Poetry Break # 26
Children's Poetry
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Poetry Break # 26: Two Poems about a Difficult or Sensitve Subject in a Child's Life

Introduction for both poems: Tell students that is natural to miss a person or an animal who has died or who no longer lives with them. Share a personal story if you have an appropriate one.

Missing Mama

last year when Mama died
I went to my room to hide
from the hurt
I closed my door
wasn't going to come out
no more, never
but my uncle he said
you going to get past
this pain
you going to
push on past this pain
and one of these days
you going to feel like
yourself again
I don't miss a day
remembering Mama
sometimes I cry
but mostly
I think about
the good things
now

Poem by Eloise Greenfield

Taken from Hollyer, Bellinda. The Kingfisher Book of Family Poems. Illustrated by Holly Swain. New York: Kingfisher, 2003, p. 178. ISBN: 0753455579.

Remembering

remembering
Grandma filling up this porch
with laughing
and stories about when
Mama was a little girl
and Grandma would hug me
and say
I was her very special own granddaughter.
But now she's gone.
I miss her-

Poem by Nikki Grimes

Taken from Hollyer, Bellinda. The Kingfisher Book of Family Poems. Illustrated by Holly Swain. New York: Kingfisher, 2003, p. 163. ISBN: 0753455579.

Extension for both poems: Ask students to draw a picture and write a few words about a person or animal they miss. It could be an animal or person who died, who moved, or whom they do not cross paths with any more. Invite children to share but accept that many will want to keep their work private.