The following poems explore the themes of school, learning, and the classroom and are appropriate for young people.
“Textbook & Absence (Anatomy)” by Catherine Barnett
At school he studies the human body …
“American Syntax” by Ching-In Chen
The teacher straightbacked ...
“The Children of Beslan (To My Children)” by Irakli Kakabadze, translated by Mary Childs
Today is the First of September and ...
From “Pieces of Kate” by Eamon Grennan
Her Junior High School graduation …
“Mary’s Lamb” by Sarah Josepha Hale
Mary had a little lamb …
“& After the Power Came Back” by Brenda Hillman
The great dead circled the serrated ...
“The High-School Lawn” by Thomas Hardy
Gray pricked with rose …
“Girl Sleuth” by Brenda Hillman
A brenda is missing—where is she?
“The World Book” by Patricia Hooper
When the woman in blue serge …
“Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes
The instructor said …
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“Breaking Free” by Stuart Kestenbaum
I am pledging allegiance to the flag …
“The Testing-Tree” by Stanley Kunitz
On my way home from school …
“Nonsense Alphabet” by Edward Lear
A was an ant …
“Moonlily” by Marilyn Nelson
When we play horses at recess, my name ...
“1905” by Marilyn Nelson
Looking out of the front page, a wild-haired ...
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“Making History” by Marilyn Nelson
Somebody took a picture of a class …
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“Before I Was a Gazan” by Naomi Shihab Nye
I was a boy …
“The Young Poets of Winnipeg” by Naomi Shihab Nye
scurried around a classroom papered with poems …
“The Hand” by Mary Ruefle
The teacher asks a question …
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“Apples” by Grace Schulman
Rain hazes a street cart’s green umbrella …
“Sick” by Shel Silverstein
“I cannot go to school today”…
“First Gestures” by Julia Spicher Kasdorf
Among the first we learn is good-bye ...
“The Junior High School Band Concert” by David Wagoner
When our semi-conductor ...
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