poem – The Mint Girl Blog

Hermann Park- a poem

Recently, I got to go to Hermann Park and I had a fun, relaxing day! I wrote a small poem about it, where the goal is to start with 10 words and decrease one each line, eventually ending with 1. I hope you enjoy!

a stroll through the park, a waltz on the lake,
oh, how joyous you can be if you let
the weight of the day not weigh on
your shoulders and instead let the ducks
feed your joy, feed your existence,
as you drift by. be
free, be light, be
truly who you
want to
be.

I really enjoyed being able to go to the park! I got to feed the ducks, as well as boat on the lake (on a paddleboat). I got some really cute photos and in general, had fun during this free day.

Joshua Tree National Park

Recently, we visited California, and there, we went to Joshua Tree National Park! We got to see some amazing sights and to commemorate, I wrote a poem in the style of a Golden Shovel. A Golden Shovel poem is when the ending word, usually bolded, of each line (when read from top to bottom) forms a line from another poem. In my case, I used a line from the poem, “Joshua Tree” by A.R. Ammons. I hope you enjoy!

as i stood by the
trees, the wind
whistled by, past the rounding
of the
rocks, through the gap
of the stones and found
me
standing still there
listening to the weeping
of too-heavy branches under
the magnificence of a
true blue sky. there it was, a Joshua
tree

Black-Out Poetry

Recently, in my English class, we learned about Black-Out poetry. Black-out poetry is when you take an article, books, existing poetry, or any written material and black out some of the words to create new sentences and poetry. It’s a really fun creative exercise and I enjoyed it a lot! Here’s some of the black-out poetry that I did.

Poem 1:

Poem 2:

Poem 3:

The first poem was created out of an article about basements, the second was about a musical, and the third was about wild turkeys. As you can tell, none of the poems really stick with the themes of those articles, which is what makes black-out poetry so fun. You can play around with your topics and what’s important in your poem.

If you’d like to try black-out poetry here are the simple steps!

Find an article or piece of writing that you enjoy or would like to try writing with. This can be any article and does not have to align with your end product!
Start blacking out swathes of text so you are left with words or phrases that you enjoy and you think add to your poem.
If you find yourself getting stuck or are not sure what to black out, try a pattern! Maybe black out every ten words, then save the eleventh! Even just by trying, you can create something extraordinary.
You can also try to be artistic! Many poets who do black out poetry drawing pictures or make illustrations out of their work and it can end up looking beautiful.

Have/Will you try blackout poetry? What other kinds of poetry do you like?

Winter Break in Chennai

Lazy morning,
Sitting on the couch,
Playing games on devices that
Aren’t mine
Chennai is the best

Eating my comfort foods,
Surrounded by my family
What new adventure
Do we have today?
Chennai is the best

Cards in my hand
Shhh…don’t show anybody
Who’s the winner?
Yes! It’s me!
Chennai is the best

Staying up late at night
What movie shall we watch today?
Laughing with my grandparents
All night long
Chennai is the best

Never wanting to go back
Feeling so sad while arriving
at the airport
I can’t want to see everyone again!
Chennai is the best

Being in Theater

I know I recently published a blog about my experiences in theater and a recent musical I went to, but I wanted to elaborate more on a specific year of theater.

This year, I was chosen for UIL theater, a class with 20 students who each have a special passion for theater. For some of us, it’s the acting, while for others it’s directing or backstage work. It’s a tightknit class and on the 3rd and 5th, we got to perform the play we spent 2 months working on. It wasn’t perfect, but we were ok with that! We still had a lot of fun and learned valuable lessons from it. Our theater teacher has promised that for our next play, in the spring, we’ll get even more time to work on it, meaning we’ll have an even better play.

Here’s a short poem I wrote about my UIL theater experiences so far.

Circle up, circle up
A routine we know so well
Set the set, markings clear
Circle up once again

Places, places
We know exactly what to do
Get ready to head on stage
And make sure you just be you

Lines, lines
Etched into the brain so deep
No doubt about what comes next
We could do this in our sleep

Curtain, curtain
The play is now done
Strike the set, put it away
Could we have won?

Waiting, waiting
Holding hands, scared
Hold our breath as they call out names
Four people from our school won medals, they declared

Laughing, laughing
Packing up our stuff
We might not have won, but we had fun
And that is always enough.

Banned Books

This week is Banned Book Week! In honor of that, I wrote a poem and decided to share it with you. I hope you enjoy!

If books around the world are getting banned?
Who is there to represent?
Must we only learn about the classic,
Fair skin, straight, with no problems?

Why do books get ruled offensive?
So what if characters aren’t the norm?
Isn’t that why they were put into these books in the first place?
Isn’t that what makes people happier to see them?

To see yourself reflected in books,
Isn’t that a marvelous thing?
But banning books, the opposite
Removing all the reflections

Moving forward, past these bans,
Seems impossible, a nightmare to face
But we keep reading banned books
And we keep learning, and growing, and being reflected

What are some of your favorite banned books?

Kites at the Beach

This summer I got to spend some time with my cousins! It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it a lot. During this time, we went to the beach and we got to fly kites! I really enjoyed this experience, so I decided to write about it.

Windy beach, kites
flapping through the clouds, dipping
up and down then up

Strings, reeling out as
the kites fly high over
the waves, up and down

Laughs, as we run side
to side, hoping the wind will
move our kites up

Tired, ending the day
with games, winning small prizes,
thrilled with this fun day

What’s your favorite beach activity?

Monahans Sandhills

As well as visiting White Sands, we also visited Monahans Sandhills, a state park. While it wasn’t as unique or as big as White Sands, it was still marvelous in its own way.

Sandhills always change
And they are ready for it
They move with the slightest push of the wind

The Monahans dune field
Stretches 150 by 22 miles
It protects sand, plants, wildlife, and habitat

The sand comes from mountains
Specifically, the Southern Rocky Mountains
Weathered to tiny pieces, they have turned into the sand we know today

Caliche underlays these dunes
Trapping water and storing it
Creating a water table that serves plants, animals, humans

The park isn’t all sand though
See the park in spring or summer
And marvel at the yellow, the pink, the white, the rainbow of flowers

Meet the animals of the park
Watch them move around, camouflaged
the crickets, the deer, the javelinas

Monahans Sandhills
A park of many wonders
When will you go?

Have you visited any state parks?

My Home in Chennai

Since I’m now in Chennai, I decided to write a poem about my how wonderful it is to be back. This poem’s style is called Tricubes. The only rules are that each line should have 3 syllables, each stanza should have 3 lines, and each poem should have 3 stanzas. Therefore it is perfectly balanced with threes. I hope you enjoy!

My home in
Chennai, a
safe haven

A place to
be free with
no regrets

Surrounded
by people
who I love

What’s a place that you can escape to and will always feel safe in?

White Sands National Park

Recently, we went to New Mexico and visited many National Parks (as well as a state park). My favorite had to be White Sands National Park. The setting was beautiful and eerie and the look of the shining white dunes isn’t one I’ll forget any time soon. This is a poem I wrote inspired by the wildlife at White Sands. I hope you enjoy!

Sand Dunes
Don’t stay the same
They shift, flow, fall
With the everchanging Winds
always changing, always moving

Soaptree Yuccas
Keep their stem tall
So they never get swallowed by the dunes
They learn to say goodbye
For as each dune passes, they die

The Bleached Earless Lizard
Camouflages with its pale, pale skin
It scurries about the desert sands
Blending in with the pale, pale dunes
It really is a master of disguise

Darkling Beetles also called Stinkbugs
Stay the odd one out
They don’t try to blend in,
But to instead, to stand out
It is protected for both the sun’s rays and any predators

White Sands National Park
a biodiverse, stable ecosystem
Filled with creatures of every type
A marvelous adventure
And an amazing ride

Have you been to any National Parks? If yes, which ones are your favorite?