny poem!

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My Friend Jack
by Rick W. Cotton - 2018

Jack comes every year to visit me,
And his grin just makes me smile.
Nearly toothless, he doesn't care.
He happily laughs all the while.

Eyes glowing in mirth and merriment,
He makes this time of year happy,
Though he's not much in conversation,
And he has no repartee snappy.

Jack just stays for a few weeks
Every year when the leaves turn yellow.
He's as welcome as he could possibly be.
He's quite the fun old fellow.

Now the sun goes down and the moon comes up,
And the costumed monsters come calling.
Light a candle to get Jack going!
Fast! The eventide's falling!

All Halloween night he sits with me,
Grinning to greet the neighbors
'Til his candle's gone and he goes to sleep.
These are hours that I truly savor.

So long old Jack, tomorrow's November!
We'll see you again next year!
When you come to visit from the pumpkin patch,
We will all be waiting right here!

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I really like this poem so much. It gives me the mood of Halloween with Jack or Jack O' Lanterns. It describes how feelings while being with Jack as something that makes he/she happy but Jack stays only for a short time. We have to look forward and wait to see Jack again next year.

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My Next Door Neighbor Is A Witch
by Samiya Vallee - 2014

My next door neighbor is a witch,
And she lives way down in a ditch.
Her clothing is a little strange,
Because she never wants to change.
She has a black robe and a black hat,
Green skin and a smelly black cat.
A big fat wart grows on her nose,
And seventeen pimples on her toes.

But...her food is EVEN worse,
Because she eats it course by course.
Her first course is seven dead bats,
Laid on top of seven rats.
Then she has twenty flies
With lots and lots of llama eyes.
Her main course is a horrible soup,
Because it's made with doggie poop.
But worst of all is her dessert.
It's little children rolled in dirt.

Last night she had a witch's feast
And turned into a greedy beast.
I think she cooked my best friend Tilly
And ate her with some peas and broccoli.

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I like this poem because it describes a witch who live nearby his/her home is afraid and strange. It described a witch and her dishes by comparing to something bad and weird. It's the end with that witch may eat his/her friend.

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Two Boxes
by Limin Hong

I have in my hand two boxes
Which God have me to hold
He said, " Put all your sorrow in the black,
and all your joys in the gold".

I heeded his word, and in the two boxes
Both my joys and sorrows I store
But though the gold became heavier each day
The black was as light as before

With curiosity, I opened the black
I wanted to find out why
And I saw, in the base of the bow, a hole
Which my sorrow had fallen out by.

I showed the hold to God, and mused aloud,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be".
He smiled a gentle smile at me.
"My child, they're all here with me".

I asked, "God, why give me the boxes,
"Why the gold, and the black with the hole?"
"My Child, the gold is for you to count you blessing,
The black is for you to let go".

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I liked this poem because it reminds me that we should keep our happiness instead of sorrows. Suffering or sorrows is something that we should let it go and forget about it. We don't need to think about sorrows in the past.

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How to Paint A Wall
by Joanna Fuchs

While I went off to work one day,
She decided to paint the wall.
And when I came back home that night,
She was curled into a ball.

Her eyes were closed, she was breathing hard,
Her hair was very wet.
From her head to the tips of her pretty toes,
She was covered all in sweat.

She was wrapped in a jacket made of down,
With a fur coat on top of that.
The wall was glowing with new, fresh paint;
On the floor, the paint can sat.

"Sweetheart!" I cried, with a worried look,
"Are you all right, my dear?"
She lazily opened her lovely eyes,
And smiled from ear to ear.

"I knew I could do it," she said with a grin;
"I followed the paint can notes.
It clearly said 'For best results,
Be sure to put on two coats.'"

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I like this poem because it's a funny one. This poem has play on words with coat, which can define as coating of color and a type of clothing. The real purpose in a paint can is to coat or paint the wall twice, but women misunderstands that she should wear double layers.

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My Everything Friend
by Joanna Fuchs

You magnify my happiness
When I am feeling glad;
You help to heal my injured heart
Whenever I am sad.

You’re such a pleasure in my life;
I hope that you can see
How meaningful your friendship is;
You’re a total joy to me.

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I love this poem because it conveys the love for friends. Friends are always stay with you in both happy and sad times. It is a beautiful love from friends, who fills you the happiness and true friends.

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Messy Room
by Shel Silverstein

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

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I like this poem because it describes the objects that scattered in the room, but then ended up being his own room. He complains about the clutter up of his room by using the repetition of "his" and follow with the object and its place. It can visualize things in his messy room clearly.

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The Rainbow
by Sharon Pickle

The rainbow is a promise
That when the storm is done
A bright new day is dawning
And with it comes the sun

So when your path is dreary and
There's darkness all around
Clouds have covered up the sky
No happiness you've found

Remember with the rain and wind
God's tears, breath and love
He'll wipe away our sorrow
And when we look above

Into the heaven's tempest
We'll see and we will know
His promise kept thru tears and pain
A beautiful rainbow.

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This poem symbolizes the hopeful and happiness with a rainbow. Even if it's a dark or hopeless day, like a rainstorm, but the sky after the rain is always beautiful. The god will lead the wind and rain to carry away that sorrow. Rainbows are like god's promises of giving the brightness and new beginnings.

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My Missing Shoe
by Kate Miller-Wilson

I looked for you by the front door,

Under my bed, on the bathroom floor,

Near the back stairs, in the drawer with my socks,

Next to the table, and out in the sandbox.

My mother is calling me, and I’m calling you,

Where have you gone, my missing shoe?

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I like this poem because it conveys feeling through the action and things inside the house. It can convey that the child looking for his shoes and his mother is also helping. This poem uses easy words that easy to visualize how they do.

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Housekeeping

by Natasha Tretheway - 2000

We mourn the broken things, chair legs

wrenched from their seats, chipped plates,

the threadbare clothes. We work the magic

of glue, drive the nails, mend the holes.

We save what we can, melt small pieces

of soap, gather fallen pecans, keep neck bones

for soup. Beating rugs against the house,

we watch dust, lit like stars, spreading

across the yard. Late afternoon, we draw

the blinds to cool the rooms, drive the bugs

out. My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie.

I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog,

listen for passing cars. All day we watch

for the mail, some news from a distant place.

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I like this poem because I feel really relax.  It made me feel the simplicity of life, the feeling of peace, like living far from the city. Living with a comfortable life without luxury but live with happily and wait for good news or from someone who are far away.

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Ode To The Onion
by Pablo Neruda

Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth your belly grew round with dew. Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power showing your naked transparency, and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.

You make us cry without hurting us. I have praised everything that exists, but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet, unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone

and the fragrance of the earth lives in your crystalline nature.

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I like this poem because it expresses the delicacy of describing the beauty and preciousness of onion. It displays the ability and imaginations of the poet to describe, give a visualization, and compare the beauty of onions with anything. This make me feel onion is more adorable than it ever be.

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Blessing the Boats

Lucille Clifton - 1936-2010

(at St. Mary’s)

may the tide
that is entering even now
the lip of our understanding
carry you out
beyond the face of fear
may you kiss
the wind then turn from it
certain that it will
love your back may you
open your eyes to water
water waving forever
and may you in your innocence
sail through this to that

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I was encouraged by reading this poem. I feel the peace, innocence, and hopeful with the nature. No matter what obstacles you face, be strong and go through it like a boat that runs through the current.

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The Way You Make Me Feel
by Amanda Standridge

You make me feel special,
You make me feel new,
You make me feel loved,
With everything you do.

You hold me close when I am sad.
You wipe the tears from my face.
Every time we are together,
It seems like the perfect place.

My eyes light up when you enter a room.
I smile when we are together.
No matter how bad things are,
You always make them better.

I love the way you kiss me,
The way you hold me tight.
I love the way you touch me,
I could be with you all night.

I love the way you can make me laugh
For absolutely no reason at all.
I love how no matter what I do,
You will be there to catch me when I fall.

I just want you to know,
That even though we sometimes fight,
I will always love you!
No matter what, day or night.

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I feel the warmth of love. No matter we go through obstacles, we still love and stay together. Love is always beautiful with a life partner beside. Love is the best encouragement and power.

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Swish Went the Fish
by Kelly Roper

Swish, swish, swish,
Went the little goldfish
As he swam around his bowl
Splash, splish, splash
Went his fancy little tail
Because he was a happy little soul
Glub, glub, glub
Went the bubbles he blew
As they floated up to the top
Smack, smack, smack
Went his tiny fishy lips
As he ate his flakes without a stop

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I really enjoy this poem because it is onomatopoeia poem that imitate the natural sounds of goldfish. I can imagine clearly by the sound of swimming around, blowing bubbles, and eating. It is so adorable and I'm happy to read it because it's like seeing a goldfish in front of me.